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Ethiopia was an amazing country, especially the visit to the north. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the rock churches in Lalibela and participating in the Timkat Festival. In fact if you ever go to Ethiopia I would urge you to go when the festival is scheduled (late January); it made the trip so much more meaningful and enjoyable. The history of the country and its earlier role in the world is fascinating and I was amazed at how little I knew about the culture and history.

The trip extension to see the tribes in the Omo Valley of southern Ethiopia was a disappointment and I would not suggest it unless you really need to experience it. The driving distances made for long days on the road. The hotels, for the most part, were a big disappointment, as were the visits to the tribes. The latter might be as a result of their recent change to how they would be compensated for picture taking. My tribal visits (except for the Dorze tribe) were nowhere as informative or entertaining as the ones we experienced in Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Was I glad I went? Definitely! Would I go back?  No, it is a one time visit country for me. It was #93 on my “United Nations Visited Countries” list; #111 if I include territories of countries (like the Azores, Aruba, etc). There are other countries I would still like to see.

A parting word:  “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” Unknown contributor

We are headed back to Addis Ababa today, leaving the hotel at 8 AM. To break up the almost five  hour drive (274 km) Chris has planned a couple of stops to see yet some more of Ethiopia. Near the hotel is the local daily fish market and we stopped for a short tour with a local guide. This market is not what I expected. We are on the shores of Lake Awassa and the fish that are for sale are those caught overnight by local fisherman, mostly catfish, Nile Tilapia and Nile perch. A team of 4-5 fishermen go out in rowboats at night, lay out large nylon nets with empty water bottles as floats, and spend the night on the lake. Part of the group handles 1/2 night while the others sleep in a nearby village, then they trade places during the night. The nets are retrieved early in the morning and brought back to shore where the catch is separated from the nets. There is a fish cleaning house nearby where men clean and filet the fish before offering them for sale and/or sending them to a series of nearby outdoor simplistic restaurants where an Ethiopian fish soup or fried fish  are prepared for waiting customers, mostly men. Oh, the other major visitors to the area are pelicans and storks who wander around looking for scraps. There are always young boys throwing fish scraps to the birds in hopes that tourists will give them some local currency (birr). There are also the souvenir hawkers trying to sell products. There are concerns that the lake is being over fished and the government is building a land based fish farming operation here to make sure that it does not happen. The tour was somewhat interesting because of its uniqueness, but after about 20 minutes we were ready to move on.

By 11:30 we stopped for a brief comfort stop and to pre-order lunches. Then it was more driving. I swear we spent almost as much time in the left lane, passing slower moving trucks, local buses and tuk-tuks as we did in the right lane!  I was amazed at how fast we often drove through the smaller villages, often over 40 mph, even though there were people and animals standing on or at the side of the road. Our drivers were certainly skilled at maneuvering the roads and situations they encountered. I am totally surprised there are not more accidents here.

It was a late (2 PM) lunch at a restaurant overlooking a lake that had been created in an extinct volcano crater. Forty five minutes later we were back on the road for the final 1.5-2 hour (depending on traffic) sprint back to Addis Abba. Thankfully the final stretch was mostly on a major, modern toll road freeway. We did see evidence of some major road building going on, compliments of the Chinese, so future driving to the south (eventually all the way to Kenya) will be easier and faster.

We were back to where we started, the fairly decent (hot water, flushing toilets, AC) Best Western hotel in Addis by 5 PM where we said good by to our drivers and thanking them for our safe journey. Our trip covered over 5400 km (3355 miles).  We had time for a quick shower before meeting at 6 PM for a final group dinner. I changed into the clothes I intended to wear on the plane as I had planned to leave later tonight, rather then spending the last night of the scheduled tour in Addis. International flights from here leave around midnight and had I spent the night I would have had to kill the day tomorrow before flying home. In hindsight it was a great decision and many others wished they had done the same. Everyone was ready to go home!

Dinner was at a Mediterranean inspired restaurant owned by a lady of Armenian heritage. Chris had ordered a set menu that included typical starters (hummus, tabouli , falafel, burek), followed by shish-kabobs of fish, chicken and beef. The restaurant had recently added a wood-fired pizza oven where you order pizza by the meter. Chris wanted to try it so he ordered a “meter” of margarita pizza to augment the meal, not that we needed more food. Everyone agreed the food was excellent and the restaurant was a wise choice. To top off the meal, Chris treated us to gelato at the ice cream store next to our hotel. It was a fitting ending to our trip.

