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!