Ethiopia is like no other place in Africa. Some of the isolated animist tribes who have lived there for centuries are still unaware that they reside in a country called Ethiopia. In this episode, Art ventures into the Omo Valley, Ethiopia's nearly inaccessible and richest tribal zone. After enduring muddy, impassable roads and swollen rivers, he makes his way to the Hamer, Karo and remote Surma tribes. He documents the tribes' unique body painting, elaborate adornments and timeless ceremonies. Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe
Ethiopia: The Omo Valley
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Ethiopia - The Omo Valley. Video hosted on Youtube. The Omo is an important river of southern Ethiopia. Its most important tributary is the Gibe River; smaller tributaries include the Wabi, Mago and Gojeb Rivers. This river rises in the Shoan highlands and is a perennial river with many affluents. According to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the Omo River is 760 kilometers long. In its course it has a total fall of about 6000 ft (2,000 m), from an elevation of 7600 ft at its source to 1600 ft at lake-level, and is consequently a very rapid stream, being broken by the Kokobi and other falls, and navigable only for a short distance above where it empties into Lake Turkana, one of the lakes of the Great Rift Valley. The Omo River formed the eastern boundaries for the former kingdoms of Janjero, and Garo. The Omo also flows past the Mago and Omo National Parks, which are known for their wildlife.
The lower valley of the Omo is unlike any other place on Earth in that so many different types of people inhabit such a small bit of land. Experts believe that for thousands of years it was a crossroads of a wide assortment of cultures where early humans of many different ethnicities passed as they migrated from and to lands in every direction.[citation needed] To this day, the cultures and people of the Lower Valley of the Omo are studied for their incredible diversity. The entire Omo river basin is also important geologically and archaeologically. Several hominid fossils and archaeological locatities, dating to the Pliocene and Pleistocene, have been excavated by French and American teams. Fossils belonging to the genera Australopithecine and Homo have been found at several archaeological sites, as well as tools made from quartzite, the oldest of which date back to about 2.4 million years ago. Because of this, the site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. When they were discovered it was thought that the tools may have been part of a so-called pre-Oldowan industry, even more primitive than what was found in the Oldupai Gorge. Later research has shown that the crude looks of the tools were in fact caused by very poor raw materials, and that the techniques used and the shapes permit their inclusion in the Oldowan.
Ethiopia is like no other place in Africa. Some of the isolated animist tribes who have lived there for centuries are still unaware that they reside in a country called Ethiopia. In this episode, Art ventures into the Omo Valley, Ethiopia's nearly inaccessible and richest tribal zone. After enduring muddy, impassable roads and swollen rivers, he makes his way to the Hamer, Karo, and remote Surma tribes. He documents the tribes' unique body painting, elaborate adornments, and timeless ceremonies.
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