By this time it was a bit after 8 PM. I finished packing up my things and returned to the lobby to catch the complimentary 9 PM hotel shuttle to the airport which was only about 10 minutes away. The airport was crowded as I expected, but flying business class allowed me to find the lightly used business class line and I was able to avoid the madness of the airport. There was even a special line at immigration for diplomats and other VIPs (like business class). I was safely seated in the surprisingly busy business class lounge by 10 PM. We boarded our Ethiopian flight to Frankfurt around 11 PM for a scheduled 11:30 PM departure. There was about a 30 minute departure delay but I was not concerned as I had a fairly long layover in Frankfurt.

Once aboard I put on my slippers, told the stewardess that I intended to sleep and wanted no meals so she put a “do not disturb” sticker by my seat. After take-off I put on a sleep mask and drifted off to a fairly decent five hour sleep. We landed in Frankfurt pretty much on time at 5:19 AM, local time. All in all it was a very nice flight and I was rested.

Trivia:  These big jets land at a speed of about 150 mph; good brakes are important!

The business class lounge in Frankfurt was almost empty when I arrived so I decided to take advantage of the nice free showers they offer there. It is amazing what a hot shower does after a long flight.

I boarded the plane to Seattle with a German pretzel I bought at the terminal; I really enjoy them. Our flight left on time; it is slated to be a 10 + hour flight. Lunch was decent; surprisingly the menu was the same as our flight home from our German river cruise last September. I slept a few hours, worked on the narrative part of my blog relying on hand scribbled notes I had taken on the trip, and watched a movie. I had a window seat hoping to get more pictures of the Canadian mountain ranges as I had on previous trips but our entire flight has been with clouds below so no new pictures. Total transit time Addis Ababa to Seattle was about 24 hours including the layover in Frankfurt.

Yvonne had warned me that it had rained in Seattle every day the entire time I was gone so I had packed my raincoat in the outer pocket of my suitcase so it was readily accessible when I landed. Sure enough I needed it but it felt good alter the dry, sunny weather I had experienced the past three weeks. I caught a cab to the Seattle ferry terminal, then walked on the Bainbridge Island ferry where Yvonne picked me up and brought me safely home to Miller Bay. My “Ethiopian adventure” was over.

It is quite cloudy this morning. People at breakfast said we had lightning, wind and rain last night after midnight. I never heard a thing!

We sadly left the Haile Resort Hotel at 8 AM, continuing our journey northward to the town of Hawassa (also referred to as Awassa), our stop for the night, with a stay at another Haile hotel there.

It rained a bit (sometimes fairly hard) soon after we left and we got to see the effects on the local landscape. The earth does not absorb the water efficiently and the normally dry river beds suddenly began to show some water flow. It reminded me of Arizona. The rain did not last long.

We stopped at a hotel around 10 AM for a comfort stop and coffee, along with what seemed liked every other tour company in this part of Ethiopia. It was so busy and their restaurant was so crowded that the staff set up some tables and chairs on the hotel lawn for several of the groups, including ours. Chris used the opportunity to tell us a bit about the Sidama people who live in this part of Ethiopia, which is called the Sidamo region. The Sidama people are part of the Southern Region of Ethiopia and Hawassa is its capital. Three million people live here. They are mostly Protestants and some 15% claim to still be pagans. This region is where 40% of the Ethiopian coffee is grown; agriculture is important. What makes it intriguing is that the area recently had a referendum and voted that they wanted to become a separate new region (#10) of Ethiopia. As such it would cause a major upheaval in the region. It is now being debated by the government.

We broke up the remaining drive by again stopping at a roadside home of a local tribe of some 600 people who grew sugar cane, false bananas and coffee. It was a home of someone our local driver, Tommy, knew from previous trips. Again we were cordially welcomed and soon a crowd of adults and kids gathered around as the local people explained their lives to us.

I forgot to convey a story of how local people advertise food/drink for sale. If there is a stick outside a home with a cup on it, it means the owner has locally made beer for sale. If there is a dish it means food is available for sale. We did not stop at any of the establishments to try them, however.

We were at the Haile hotel in Awassa  by early afternoon. Awassa is a fairly large city, located 170 miles south of Addis Ababa, with a population of 315,000 people. It is also a high elevation city: 5604 feet.

Later that afternoon we were given the opportunity to go on a short  “nature” walk in a nearby Amora Gedel National Park on the shores of Lake Awassa where we would likely see monkeys and other waterbirds who live there. It turned out to be a pretty fascinating walk as we saw dozens of storks who inhabited the area and several species of monkeys, including the beautiful, colorful colobus monkey. The colobus  monkey is so tame it will eat peanuts out of your hand and several of us took advantage of the picture opportunity!

