Omorate

Omorate

Omorate, also referred to as Kelem, is a town in southern Ethiopia, close to the border with Kenya. It is located at a height of 395 meters above sea level in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region, on the Omo River, about 2 hours’ drive from Turmi. The banks of the Omo River are quite steep, but during the rainy season even the banks are flooded. At Omorate, you can also cross the river to the Daassanach village, where the Daassanach people of southern Ethiopia and the Omo Valley spend part of the year with their cattle and goats. Because the Daassanach have a semi-nomadic migratory pattern that is linked to rainfall and greener pastures for their livestock, their houses are not built as permanent structures in the landscape, but rather as temporary shelters. The Daasanach, also known as the Marille or Geleba, are a Cushitic ethnic group. They inhabit parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and southern Sudan. Traditionally pastoralists, in recent years they have become predominantly agropastoral.