Male Beauty Contest in the Wodabe tribe, Niger 2004. 

Concurso de Belleza Masculina en la tribu Wodabe, realizado en Niger 2004.

Mr Sahara 2004  

(photos: AP)

 

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As Wodabe contestants dance, Tuareg tribesman park their camels at the edge of the crowd to watch

Two Wodabe men in the settlement of Gall looking into compact mirrors

The tribe is nomadic - when you are a newcomer to an area, good looks reportedly help.

  The men are given compact mirrors at birth.

A Wodabe men shows his gleaming teeth - regarded by the tribe as a sign of beauty

The contestants line up to be judged by a female panel

Their mothers and sisters help them clean their teeth and in childhood pull their limbs to make them long and slim. Sometimes travelling days to find clay to make face paint, the men prepare all year for the pageant, judged by a female panel.

Wodabe men prepare for a dance that they will perform, with other male members of their tribe, at the festival

Wodabe men line up to be judged on the whiteness of their teeth and brightness of their eyes in the tribal beauty contest held annually to mark the end of the rainy season

The winner is offered a hand in marriage to one of the judges - but even the losers often have several wives and the women more than one husband. The men of the sweltering desert nation of Niger are competing in a male beauty contest for the title of 'Mr Sahara'.

Wodabe men in headdresses, face-paint and jewellery which they make throughout the year

 

Male beauty is a prized asset among the 125,000-strong Wodabe tribe which inhabits the fringes of the Sahara.