Some cultures in Africa keeps one wondering how it all came about. A stroll to Angola not only showcased their cherished culture, but also keeps one pondering.

Among the most striking of all Angola';;;;s remote tribes, the Mwila people are known for their elaborate dresses, jewellery and hairstyles.

Adult women are expected to style their hair using a mixture of oil, crushed tree bark, butter, dried cow dung and herbs in order to shape it into thick dreadlocks which are then dyed using oncula, a type of crushed rock.

These dreads are then embellished using shells, beads and sometimes dried food to make them even more elaborate and eye-catching.

The women are also expected to wear huge necklaces, made from a mixture of mud and beads, which they keep on at all times - including while sleeping.

While Mwila styles are designed to be striking, the dress codes also act as important symbols, telling viewers about the women and their lives.

The number of braids in their hair - usually between four and six - denotes whether they have reached maturity, but three braids indicates there has been a death in their family.

Necklaces are also used as a means of demonstrating sexual maturity, with young women wearing smaller necklaces, usually of red or yellow.

As they grow older, more coloured bands of beads are added, indicating different stages of life.

Specialist tour operator and photographer Evi Arbay was taking a group of Indonesian tourists on a tour of Namibia and Angola when she captured the photographs of the Mwila tribe.

While the fashions of the Mwila are meant to be striking, they also serve important symbolic purposes, indicating the difference between girls and women

Adult women also wear large necklaces which at first appear to be made of strings of beads but are actually large collars of mud with beads embedded in them

While young girls often wear small necklaces in red and yellow, older women add stripes of various colours, indicating different stages in their lives that they have passed through

#Mail Online (Photographer Evi Arbay )