They are located in the lower Omo river, on the shores of Lake Turkana, both in the Ethiopian and Kenyan parts.
Most are nomads. Their main means of subsistence is livestock, men dedicate themselves to the care of large herds of cows, women cultivate sorghum, wheat and coffee, they also practice fishing and in the most accessible villages they supplement their income with the money they obtain from visits and photographs of tourists.
During the dry season they move with their herds to the east of the ILLEMI region that forms a triangle that encompasses territories of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan. The pastures of this region have to be shared with four other towns (Turkana, Didinga, Toposa and Nyangatom), which in many occasions causes violent conflicts between them.
The Dassanetch people are divided into eight subgroups with different origins. (Inkabelo, Inkoria, Naritch, Elele, Randal, Oro, Koro and Riele) All but the Koro and Oro, who are completely nomadic, have their own assigned territories.
Dassanetch are polygamous. They continue to practice circumcision and clitoroidectomy. Although they are animists, they commit and offer animal sacrifices to the god Wago.
While the men leave to take care of their herds, in the towns women, children and the elderly remain.
It is the women who build the houses, with a structure of branches, hemispherical in shape and covered with sheets, skins and papyri. The use of bottle caps and remains of products from the modern world, both in their buildings and in their clothing, has made them famous as recyclers.