Men dance during a month-long Dassanech ceremony. They wear leopard, cheetah or serval cat skins draped on their backs and black ostrich-feather headdresses. They dance holding long sticks and simulated shields. Their faces and bodies are smeared with mud giving them a singular appearance.The Dassanech people live in the Omo Delta of southwest Ethiopia, one of the largest inland deltas in the world. It is also one of the least accessible and least developed parts of East Africa. As such, the culture, social organization, customs and values of the people have changed less than elsewhere.The Dassanech speak a language of Eastern Cushitic origin. They practice animal husbandry and fishing as well as agriculture.