We also walked along the lake shore where there were a series of bars and restaurants (and souvenir stands) where locals gathered for food, drink and conversation.

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Dinner was a buffet at the hotel. Tomorrow we will be back in Addis Ababa and the trip will come to an end.

 

I slept a full 9 hours last night, a record for this trip!  It is cloudy this morning with some fog. It is expected to be a leisurely day as we did the hard work yesterday. Everyone was pleased with these accommodations compared to what we had to endure in Turmi.

Chris has planned a short 9 AM talk at the hotel about the Omo Valley followed by a 9:30 departure to Arba Minch. It is expected to take 2-3 hours max, depending on the morning commuter traffic, i.e. how many animals we encounter on the road!

Omo Vally and Erhiopia Wrap-up

• 500,000 people live in the south
• The dams (3) that are being built will affect life here, as they will force changes in agriculture customs. The tribes need food and water for their animals.
• The dammed rivers flow into a lake (Lake Turkana) shared with Kenya. Problems are expected to arise once the dams are complete.
• Ethiopia is now #2 in population after Nigeria. The population is increasing because people are living longer
• 3% or rural population have access to electricity, 80% of Ethiopians do not live in cities. They need electricity, and that is the reason for the building of dams.
• Some tensions between tribes because of the dams. It is hard to simply move people to new areas, as others are already living there.
• Chinese are here for cotton, Indians are here for sugar cane. There is some gold and potash in country.
• There are about 80 separate tribes in Ethiopia; we visited the Dorze, Mursi, Kara and Hamar tribes.
• “When one door closes another door opens”.  An African proverb.

We took the back road to Arba Minch to allow us to see some new territory. As tour buses rarely take this route we were celebrities and kids vigorously waved as we drove by. We made a roadside stop when we saw some gentlemen packaging some young tree branches with green leaves on them. It turns our they were harvesting “chat” (also known as khat and qat), a leafy stimulant that is chewed. It grows in this area and is legal in this part of the world.  Chat contains the alkaloid cathinone, a stimulant which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite, and euphoria. It is also considered a solution for insomnia. Among communities from the areas where the plant is native, chat chewing has a history as a social custom dating back thousands of years, analogous to the use of coca leaves in South America. It is a perennial crop that grows in this region and is an important source of income for local farmers. Much of it gets exported to neighboring countries where it is also legal. We were offered samples to try but we graciously declined.

We arrived at the Haile Resort in Arba Minch in time to have a late lunch on the outdoor patio and spend a relaxing afternoon/evening at our now favorite hotel of the trip!

Not a pleasant night. Even though there was a mosquito net around my bed small gnats managed to get in and bother me as I tried to work on my blog. I finally gave up at 9:30 and turned out all the lights to avoid the bug onslaught.  Luckily they quit bothering me and I was able to fall asleep.

I awoke in the night to dead quiet and realized they had shut off the power to the hotel so my fan quit working. At 5 AM a local rooster and the electric power kicked back on telling me it was time to get up.

Chris had arranged for a 6 AM breakfast and a pull away time of 7 AM. I am sure everyone will be delighted to move on! We basically will drive an extra two hours today, but will have two hours less of a drive the next day. Everyone agreed it would be worth it.

Breakfast was surprisingly decent given where we are. They had peeled boiled eggs and of all things, crepes which were excellent. I had two with honey.  Their bread was also quite good and many of us made peanut butter and jam sandwiches for our later lunch as we drive back to Konso.

The visit this morning was to a village of the Kara (means “fish”) people, who live near the Omo River. Unfortunately it required a 90 minute ride on dirt roads to reach it. The Kara tribe numbers about 8000 and live in three villages. The one we are visiting has 1500 people living there. They live by fishing and agriculture; they do have cattle but not as many as other tribes. They consider themselves similar to the Hamar tribe but there have been some conflicts between the tribes. The women practice scarification and the men wear white chalk paint in patterns that mimic the guinea hen, common to the area. Men also perform bull jumping as part of the path to manhood. The tribe sometimes has conflicts with the Hamar tribe who also live in the area.

It started to drizzle a bit when we arrived but it was intermittent so it did not impact our visit. The little kids were very interested in us and commonly sought to hold hands with the people in our group. One little guy who couldn’t have been more than 18 months held hands with one of the men the entire time we were at the village. A local guide from the village explained the Kara way of life and arranged for us to take photos of the people living there. They also had implemented the 200 birr for all the pictures you wanted scenario and the villagers seemed more willing to accommodate this new method rather than the old 5 birr per picture. The tribe appears to be a bit more advanced than other tribes we visited in that we saw a few “modern” homes for the richer people and some mechanized farm equipment. We were also surprised to meet villagers who spoke decent English. We spent a total of one hour there, then started the long 90 minute trek back to where we came from. It was a long journey for such a short visit.

