The Omo People
by Hans Silvester

Ancient African Tribes in Southern Ethiopia & Kenya
• The Ancient African Tribes that live in the Lower Omo Valley and around Lake Turkana are
believed to be the most unique tribal people in the world. These tribes are spread out in the
Great Rift Valley reaching the southern end of Ethiopia and the northern part of Kenya. They
have become famous for their heritage and diversity. They have practiced some of the same
traditions that their ancestors did centuries ago living in the same remote area. Most tribes
now carry rifle's (AK47's) to hunt or protect themselves.
• Listed below is some of the tribes you will find living along the Omo River and Lake Turkana.
(200,000 of them lives in the Omo Valley and the rest of them have migrated to other regions).
• Population of Tribes (census of year 2007) rular urban total
• 1. Arbore (Erbore or Irbore) 6.156 684 6.840
• 2. Ari 274.989 15.464 290.453
• 3. Bena 25.637 1.385 27.022
• 4. Bodi 5.567 1.427 6.994
• 5. Bumi or Bume (also known as Nyangatom) 23.488 1.764 25.252
• 6. Daasanech (also known as Galeb or Geleb) 46.526 1.481 48.067
• 7. Dorze (28.000)
• 8. Hamar, Hamer or Hammer 45.575 957 46.532
• 9. Kara or Karo 1.338 126 1.464
• 10. Konso 239.960 10.470 250.430
• 11. Kwegu or Muguji 1.435 539 1.974
• 12. Mursi or Murzu 7.052 448 7.500
• 13. Suri or Surma 25.570 2.316 27.886
• 14. Tsemay 19.596 450 20.046
• 15. Turkana (25.200)

• In this stunning collection of photographs, Hans Silvester (Ethiopia: Peoples of the
Omo Valley) celebrates the unique art of the Surma and Mursi tribes of the Omo
Valley, on the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. These nomadic people have no
architecture or crafts with which to express their innate artistic sense. Instead, they
use their bodies as canvases, painting their skin with pigments made from powdered
volcanic rock and adorning themselves with materials obtained from the world around
them—such as flowers, leaves, grasses, shells and animal horns. The adolescents of
the tribes are especially adept at this art, and Silvester's superb photographs show
many youths who, imbued with an exquisite sense of color and form, have painted
their beautiful bodies with colorful dots, stripes and circles, and encased themselves
in elaborate arrangements of vegetation and found objects. This art is endlessly
inventive, magical and, above all, fun. In his brief text, Sylvester worries that as
civilization encroaches on this largely unexplored region, these people will lose their
delightful tradition.

Peoples of the Omo Valley
by Hans Sysvester
• Copyright © Hans Silvester
Sources
• Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley , Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (2007)
• Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa , Publisher: Thames & Hudson (2009)
• A Window on Africa: Ethiopian Portraits, Publisher: Thames & Hudson (2011)
• http://www.omovalley.com/
• http://www.grands-reporters.com/article.php3?id_article=200&id_document=1976&debut_photos=138
• http://lavitainunistante.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/hans-silvester/
• http://teddytd.tistory.com/tag/Hans%20Silvester
• http://acidolatte.blogspot.com/2009/05/hans-silvester.html?zx=5904697c8c83b720
• http://www.anotherafrica.net/indigenous/oh-to-be-so-adroit
• http://www.csa.gov.et/pdf/Cen2007_firstdraft.pdf
presentation by sotos