The Dassanech are the most primitive tribe we meet. They live in Omorate, near the Kenyan border from where they originally migrated (from the Turkana region) some 300 years ago. Their dwellings are simple huts made of tree branches, leaves and old sacks (reminiscent of the standard red-white-blue sacks that traders carry across from Shenzhen to Hong Kong). They wear animal hides around their loins. The women stick a feather through their lower lips as a sign of beauty while the men are all armed. The Dassanech are an aggressive tribe who go on cattle raids against most of the neighbouring tribes.
The village we visit, across the Omo river from the ramshackle frontier town of Omorate lies in a barren plain beaten by a red dust wind in the sweltering heat. Seldom have we visited such an unwelcoming environment.
