BEHOLD! Ethiopia Omo Valley Village Where The Biggest Bodi Pot Belly Men Takes It All √√ The Scoper Media

Published by The Scoper Media on July 28, 2023

Men from the Bodi tribe compete to become the fattest during the new year or Ka’el ceremony
They spend six months guzzling a mixture of blood and milk in a bid to fatten up as fast as they can
The winning fat man doesn’t get a prize but is feted as a hero for life by the rest of the tribe
Bodi want to retain their traditions but they are threatened by government resettlement plans

Slim might be in elsewhere but for Ethiopia’s Bodi or Me’en people, bigger is always better. The tribe, which lives in a remote corner of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, is home to an unusual ritual which sees young men gorge on cow’s blood and milk in a bid to be crowned the fattest man.

Six months after starting the regime, the men emerge to show off their newly engorged physiques and for a winner to be chosen. The champion fat man is then feted as a hero for the rest of his life.

Now the little known rite is the subject of incredible photos taken by French shutterbug Eric Lafforgue – who spent time with the Bodi while travelling through south-western Ethiopia during the run up to the Bodi New Year or Ka’el ceremony.

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**Hero: Every child wants to become one of the fat men, according to Lafforgue, who are feted as heroes by the rest of the tribe for their incredible feat**

**Competition: On the day of the Ka’el ceremony, the tribe’s fat men walk for hours around a sacred tree, watched by other men and helped out by the women**

**Challenge: The feat begins six months before the Ka’el ceremony when participants retire to their huts where they stay, while the women bring them food**

**Too much! A Bodi man finds that his morning bowl of blood and milk is a little too much and is ill outside his hut – watched by a baffled-looking herd of cows**

**One of the Bodi tribe’s fat men with his family**

**One of the men enjoys his last blood and milk meals of the day**

Sadly, the Ka’el ritual and the Bodi’s traditional way of life is under threat from the Ethiopian government who plan to resettle 300,000 people from all over the country on their lands.

For now, the tribe continue as they always have, and still celebrate Ka’el in traditional style each June.

Source: Daily Mail