The nearest town to our hotel is called Turmi and today was market day for the Hamar tribe. We stopped and another local guide walked us around explaining what people were selling or bartering. This is a small, local market and deals with day to day needs of the people living here. It was much more enjoyable than the large city markets we have seen. We took some select photos (5 birr each) of specific people (no charge for distant pictures of the marketplace) before leaving the area for our two hour drive back to the town of Konso where we will be staying the night at the hotel (Kanta Lodge) we stayed before coming south.  No one complained of the added two hour drive. In reality we would be taking this same drive tomorrow if we stayed a 2nd night at the Kizo Hotel in Turmi, so tomorrow’s journey back northward will simply be two hours shorter. Everyone was thrilled.

 The intermittent rain in the area made some of the road quite slippery (it is mostly clay) so we had to slow down a bit when passing through those wet places. By 1:30 we were back in Jinka where we stopped at a local hotel where we ate our “takeout “ lunches (I ate my peanut butter sandwich) and stretched our legs. Amazingly we had no sooner arrived when local entrepreneurs set up their souvenir shop and enticed us to buy their products. The sales people are mainly elementary and high school kids and they are pretty good at negotiating to maximize their profits. It is a good learning experience for kids so young.

Back on the road at 2:30 for our last leg of the trip, another two hour drive back to the Kanta Lodge in Konso where everyone looked forward to decent rooms and hot showers. Dinner was again ala carte at the hotel and the meals were as good as they were a couple of nights ago.

Our venture into the southern part of the Omo valley has come to an end and we will begin our trip northward back to Addis Ababa.  Tomorrow we have a leisurely 2-3 hour drive back to Arba Minch and the marvelous Haile resort where we had previously spent two nights. Everyone is eager to return to it!

The night was warmer and the room was too warm for my liking. There were screens on the windows but the cross ventilation was minimal. I slept with only a light coverlet. A fan would have been nice. There was mosquito netting over the beds but so far I have not seen any mosquitoes, which is a welcome benefit. This morning it is already 69 degrees with a high of 84 predicted.

This hotel (Kanta Lodge) is beautifully landscaped; there are blooming flowers everywhere, including plumeria of all things!  The rooms are individual round bungalows designed to look like native huts. There is only internet in the restaurant area but it is not bad when it is operating and not too many people are trying to use it at the same time.

The weather says there is an 80% chance of showers today so I unpacked my raincoat to have it handy if needed. It is party cloudy this morning but no near term hint of rain. A little rain might be nice to knock down the persistent presence of dust. We wonder if the people living here suffer from lung diseases as a result of breathing it day in and day out.

Breakfast is again minimal but adequate. Peanut butter seems to make it on all the breakfast menus and it makes a nice change of pace from the normal eggs, vegetable and rice dishes that seem to be on every menu.

We have another short talk by Chris at 8:30 AM with a plan to leave by 9 AM when we head further south to visit other tribes in the region. Our goal today is to visit the Hamar people which has 46,000 members. Their wealth is in the number of cattle they own. This is the group that conducts the bull jumping ceremony as part of a youth’s entry to manhood. It commonly occurs in the autumn so we will not experience it. We will see more body scarification. The “first” wife of a man  wears a metal collar with a special protrusion to indicate her seniority; his other wives wear simple metal collars. These people, both men and women, really are concerned about their hairdos. The women put butter and red ochre clay in their hair to give it an orange sheen. The hairdos are quite elaborate. The men use wooden head rests to keep their hairdos off the ground when sleeping. (There is some confusion whether only married women have the elaborate hairdos).

Our destination for the next two nights will be Turmi, which is not very far from the northern border of Kenya.  We had to retrace our steps almost back to Jinka, using roads we were on yesterday as this part of Ethiopia does not have many roads.

Our caravan made a couple of stops along the way to break up the monotony. We walked across a bridge where we viewed the activity (swimming, washing clothes, washing cars, bathing) occurring on the river below and then an impromptu stop at another home where we simply asked the occupants if we could visit. Again they graciously accepted our intrusion.

