Ethiopia. Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. Omo Valley. Turmi. Hamar tribe (also spelled Hamer). Pastoralist group. Hamar women wear an elaborately decorated goatskin, often colored with beads and cowries. Beaded necklaces, bracelets and waistbands adorn their bodies. Hamer women indulge in elaborate hairdressing by decorating their hair with clay and butter twisted into a striking long plait. Thick scars coloured dull red and black cover the backs of women belonging to Ethiopia's Hamar tribe as a legacy of an initiation rite that sees them whipped and beaten bloody. The Omo Valley, situated in Africa’s Great Rift Valley, is home to an estimated 200,000 indigenous peoples who have lived there for millennia. Amongst them are 60'000 to 70'000 Hamar, an Omotic community inhabiting southwestern Ethiopia. They live in Hamer woreda (or district), a fertile part of the Omo River valley, in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR) which is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. 10.11.15 © 2015 Didier Ruef