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# Inside a Tribal Family Reunion Older Than the USA
- URL: https://offbeatshow.com/inside-a-tribal-family-reunion-older-than-the-usa/
- Published: 2026-03-27T14:39:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-27T14:39:55.000Z
- Description: I went to Benban to film a desert horse race with no prize money. I ended up somewhere I wasn't expecting.
- Author: Tommie McDonald
- Tags: Films, #Import 2026-09-03 15:01

I travelled to Benban, a village in southern Egypt, to film the Al Mermah festival — an open-desert horse race where men spend fortunes on animals and compete for no prize money at all. It's run purely for the honour of the village.

I didn't stay on the street for long. I was pulled into the Diwans by the Al Ja'afra tribe, and the rest of the day turned into something else: Tahteeb stick fighting that's been practised here for four and a half thousand years, and men who can name thirteen generations of their own bloodline without pausing.

I went in thinking I was filming a race. What I came away thinking about was how much of this the rest of us have traded away, and whether we noticed at the time.