Later we stopped at a questionable roadside hotel near Jinka to eat our picnic lunch. Because the food was questionable in this part of the country we brought pre-made sandwiches from our hotel where we stayed last night. Our choices were pretty basic: egg, vegetable, tuna or beef. I was leery of the beef quality and chose the egg sandwich. I had to laugh when opening it as it was simply an egg omelet sandwiched in a bun; there were no condiments on it!  As usual it was huge and I could only eat 1/2. It was awfully bland but the bun was fresh and tasty. I was sorry I had not made a peanut butter sandwich at breakfast as some others did. Of well, maybe dinner will make up for it.

Although the distance from Jinka to Turmi was only 80 km (48 miles) it was estimated it would take at least 2 hours to get there!  Welcome to southern Ethiopia. The reason was because it was 48 miles of a washboard, dirt road. Normal highway speeds were simply out of the question. There were even sections where an alternative roadway had been created parallel to the main road because it offered smoother travel. Sure enough we arrived at about 3 PM to what we had been expecting to be an upscale hotel where we are scheduled to stay for two nights as we explore the area.

Surprise! The supposed “new” Kizo hotel is a dump!  Rooms are spartan and most of us had no hot water. There are no screens on the windows so you dare not open them for ventilation. At least there was a fan in the room and mosquito netting that sort of fit around the bed! Everyone was incensed and threatened to mutiny; so much so that Chris, our tour director, immediately began looking for alternative accommodations at the few nearby hotels in the area. One of our group suggested we accelerate our viewing tomorrow and simply head back to the more civilized accommodations in the Jinka area where we had stayed a few nights ago. There was no way we were going to spend two nights at this hotel. Someone really screwed up by not vetting this hotel before they committed to it.

While this option was being explored we were met at 4:45 PM to go visit a nearby village of the Hamar tribe who occupy this area. We learned there are 100 villages belonging to them, with 100-400 people in each village. We learned that they, too, have implemented the “200 birr, take all the pictures you want” pricing, rather than the older 5 birr per person per photo. We immediately wondered if this system has been more accepted by the villagers than what we encountered yesterday where the women were not happy at all with the new system.

The village was only 10 minutes away from our hotel as a local guide (also a member of the Hamar tribe) led our tour. It again was obvious that many people did not like this new arrangement, but the village elder barked at the dissidents and order was (?) restored. The women and children lined up and sang us a greeting song. We then proceeded to snap photos and attempted to interact with the villagers. The kids were certainly receptive, wanting to see their photographs. Older children attempted to get many of the women in our group to give them articles of clothing they were wearing. The highlight might have been when one of our travelers gave one of the tribal women her pocket mirror. Supposedly they do not have such things here.

We did get to enter one of their homes to see how they lived. They cook inside, have no lighting and sleep on the ground on animal hides. It is pretty primitive.

After an hour we decide we had enough and returned to the hotel where we learned that they have found alternative hotel accommodations for tomorrow night back at the Kanta Lodge near Jinka. We would have to leave at 7 AM in order to still see other tribes and the local, unique market but everyone eagerly agreed to the plan.

Dinner was modest-a buffet with dry cold French fries, chicken that was obvious free range as it was very, very tough, and goat, which was offered for the first time (and wasn’t bad). Cold beer helped make it all palatable!

People retired early with the hopes that tomorrow will bring better times!

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When we checked in last night we were warned there might be music from a local venue and church chanting that might interrupt our sleeping. The staff offered us ear plugs to use if necessary.  As it turned out the music quit by 9 PM and the church chanting did not begin until 3 AM. Neither proved to be a problem for my sleeping. Because of the mosquito netting around the bed I was concerned they might be a problem.  I have been taking malaria pills but did not want to take chances so I was very careful about sealing the edges of the netting. Again, it turned out to be a non-issue. Most think that because it is the dry season mosquitoes are really not a problem. We survived our night in tents; some people really enjoyed it.

Breakfast was not served until 7 AM so several of us early risers sat on the steps by the locked dining room checking our e-mails. Surprisingly for such a remote camp the internet was fairly decent, but not decent enough to work on my blog.

Our group met with Chris at 8 AM for a brief talk about what we will be seeing today. The highlight is expected to be a visit with the famous Mursi tribe, the tribe noted for women who wear the large lip disks. The lower lips of women are slit when they are about 15-16 years old and disks made of wood or clay are inserted. As the skin expands larger sized disks  are introduced. No one knows the real reason why this tradition began. Some claim it was a beautification measure.

The Mursi tribe peoples are nomads and cattle is their currency. They are considered to be the wealthiest of the tribes, with ~11,500 people living  in 7 different villages. They do practice agriculture, relying on “reverse flood agriculture”. The flooding rivers, when they recede, leave rich soil, which the tribe uses to plant and harvest crops before the next flood season. Dams being built on the rivers (for electricity) are now affecting this flood cycle. Their food source is mainly sorghum oatmeal; they drink blood mixed with milk. They do eat meat, especially during famine times.  The tribes move three times a year to find grazing area and water for their cattle.

