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The 'Omo River' is an important river of southern Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. It is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin; the part that the Omo drains includes part of the western Oromia Region and the middle of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.

Contents

Geography

Early findings

Human impact

2006 floods

See also

Notes

Reference

External links

Geography

This river rises in the Shewan highlands and is a perennial river. Its course is generally to the south, however with a major bend to the west at about 7° N 37° 30' E to about 36° E where it turns south until 5° 30' N where it makes a large S- bend then resumes its southernly course to Lake Turkana. According to the ''Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68'', the Omo River is 760 kilometers long.
In its course the Omo 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 ''Spectrum Guide to Ethiopia'' describes it as a popular site for white-water rafting in September and October, when the river is still high from the rainy season.^[1] Its most important tributary is the Gibe River; smaller tributaries include the Wabi, Denchya, Gojeb, Mui and Usno rivers.
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. Many animals live near and on the river, including hippopotamuses, crocodiles and Bitis arietans.

Early findings

On the banks of the Omo River archeologists have found fossil fragments of Olduwan hominids from the early Pleistocene era and up to the Pliocene era. An important finding is Australopithecus man, now extinct.^[2]

Human impact

The lower valley of the Omo is unlike any other place on Earth in that so many different cultures 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. To this day, the cultures and people of the Lower Valley of the Omo, including the Mursi, Suri, Nyangatom, Dizi and Me'en, are studied for their incredible diversity. ^[3]
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.^[4]
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.

2006 floods

Heavy rains in 2006 caused the Omo to flood its lower course, drowning at least 456 people and stranding over 20,000 people over the space of five days ending 16 August. While seasonal heavy rains are normal for this part of the country, overgrazing and deforestation are blamed for this tragedy. "The rivers in Ethiopia have less capacity to hold as much water as they did years before, because they are being filled up with silt," World Food Programme spokeswoman Paulette Jones said. "It takes less intensity of rainfall ... to make a river in any particular part of the country overflow."^[5]

See also

★ List of Ethiopian rivers

★ List of fossil sites ''(with link directory)''

★ Omo Remains

Notes

1. Camerapix, ''Spectrum Guide to Ethiopia'' (Brooklyn: Interlink, 2000), pp. 262ff
2. The Omo River Valley
3. Rangers by Birth
4. Lower Valley of the Omo
5. "More than 700 killed or missing in Ethiopian floods", Zeenews.com 16 August 2006; "Ethiopian floods feared to have killed 870" by Tsegaye Tadesse, Eircom net, 16 August 2006

Reference

★ Butzer, Karl W. (1971) ''Recent history of an Ethiopian delta: the Omo River and the level of Lake Rudolph'', Research paper, University of Chicago, Department of Geography, Ser. 138, pp. 184, LCCN 70184080

External links

★ Omo National Park

★ Early Homo sapiens Remains from the Omo River Region of South-west Ethiopia: Faunal Remains from the Omo Valley

★ The Oldest Homo sapiens