INCREDIBLE images show African tribesman looming over a dead baboon as they prepare to butcher the fruits of their hunt.

The striking image shows the hunters in traditional dress brandishing knives over the splayed primate and starting to slice into the flesh.

17 Baboon is the meat of choice for the Hadza hunters of Tanzania who have lived in the region for 10,000 years Credit: Getty - Contributor

Endangered hunter-gatherer Hadza tribe of Tanzania teach their children to hunt with bows and arrows

The Hadza people were snapped at their home on the shores of Lake Eyasi, in the Ngorongoro district in the north of Tanzania.

They are desperately searching for a way to secure land rights to preserve their 10,000-year-old way of life.

Others show the tribe posing with spears and other animal carcasses while one image even shows a huntsman lighting a cannabis joint.

The Hadza need access to unpolluted water springs and wild animals to hunt in the east African country.

17 The Hadza are fighting to preserve their way of life and avoid being pulled into western civilisation Credit: Getty - Contributor

17 They still hunt with traditional bows and arrows in their millennia old stomping ground Credit: Getty - Contributor

17 Young Hadza men test their daily hand-made arrows as they prepare for the hunt Credit: Rex Features

17 A successful hunter carries his bounty back to camp for his tribe to eat Credit: Getty - Contributor

They have their own language, which is only loosely related to others in the region and their way of life has been captured in this stunning set of photographs.

It is believed a little over 1,000 Hadza people remain in one of the last hunter-gatherer communities still in existence.

They live close to the site of some of the very earliest human remains.

17 A Hadza hunter wearing a genet cat skin cape smokes cannabis from a crude stone pipe sheathed in leather Credit: Getty - Contributor

17 Osama, 15, and Manu, 14, sit on deadwood in Tanzania following a hunt Credit: Rex Features

17 The Hadza are one of the last remaining societies remain in the world that survive purely from hunting and gathering. Credit: Alamy

17 A Hadza hunter clutches the head of a hunted dead stork. Credit: Alamy

17 One of the tribesmen brings the head of a slain baboon back his home to be butchered Credit: Getty - Contributor

17 A young Hadza bushman poses with his dogs Credit: Getty - Contributor

17 Skulls of baboons and antelope hanging on tree near huts where the tribe live Credit: Alamy

17 A hunting party returns to the village with an antelope ready to be butchered Credit: Alamy

17 Two men drink from a muddy watering hole which has almost run dry Credit: Alamy

MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS FIT AND FIFTY 'World’s hottest gran' celebrates 50th as fans praise her youthful looks COV-ER & OUT Lockdown-free Sweden 'on brink of BEATING Covid after achieving herd immunity' A-BROCC-ALYPSE US mum posts pic of 'perfect' roast but Brits are fuming over one mistake GRINCHES Mum reveals HUGE Xmas gift haul for daughter - but some parents brand kid 'spoilt' SMOKING GUN Maddie lawyer has 'material evidence' she's dead & pins murder on Christian B OUT OF THIS WORLD Man transforms into 'alien' after having nose REMOVED & splitting tongue 'DIED ALONE' Missing boy, 14, found dead after search volunteers banned over Covid curfew SAVAGE ATTACK Paedo, 19, rapes 18-month-old baby girl while her parents had popped out NOVI-MOCK Navalny mocks Putin just as he leaves hospital after Novichok attack Warning HELL HOUNDS Boy, 2, critical after being 'torn apart' by family's pet dogs on his birthday

The tribe's diet consists of meat from local animals, including baboons and porcupines.

As well as the wild meat they eat the fruit of the baobab tree, which is crushed to make a citrus-flavoured milkshake and wild tubers tasting similar to turnips and celery.

A professor from Kings College London, who visited the tribe last year, said they had the healthiest guts in the world because their diets allowed them to grow a wide range of digestive bacteria.

17 A Hadza man smokes marijuana rolled in newspaper. Credit: Alamy

17 A Hadza hunter carries an antelope skewered by an arrow Credit: Alamy

17 Giaga, 50, Manu, 14, Osama, 15, and Madenye , 46 , sit and rest on a dead tree Credit: Rex Features