Most other tribes want sons; this tribe wants girls as the dowry for marriage is typically 40 cows given by the male in the marriage.  As a right of passage to manhood men participate in fairly vicious form of stick fighting. The winners get first choice of women to marry. Supposedly you can see examples on YouTube.

It was a long two hour drive on a bumpy unpaved road to get to one of the villages where the Mursi  people lived. Surprisingly there were no people walking the roadway and no animals sharing the road with us. This village is in the middle of nowhere.

A local guide at the village gave us more information about the tribe and its culture, including the fact that the marriage dowry is now up to 60 cows and an AK47 rifle (I kid you not).  Men tend to marry when they are 25-26; women are younger. We had been told earlier that the people expected to be paid if you took their picture; the going rate was 5 birr per person. Our local guide said they have recently changed the system. If you take pictures you are expected to pay him 200 birr ($6) and you can take as many pictures as you want. That sounded like an easier system to us. He walked us through the village, pointing out things about their way of life. There were mostly women and children present who, unfortunately were more interested in selling us something than posing for pictures. The most popular item being sold was the lip disk the women wore. These were new decorated disks made of clay with painted designs on them. Most of the designs were similar. We were told a fair price for the smaller disk was 50 birr and 100 birr for the larger one. We were constantly pestered to buy one and even after I bought one they wanted me to buy another. We finally had to ask the village chief to rein in his tribe members, which he did – for awhile.

I was disappointed to find that only a few women were actually wearing their disk. Most walked around with the lower, stretched lip hanging down. Older women, who wore larger disks had to pull some of their lower teeth because the teeth eventually got in the way of the disk. It was not an attractive sight. The government is now trying to dissuade younger people from carrying on the practice, which I would totally agree with.

There were also some evidence of body scarring on some of the women, again for beautification reasons.  There were only a few men in the village and when I asked why, I was told the men know people are there to see the women, not them, so they were probably out somewhere getting drunk on their homemade beer.

We were pretty exhausted after one hour and left the village, enduring the long two hour ride back to Jinka where we had a pleasant late (1:30) lunch at a resort hotel. Chris wanted us to see the local museum that had exhibits on all the major tribes that occupy the Omo Valley. On display were tools, clothing, jewelry, weapons, etc.  that the tribes used in daily life. We also watched a short BBC movie that showed us an actual cattle jumping ceremony, which is practiced by one of the tribes we will visit later.

Our trip to our hotel for the night required another three hour car ride, but at least it was on a paved (most of the time) road to Konso where we had lunch yesterday. As we drove we encountered a heavy rain for a short period of time, the first we have seen since we arrived in Ethiopia. It settled the dust where it rained but it was only in a limited area. We arrived at our hotel by 6 PM; dinner was to be served at 7. Tonight it was a plated dinner rather than another buffet. We had a choice of 6-7 entrees; everyone was pleased.

It was a very long day but unfortunately it was necessary to see the isolated tribes in the Omo Valley. Tomorrow we will visit a few more; each is expected to be diverse in clothing, culture and life style. By the way, the tribes living here in Southern Ethiopia did not know Ethiopia existed until after WWII; they were/are that isolated from the rest of the country.

We left our fabulous Haile Resort hotel at 8 AM to head further south to visit more tribes in the area to explore their cultures and way of life.

Chris tried to teach me some local language. Hello is phonetically said: “Nay Guy Da” and thank you very much is “Ah Mess ah  Ga Nah Lo”. I struggled with them the entire time I was there but the locals seemed to appreciate me trying to speak their language.

The morning temperatures are higher and so are the daytime temperatures, as we are at lower elevation and closer to the equator. The good news is the humidity is low so we remain comfortable.

The roads are getting worse. We seem to have about 1-2 blocks of pavement followed by a stretch of rocky, unpaved road. However, there was evidence of some road construction underway. The roads became better after awhile, I.e. all paved.  We still had to deal with all the pot holes, by weaving back and forth across the roadway. You could get seasick from all that motion! And there was always the presence of animals on the road.

At 9:15 AM we stopped at the side of the road to see some bee hives that are located in the trees, the typical way the Ethiopians collect honey. The hives are hollowed out logs in which a queen bee is placed; she does the rest. It is traditionally considered to be man’s work because of necessity of climbing trees.  Funny story: They have experimented with ground-based hives (like we use) which the women controlled as they could easily service them. People said it would not work.They were wrong and they are learning the women are better at managing the system!  The men may lose out in the end.

