Child of the Kara
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The Kara tribe live on the banks of the Omo River and is closely connected to the Hamar tribe. They have the same language and some of the same traits and traditions. They love to use paints from chalk and clay to decorate their bodies: an old tradition but one which has, in some ways, been kept alive by tourism. Tourism has to be sustainable, but if managed well, its culture can be retained slightly differently. The Omo Valley tribes are, however, under threat from outside influences apart from tourism—acculturation, agribusiness, government control, roads, communications and the Gibe III dam. The latter deprived the tribes of river flooding and water as well as being used for the irrigation of commercial crops on land leased to the Chinese, for example.Try it!