Tribes of the Lower Omo Valley - Arba Minch, Ethiopia
Arba Minch, Ethiopia
If you could picture what traditional tribal villages and villagers were like in Africa, you would probably be picturing the tribes of the Lower Omo Valley. This is the stuff that you see on National Geographic documentaries. So far in my journey I had met and learned about so many different cultures such as the Xhosa of South Africa, the Himba of Namibia, the Bushmen of Botswana, the Masaai in Tanzania, the Batwa in Uganda, etc. but this experience took it to a new level.
I flew from Gonder back to Addis Ababa, where I would start a heading south with my recently acquired travel friend Veronica. I had met Veronica on the second leg of my Danakil Depression tour a week earlier and she graciously invited me to join in on a 7 day tour of the Lower Omo Valley that she had already arranged. Veronica looks Ethiopian, but is actually half Cuban/half Russian, born in Russia, grew up in Canada and moved to the US when she was 13. After working in advertising in NYC for 4 years, she recently graduated with an MBA from Cornell and is working as program manager for the non-profit organization Save the Children in southern Iraq where she is confined to a compound that she lives and works. Every two months she gets 2.5 weeks leave and she was in Ethiopia visiting her friend from Business School who is working for a wine company in Addis Ababa and traveling around. She is a veteran traveler and conquered over 40 countries. Her worldly experience, intelligence and desire to learn about new things made her the perfect person to spend the following week with and there was never a dull moment. Our transportation for the week consisted of a minibus filled with character. The dashboard was covered with a red synthetic fur, with matching seat covers and window drapes. Up front was our driver Abokar and our guide Menayehu (pronounced Menayo) and in the back was our mechanic and door opener, Malcolm. Although we had the entire minibus to ourselves, it wasn't the most comfortable due to lack of leg room and padding in the seats. We spent our time in the front seat switching constantly shifting between the left and right sides to be able to sit on different butt cheeks, that took a beating after spending 50+ hours on bumpy dirt roads and paved roads that were disintegrating due to cheap Chinese construction.
We visited with 6 different tribes during our time in the valley, went to 3 different markets, spent the night in 1 village and ate a lot of horrible meals. The cultural experience was amazing, but the beautiful landscapes were not far behind. We even took in a little wildlife with flocks of birds, hippos and the largest crocodiles I had seen on Lake Chama near Arba Minch.
Veronica was the designated photographer for the trip. I am in the process of transferring the pictures, but in the mean time follow the link to the facebook album. I have also taken some lesser quality photos with my point and shoot that are included below.
https://www.facebook.com/veronica.lesca y/media_set?set=a.10101992945927420.107 3741834.23918548&type=3
Below is a more in depth look at our time with a day by day breakdown.
Day 1: Addis Ababa to Arba MinchThe entire day consisted of driving down to Arba Minch. We had a late start due to my flight not arriving until the late morning and the crew not being able to find Veronica's friend's apartment. There were only two exciting things that happened our first day: we had to negotiate payments and we almost died in a car accident.
Planning and transparency are not two of the strong suits of African culture. Once we were on our way, we had to negotiate with Mitiku, Menayo's older brother who arranges the tours and the person who Veronica had dealt with while arranging the tour about when and how we would pay for the trip. Even though you he had good write-ups from Trip Advisor, my previous experience told me handing over $840 up-front to an independent guy in Africa is not the wisest thing. But I also understand that most people don't have reserves of money and that they would need to be able to buy fuel and cover our meals and accommodation. After some lengthy unsuccessful discussions with Veronica, he eventually gave in when a male voice told him the way it was going to work would be that we would pay up front for 2 days, every 2 days which was far and that was the end of story. It is amazing the lack of respect or acknowledgement of women many African men have, but as we would learn even more during this trip it is deeply rooted in the tribal and religious culture.
The other fun experience consisted of almost getting killed due a crazy donkey. The sun was setting and Abokar was racing to get us to Arba Minch as soon as possible (but was still about 2 hours away). Donkeys pulling carts in the road are a normal thing, but as we went to pass on the left a donkey decided to make a hard left as well at a 45 degree angle. We were going fast, but Abokar managed to swerve left to avoid the donkey cart only to find an oncoming donkey cart and pedestrians heading our way and swerved to the right. The swerving was the type where you felt like the car was going to flip and start rolling. We ended up off the right side shoulder and he managed to hold it straight as the car eventually came to a halt after pumping the brakes. The three Ethiopians began crossing themselves and mumbling prayers under their breath, while Veronica and I looked at each other in shock of what just happened and realized that that could have been the end. Then the doors opened, we got out looked at the vehicle for a minute and saw that everything was okay. So the next step was to start cursing and yelling at the driver of the donkey cart in Amharic. I really wish that we were able to understand what was being said, but I can assure that it was not nice. After more astonishment that we were still alive we got back in the car and continued onto Arba Minch, this time at a much slower pace. We also kindly requested to be careful of the donkey carts.
Day 2: Arba Minch to Turmi (Dimeka Market and night with the Hamer)
We started the day with more driving as we entered the town of Konso, the gateway to the Omo Valley. After a full day and a half that consisted of just driving (with some beautiful landscapes) it felt like we actually got to begin our trip as we arrived to the Dimeka Market.
