Turmei is a small crossroads town, but an important market place for people from the surrounding countryside.
Turmei is a good base from which to visit villages of the Karo and Dassanech people. The Karo people are traditionally pastoralists, with goats as their main livestock. They also practice spear-fishing in the Omo river. Karo men are best known for their elaborate body painting before important ceremonies. Like many tribes in the region, the Karo people are polygamous, but marriage is usually with the consent of the two partners, rather than arranged. However, custom does not allow younger members of the family to marry before their elder relatives are married.
The Dassanech tribe, living around Omerate, is not strictly defined by ethnicity but has absorbed a wide range of different people over time. The Dassanech are divided into eight main clans, each of which is believed to have special powers over different things such as water, crocodiles, snakes, diseases, drought, eye infections, scorpion bites and muscular problems. Members of the same clan are forbidden from marrying (or even dancing with) each other. Both men and women of the Dassanech adorn themselves with beads and bracelets.