Military Police riding buffalo on the island of Marajo in Brazil.
Real-life “Buffalo Soldiers” — military police mounted on gigantic water buffalo — routinely patrol the streets of the Brazilian island of Marajo, to the delight of tourists and Bob Marley fans.
The photo of these two soldiers and their steeds was snapped by photographer Fernando Camara on a recent sightseeing jaunt.
It’s traditional for Marajo’s military police to ride the docile, 1,000-pound creatures, he told Caters News.
Marajo, an island the size of Switzerland off Brazil’s northern coast, has some 450,000 domesticated and feral water buffalo — more animals than people. When they’re not carrying soldiers around, they haul farm equipment and provide milk, meat and hides.
“It has become a bit of a tourist attraction,” Camara said. “But it was started with the objectives of reinforcing safety and maintaining the culture of the local population.”
Whether the two buffalo soldiers photographed were also, in fact, dreadlocked rastas could not be immediately determined.
Marajo population: 383,386 (2014)
