Omo
Omo is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 6.71°, 36.73°
About Omo
The Omo River (Amharic: ኦሞ ወንዝ, romanized: Omo Wenz; also called Omo-Bottego) in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and it empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. The river is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin, the Turkana Basin.
The river basin is famous for its large number of early hominid fossils and archeological findings such as early stone tools, leading to its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Omo River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Omo in Depth
Geography
The Omo River forms through the confluence of the Gibe River, by far the largest total tributary of the Omo River, and the Gojeb River, a large right-bank tributary of the Omo. Given their sizes, lengths and courses one might consider both the Omo and the Gibe rivers to be one and the same river but with different names. Consequently, the whole river basin is sometimes called the Omo-Gibe River Basin. This river basin includes part of the western Oromia Region and the middle of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.
Its course is generally to the south, however with a major bend to the west at about 7° N 37° 30' E to about 36° E where it turns south until 5° 30' N where it makes a large S-bend then resumes its southerly course to Lake Turkana.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Omo River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Omo: Key Facts
| Length | 760 km |
|---|---|
| Source | Wabe River |
| Mouth | Lake Turkana |
| Tributaries | Gojeb River, Denchya River, Gibe River, Mui River, Usno River, Wabe River, Mantsa River, Zigina River |
Facts from Wikidata Q273456 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Omo: Quick Answers
- Where is Omo?
- Omo is located in Ethiopia, at 6.7120° N, 36.7302° E.
- Are there dams on the Omo?
- No dam on the Omo is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.