Joel Fogel films aboard his 20 ft. Avon Inflatable raft which carried him and his supplies down 500 miles of the Omo River in southern Ethiopia. The purpose of this expedition was to film tribal groups along the riverbank. His film and artifacts were donated to the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, DC following his expedition.

Captain Fogel stands with his dinner for the evening, a small bush buck which he brought back from his hunt surrounding the Omo River camp. Fogel was left with the Mursi tribe following an attack of “vivax” malaria. After several weeks, his food was finished.

Fogel stands with tribal wife, Kafo, a young Mursi woman who was presented to him following his initiation into the tribe. Captain Fogel lived with the Mursi for several months until a small Cessna came from Addis Ababa to take him back to civilization.

Joel Fogel, MN 72 as “Nogolull”, initiated into the Stone Age Mursi tribe during the course of his 1973 Omo River Tribal Survey Expedition. His tribal name meant, “the man who came by water”.