Astonishing Cattle

Yes. Really.

Herewith the photography of Daniel Naudé, who currently has an exhibition on at the Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town. Naudé has been taking photographs of cattle in Uganda, Madagascar and India, and some of the images are astounding.

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These guys are my favourites: Ankole cattle from Nyabushozi in Uganda.

In the days before Christianity arrived in this part of Africa, the Bahima people made offerings of milk to herdsman gods, and their language has many names for cattle that describe their characteristics. Even now, the keepers of these animals live pastoral lives, their culture deeply rooted in these cattle. The survival of the Ankole is at the heart of cultural and economic debates about indigenous African values and symbolism versus a Western emphasis on commercial concerns.

For this and much more fascinating information on the subject of sacred cattle, plus many more fantastic images, have a look at the gallery page, which also has opening times for the exhibition, which is on in Woodstock until 26th May.