“Culture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don’t.” — Lord Raglan
Like many young women in love, Colette Armand believes she was hit by a coup de foudre when she first saw her future husband. ‘The attraction was instant,’ she says. ‘We had an immediate connection.’
Photographs testify to the strength of their bond, showing a beaming young couple clearly delighted by each other’s company.
That, however, is where the conventional nature of their romance ends. For Colette’s intended is a Masai warrior whose home is a mud hut on the vast African plains.
Meitkini’s tribe have no possessions and no running water, and their food is either plucked from the ground or killed with a spear.
Nonetheless, after a courtship of three years, Colette, 24, is preparing to abandon all the comforts of her western lifestyle to join her life permanently with his – even though, to date, she hasn’t shared so much as a kiss with her 23-year-old fiance, as Masai rules forbid physical contact between men and women who aren’t married.
What’s more, she has to accept that, in the future, she may have to share her husband with other women, as Masai tradition permits any number of wives.
‘In time I may have to accept that he will marry again,’ she says. ‘I hope he chooses not to take another wife, but if not then I will compromise.’