The Omo Delta, spanning the border of Ethiopia and Kenya (in a remote enclave of the Great Rift Valley) in southwest Ethiopia, is one of the least accessible but ethnically diverse parts of East Africa. Here travellers can glimpse the continent as early explorers found it: an Africa peopled by exotic tribes proud of their traditional lifestyles and ancient customs.
Central to these pastoralist cultures are their herds of cattle and goats: people dress in clothes made from animal skins; blood missed with milk is a staple drink; and a man’s wealth is judged by the size of his herds.The Omo River rises on the mountainous plateau of Ethiopia’s Shewan Highlands, then flows for hundreds of kilometers through lush grasslands, acacia plains and riverine forests, until it reaches Kenya’s Lake Turkana.The river’s lower valley, in the southwest corner of the country, is a wild, beautiful, remote region. In the mud and volcanic rock of the Omo’s banks, paleontologists have found the fossilized remnants of early hominids, discoveries that have contributed to man’s understanding of human evolution. The Lower Omo Valley is a region where migrating peoples with a broad genetic and linguistic diversity converged. Today herdsman, agro-pastoralists and fishermen still live along the lower reaches of the river. Many depen on the flood cycles of the Omo for their survival. Every year the Omo swells, overflows, and deposits silt on the riverbanks as it retreats. It is on this rich, fertile silt that the valley’s tribes have long planted crops such as sorghum, corn, maize and beans. Here are the most famous tribes in the Omo Valley:
