The Hammer

The Hammers' are living within the lower Omo valley bordered by Er-bore and Tsemay tribes in the north, Dassanch in Southeast, Karo in the south and Bena-as-wel as Ari tribes in the east. They are agro-pastoralists using seasonal rainfall agriculture, which comes from the most part of March-July. They are grouped under the Omotic language family with a total population of not exceeding 30 thousand people. Cattles are the core economy of the society. In addition, they produce cereals like, Maize, Sorghum Millet and on as their steeple food.

The Karos'

The Karos' are mainly depond on the Omo River, which is a source of their fish and crop productions from flood retreat agriculture. Catteles are also another living of this group.

Like the Hammers', The Karos' are also passing through a ritual pracetice of the "Bull Juping" ceremony escorted by an evening dance called "Evangadi". They are noted by a unique physical adorment of body painting and scarification, which is the core culture of beauty and heroness in that society.

The Omo Valley

The Omo valley of Ethiopia is a part of the great East African rift system bounded with Kenya in its southern session following the Omo River valley.

To explore the real and exceptional African culture, belief and traditions with in a confounded special boundary, the lower Omo region of Ethiopia would be the prime and right journeys of Human beings in a lifetime.

This region encompasses from a site of an earliest settlement of an age-old human beings which is called Ramidous Kadaba, an ancestor of the modern man that runs back to 4.4myo up to the present unique tribal collections who are really endowed with their own indigenous way of life.

About more than 18 ethnic groups are living in this geographical cluster grouped under 4 different language families. To mention but some of them are: - the Hammer, Mursi, Konso, Bume, Dassanech, and Surma.

The Mursi

The Mursis' are living within the same region of the Omo valley, which is south west of Ethiopia bordering Kenya in the South, Omo River in the East and Mago in the west. They are cattle herders and land cultivators with a number of 7000 to 8000 people. They are grouped under the Nilo Saharan language family.

The Mursi shares some cultures of ritual ceremonies form the neighboring Surma tribes living west of the omo valley.

The stick fighting ceremony known, as Dueling is an important social practice between both the Mursi and Surma tribes before they engaged in a marriage. This is a form of ritualized male fierceness battle in which men from different local groups are joined together and fight one from the other using a two metters long wooden sticks called Donga. According to their tradition, a dwelling entrants are not coming from the same clan, this is because of that a man can only duel with men whose sisters he is going to marry.

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