Omo River
 |
Omo River empties into Lake Turkana, August 1995 |
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. Many animals live near and on the river, including
hippopotamuses,
crocodiles and
Bitis arietans.
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. 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.
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Omo Remains
