Afar

Ethnicity, essentially nomadic, with a thousand-year-old span of the Horn of Africa, in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. They speak the language of the same name. They soon converted to Islam and continue to practice their ancestral customs, closed to outside influences. They are known to be hostile to visitors, mainly those who have not applied for permission from the chief to visit or cross the territory, which they consider to be their property, huge territory of 150.000 km2 which extends across all three countries. Arid and warm territory. Afar are aware of their flora and their nutritional and medicinal properties. The fauna is abundant because it is not a hunter's village. They traditionally work salt, coming from Lake Assalé and from large areas of salt, vestiges of an old evaporated sea. The salt bricks were coin until well advanced the century XX. In Afar dominates Ethiopian morphology, tall, thin, with curly hair or forming slings. Women take care of the house, the children, and the sale of animals, while men deal mainly with cattle, dromedaries and oxen.