South Ethiopia. 2011. Omo Valley. Along the oriental shore of the Omo River near the Karo village, children are playing by jumping in the sand. The Karo village is located in a natural bights of the Omo River. Karos are a small tribe with an estimated population between 1,000 and 3,000 people and lives thanks to fishing and cultivation made possible by the flooding of the Omo River. Currently, the river forest seen in the background has been demolished and replaced by an extensive cotton plantation of a foreign private company. Following the construction and commissioning of the Gibe III dam, the flooding of the Omo River has stopped, depriving the Karo population of the possibility of cultivating those products that today they’re forced to buy at the market.
Ethiopia. 2016. The Gibe III dam. At the moment, Gibe III is the highest
dam in Central Africa. Inaugurated in December 2016, it’s 240 meters
high, and once in full regime, it will produce an out coming energy if 1879 MW. Currently the Gibe III, with a total cost of 1.4 billion Euros, is the largest investment project ever made in all of Africa. Built about 300 km south of Addis Ababa and completely immersed in an uncontaminated natural environment, the beginning of the functioning of the dam, has created an artificial lake measuring some 150 KM long and 211 square kilometres. Its construction has reduced the level of the Omo River to such an extent that the floods in the lower Omo Valley are no longer guaranteed.
South Ethiopia. 2016. Omorate area. Dassanech kids look the caterpillars used to asphalt the road that leads to Kenya, made by the Chinese. The road is placed just a few hundred meters from the Dassanech villages. All the road network in the Omo Valley is about to be paved by Chinese companies.
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