Our major destination was a visit to a Konso village. The Konso people are agriculture based people who ironically live in fortified, walled villages located high on the mountain side (1700 meters). We were warned that any photo we took would involve a payment of 5 birr to the person we photograph. That is why Chris gave each of us a big bundle (100) of brand new five birr notes to use as we visited the tribes in the area. If there are two people in the photo you are expected to pay each person. That is the one way the people in the Omo Valley make money!  Once we arrived we learned they have changed their policy. We are free to take photos of children at no cost  as the adults did not want the children to learn bad habits. For adults we are expected to pay the 5 birr/person fee. Our local guide said he would keep track of what we took (and of whom) and we can pay him afterwards; he would distribute the funds to the people involved after we leave.

A local person told us about the Konso people and their culture. There are 300,000 Konso people in the area. They live in 42 villages involving 9 clans. The village we are visiting  is listed as a UNESCO site.  We were walked through the village and shown how they live. An important aspect of their culture is the use of carved wooden statues marking the graves of village chiefs and heroes. They were originally a pagan society and the use of phallic symbols was/is part of their art. They have an interesting way of telling time over generations. Every 18 years a generation change is assumed to occur and they add a tree trunk to a growing number of trunks at their central meeting point in the village. A new generation is then assumed to take over.  Right now there are 49 tree trunks there, inferring the village dates back 882+ years!

There are a series of circular rock walls surrounding the village. As the village grows they add another ring; currently there is three separate stone walls surrounding the village; each wall ranges from 2-4 meters in height. These walls were used as part of their fortification system. There are a heck of a lot of rocks here! We did not enter any homes on this visit; we simply walked through the village , taking “free” photos of the many kids who came to see us, and occasional pictures of adults who were especially photogenic in our eyes. The exit of the tour took us past the mandatory shopping area where local art and craft was for sale. Their major offerings were made of wood although they also do weaving. Prices were cheap and people made some sales, myself included.

By 1 PM we were sitting down to our pre-ordered lunch at a restaurant in Konso in a lovely setting with blooming flowers, overlooking the valley. They offered the usual menu choices; the same as we see at every other restaurant we had eaten at. There has not been much variation in the offerings. I settled for the spaghetti with meat sauce, a safe option which has been tasty in the past. The good Italian food is a legacy of the Italian occupation in the 1930s.

We left at 2 PM to continue our journey. The landscape is lovely; green and lush with very few homes or people. It is now warmer and a bit more humid. We descended into the Omo Valley and the Omo River where we will be visiting some more tribes who live here.

Chris provided a fun stop on our way to Jinka when we pulled off to the side of the road where 9 young boys were standing on wood stilts of varying length. They are members of the Bena tribe which means their face and bodies were decorated with white chalk. Tommy, our driver, negotiated with them to allow us to take as many photos as we liked for 30 birr ($1)each. Normally they would want 5 birr (~15 cents) for each picture. We snapped away as they posed and deftly managed to not fall; they were darn good!

A little after 5 PM we arrived at the Eco-Omo Lodge in Jinka. It is basically a tented camp in the middle of the forest. The “rooms” are tents located atop wooden platforms. They are VERY basic, but at least they are “in suite”! No AC but there is a big floor fan and there is mosquito netting around the bed. Time will tell if I will need it. There is hot water from 6-9 PM and 6-8 in the AM. After our marvelous experience at the Haile Resort this is obvious a bit of a letdown. The good news is we will only be here for one night.

Internet was only available in the dining room but it seemed adequate given where we were. The buffet dinner was decent.

 

There was a gorgeous sunrise over the nearby mountains and even a few clouds in the air, the first we have seen since we arrived in Ethiopia. Our first stop for the day was taking a boat ride on Lake Chamo, one of the three largest lakes in the Great Rift Valley. The purpose of the excursion was to look for hippos and crocodiles that live in this lake.

We broke into two smaller groups and boarded small skiffs powered by ancient outboard motors. What was humorous were the life vests they provided. They were old, with broken zippers and ties. I doubt the floatation in them even works. We had to be optimistic that they would somehow save us if we really needed them.  There had been some unseasonable rains a few weeks ago and the lake was higher than normal so there was some concern whether the animals would be found. Not to worry we saw 3-5 hippos in the water and three crocodiles, including one that was over 20 feet long. I had seen large crocodiles in Kenya but never this close. We also got pictures of fish eagles and some large storks. All in all it was a successful two hour ride.

