Tribal women take first selfie with backpacker's phone

Two travellers sparked the curiosity of an African tribe with their tattoos and mobile phones. And the young women from the tribe in Niger laughed as they saw themselves in their first selfie video.

Filmer and full-time travel blogger Tom Grond, who runs the blog TravelTomTom, was venturing through Africa and attended the Gerewol Festival in the Niger desert when he came across the women. The event celebrates the Wodaabe people belonging to the Fulbe ethnic group and many people from across Africa attend each year.

Another traveller, named Chris, is seen showing them a tattoo on his forearm that depicts a person from Ethiopia. As he reveals more tattoos the two women inspecting his arm reach out and touch his skin where the piece is.

Tom said: "On the Gerewol festival deep in the desert of Niger tribes come together once a year to celebrate and perform their rituals. Most of the people here flock from nomadic desert communities all to one place.

Tribes people in Niger laughed when they saw themselves on a smartphone (traveltomtom / SWNS)

"For some of them, it takes weeks to get to the festival, so the people you meet are very not aware of the modern world and its technology. So when the ladies saw the tattoos they got really obsessed and couldn't believe their eyes.

"They had clearly never seen anything like this and while recording the video the ladies also kept staring at the phone and were very curious about it. When I showed them that I was recording they got so surprised to see themselves on the screen.

"It was an amazing encounter to run into people that still are amazed by something which is completely normal to us."

A traveller, named Chris, is seen showing a tattoo on his forearm that depicts a person from Ethiopia (traveltomtom / SWNS)

Tom quit his job in 2012 to become a full-time travel blogger setting up his website and has since travelled to 138 countries. Despite having some translators and guides, he could not ask the tribespeople questions.

"It is almost impossible to communicate with the tribe people as they all speak their own language and no English is spoken anywhere," he said. "We had some guides that spoke the tribe language but they were not around, unfortunately.

"However, their reactions say it all. It was just a normal video recording and when they saw their own faces on the phone they were very surprised."