The Awash River, in the Danakil desert, is home to the Afar people, a dominant ethnic group in the Horn of Africa, who speak a language called Saho. The Afar typically raise livestock in the desert and depend on it for their livelihood. Meanwhile, the lower Awash River valley contains some of the most important paleontological sites in Africa. Some remains found there date back at least four million years. It is home to fragments of a skeleton that were used to construct the famous Lucy fossil. (ARIADNE VAN ZANDBERGEN—ALAMY)