After lunch back at the hotel Chris gave us a short talk on the Great Rift Valley where we are. The  valley ranges from 30-300 miles in width and can be seen from space. It was caused by the shifting tectonic plates under the area, causing the area to be pulled apart. It is still moving, about 1 inch per year. Someday Somalia will be an island. He also told us that Ethiopia is divided into nine regions and that we are now in the Southern Region which has 45 different cultural groups living here.

Later that afternoon we left to visit one of the tribes that inhabit the area, the Dorze tribe. They are known for the terracing of the land for agriculture. The village ( with a population of about 7800) was fairly close by but it was an hour ride up a dirt road to an elevation of about 7000 feet. There are 12 villages of Dorze peoples with a total population of 47,000. The 25 year old son of the family compound we visited briefed us on their way of life. Besides the terracing of land what distinguishes the Dorze is the structure of their homes, which resemble bee hives. Only these structures, made of bamboo and banana leaves, are several stories high, at least early in their lives. The problem is termites which gradually eat away the lower portion of the home over time. After about 5 years the inhabitants simply cut off the lower portion and physically move the home to a new spot. It is shorter but still inhabitable. Eventually it becomes too short to use for living so it becomes a storage facility. The homes can last 70-150 years. We were able to enter their home and see how it is built and occupied. Rather amazing is that they do have a spot inside the home for their animals who provide a source of heat because nights are cold at these altitudes. Surprisingly I could not detect any strong animal odor in the home.

The other interesting aspect of their lives/culture is their growing and use of the “false” banana tree. It is called a false banana tree because although it looks like a real banana tree it does not produce any fruit. The Dorze use all parts of the plant. The leaves are used in building their homes and as a fan, the trunk is used to make a bread called “kocho” (which was on the buffet menu last night),  and the roots are used for making porridge or a potato-like dish. We were given demonstrations of each of the steps in making the bread, including sampling some that was freshly baked for us. Accompanying that was a sample of their local, homemade liquor along with their traditional drink salutation, which is hard to describe. You had to have been there!

The Dorze are also known for their weaving skills. Interestingly the men do the weaving; women only spin the cotton thread used in the weaving. The tribe even grows its own cotton. Trivia:  A woman working 10 hours/day can make 12 skeins of yarn and it takes 3 skeins to weave a scarf.

We were entertained a bit by the local villagers who sang and performed some tribal dances. One entrepreneurial activity the family has introduced is building some bee hive homes that are used as weekend rentals for tourists who want to experience tribal life.

We walked through the village to see where the men did the weaving. Unfortunately it is no different than what we all have seen in other countries around the world. We suggested to Chris that this portion of the tour could be easily skipped. There was also a bit of time to shop for woven products made by the village cooperative before we had to leave to make sure we were not driving in the dark, which is not recommended because of the terrain. (I later decided that this visit turned out to be the best tribal visit on this portion of the trip).

Another decent buffet at the hotel completed our day’s activities.

The first part of our Ethiopian adventure is coming to an end as we fly back to Addis Ababa today.

We had all night chanting again, supposedly because today (January 21) is the feast day of St. Michael, so the celebration goes for one more day!  People were walking toward the ceremonial grounds for yet another service. I asked if chanting goes on every night and was told it occurs only on feast days (of which there are many), plus 1-2 days a week. Apparently it is a way of life here.

We left the hotel for a ~ 25 minute drive to the airport at 7:45AM. The airport is tiny, as expected. There were only two other vehicles in the area also unloading small tour groups. We were told there would be two security checks even here and sure enough there was; one when you entered the terminal and one when you enter the gate area. Once again having a tour director made life easier. He simply collected our passports and told us to sit down and relax. He orchestrated the check in, tagging the baggage and collecting the boarding passes for us. Nice! We were safely seating in the boarding area by 9 AM, waiting for our 10:05 departure. There were no planes at the airport until 9:10 when a plane landed. No sooner it was unloaded then we were being boarded. We actually took off 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Once back in Addis we will have the afternoon free before our group dinner. Only one of our group is not going on the southern leg of this adventure, where the emphasis is on the tribes who live there. It will be more like what we think of Africa- nomadic tribes living nomadic lives. I spent the afternoon relaxing and trying to get caught up on my blog entries, at which I had limited success. I did wander next door when I heard there was a good gelato store (we had not seen or had ice cream in two weeks). It was heavenly!

Because this is theoretically the end of the first tour there was a final group dinner at a local restaurant, where the major theme was Italian which everyone appreciated. Better yet, the food was very good.

Tomorrow we meet our new driving team; we retain our lead Ethiopian driver, Tommy, but get a new team of supplemental drivers for the trip south.