The Dasanech, alternatively known as the Galeb or Reshiat, range across a large territory following the western banks of the Omo River to Lake Turkana. Local oral tradition, reinforced by that of the Turkana, recounts that the Dasanech migrated to their current homeland from a region called Nyupe, to the west of Turkana, after being forced out by the expansionist wars of the Turkana in the late 18th C. Like the Turkana, Samburu and Gabbar of northern Kenya, the Dasanesh/Galeb were originally pure pastoralists, living an almost totally nomadic lifestyle. The abundant water frontage and fertile soil of their present territory has subsequently pushed them towards a more diverse subsistence economy, based around fishing and agriculture as well as herding livestock.

The Konso inhabit an isolated region of basalt hills-essentially an extension of the southern highlands-lying at an altitude range of 1,500m to 2000m, and flanked to the east by the semi-desert Borena lowlands and to the west by the equally harsh Lower Omo Valley. Mixed agriculturists, the Konso make the most of the hard, rocky slopes that characterize their relatively dry and infertile homeland through a combination of extensive rock terracing, the use of animal dung as fertilizer, crop rotation, and hard work. Traditionally, a waga will be erected above the grave of any important Konso man or worrier, surrounded by smaller statues of his wife and defeated foes.