Tag Archives: Omo Valley Another year has rolled around… I normally head for the fresh air of the Alpine slopes this time of year, but we spent this New Year’s Eve at home blanketed in smoke, with out-of-control fires raging on three sides. The roads to the mountains were unsafe, and there is no fresh air to be had […]  It is hot, and arid, and a long way from anywhere. The harsh environment is at least part of the reason why the 16+ ethnic groups who live in the far reaches of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, near the border with South Sudan, have been left alone to maintain their traditional lifestyles and cultural practices. One […]  You could call them Ethiopia’s 0.1%. That is the approximate proportion that the Hamar (or Hamer) people, an agro-pastoralist tribe in the Omo Valley, make up of Ethiopia’s total. Most of these Hamer-speaking people still live a traditional, semi-nomadic lifestyle on their fertile tribal lands in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of the country. Care […]  If I had to choose one word to describe the Mursi people of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, I’d have to say “proud”. There are roughly 7,500 pastoralist Nilo-Saharan Mursi living across approximately 1900 square kilometres of semi-arid land in an isolated corner of southwestern Ethiopia, close to the border with South Sudan. A tall, good-looking people, […]  The Mursi people of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley have been called “one of the most fascinating tribes in Africa.” A pastoralist group originating in the Nile Valley, the roughly 7,500 Nilo-Saharan Mursi live in an isolated corner of southwestern Ethiopia, close to the border with South Sudan. Even today with improved roadways, their villages are remote: I was on […] |
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