Since it was a Tuesday it was a smaller market but was filled with the Hamer who were selling coffee, vegetables, grains, tobacco, the ochre they put in their hair and countless other items. We had a local guide who showed us around and explained the Hamer culture to us. Some of the things that stood out to me were the women wore rings around their neck and the type of ring they wore signified if they were a first, second or third wife. The married women also had backs that were scarred (and often times open wounds from recently) from being whipped by their husbands, where they encouraged the beatings to show their love for the men. There was also scarring all over their body, but particularly their arms and bellies, cut using razor blades. They also wore ochre on their hair that was like braids cut in bowl style and wore gourds as hats.
It started to rain while at the market, so we went to a local restaurant to seek shelter and grab lunch. After lunch, Veronica noticed a group of men in the corner and commented that one of them had a nice butt. Being an instigator, I had our guide ask him if Veronica could take a picture with him. He declined the picture, but a couple minutes they passed by us on their way out and joined us for some coffee. We had some good conversations through our translator and then Bordo actually invited us to spend the night in his village and meet his wife and son. We decided to purchase a goat and also provided a kilo of maize and 6 litres of tej (honey wine) to have a feast and a enjoy the night.
We spent the evening drinking coffee, tej, cooking the goat and hanging out in the village taking in the culture. The slaughter of the goat was similar to what I witnessed with the Masaai in Tanzania, with the biggest difference being that they did not drink the blood and did not make a stew. They do eat every single part of the goat which is really impressive and nasty at the same time. It was a great evening, but I think I became disgusted by the goat because it did not taste good and the sanitary process in
surroundings was a little scary.
Day 3: Turmi (Daasanach Tribe and Bull Jumping Ceremony with the Hamer)
We left the village at 6:30 am to beat the heat and made our way to Omorate, located along the Omo river near the border of South Sudan and Kenya. We had to have our passports verified before entering the city. It took 2.5 hours to drive the 45 miles.
We crossed the Omo river using a wooden dugout canoe (a poor man’s mokoro). The canoe was crooked and super skinny in areas that made it difficult to sit in. The captain poled upstream for 5+ minutes before crossing to account for the fast moving water. We actually saw a guy swim it (saved himself 7 birr), but it had been a while since I had been in the pool so I decided to stay in the boat.
The Daasanach had a much different feel than Hamer. They were all about photos and we had our first experience of picking out people and staging photos. At first I felt sick about it and didn't want to do it for a while, but eventually I was able to rational that it didn't benefit us or the tribe to not do it. After learning all about the Hamer, it wasn’t as big of a shock to learn about their culture. We were searching for things to understand their differences. One thing that was weird, there were no men in the village and the women were just there to pose. It was interesting to meet and speak with them, but overall it didn’t feel authentic, genuine feeling that we had had the previous day.
We arrived back in Turmi for lunch and learned that there was a bull jumping ceremony happening that evening. When we didn't think it would be possible to top our experience in the village from the previous night and the disappointment with the Daasanach from the morning, the Hamer came to the rescue once again. On the way, we came across a group of 12 Portuguese whose bus couldn't make it to the site and who joined us. We welcomed them in and when we got to the site, not one said thank you. We later found out that our driver and guide charged them a bunch of money without us knowing.
We arrived and started perpartying with the Hamer, drinking tea and coffee under a shelter. Everyone was well dressed and decorated. Men had painted faces, special haircuts (especially for those who would be doing the whipping). Women with had hair covered in ochre, displaying their scars and fresh wounds on their back. The women began dancing in the coral, marching in circles, stomping so hard you could still hear the thuds of their bare feet with the rhythmic tones of the bells they had attached to their ankles and they blew horns and chanted without pause. Then we went to watch the elder women welcome the cattle and followed them up to the top of the village as the sun began to set. We missed the whipping ceremony that took place in the corral but we were the only tourists up top. The Hamer could have cared less if we were there, they belted their songs and danced with such passion. It was difficult for them to get the cattle aligned for the jumping ceremony. The men stood in a circle with sticks to keep them from running away as other men grabbed them by the horns and tails. There were times we thought we would get gored. Our local guide, Melkamu, got us into perfect position and threw rocks and whipped bulls to get an unobstructed view. The boy became a man as he jumped onto and over the 10 bulls 4 times, no problem. Everyone said, he was a strong man!
Day 4: Turmi to Jinka (Karo and Key Afar Market)
We stopped at the bend in the Omo River in the town of Kolcho, home to the Karo people. The Karo are supposedly known for their body painting, but found them to be notable for their abundance of necklaces and wooden sticks in their lips. We were shown around by an enthusiastic guide, Gatambi, but had poor English. The views overlooking the river, plains and mountains were picturesque.
We continued on to Key Afar for the Thursday market. The Key Afar market had the Banna, Hamer and Tsemay tribes. It was interesting to try to differentiate what tribe they were with based on their clothing and jewlery. The maerkt had many household goods, especially more western/manufactured goods which we didn’t see much at the other markets.
We arrived in Jinka in the evening which would be our base for the next two nights. The entire city was out of power but we entertained ourselves with some beer and wine under the light of a cangle.
Day 5: Jinka (Mursi and Museum)
We began the day with a 2 hour drive through Mago National Park where the Mursi Tribe live. The Mursi were extremely aggressive, making duck like sounds to get your attention and constantly grabbing your arms and bags. The women known for their lip plates, remove their lower 4 teeth, had beautiful scarring patterns, wore well applied face paint and body paint. The men wore short skirts, carried lots of guns (even children trying to pose for pics). To marry a man must provide his wife’s father with 38 cattle and 2 kalashnikovs.
In the afternoon we went to the South Omo Museum and Research Center at the top of Jinka. There were interesting exhibits about the different tribes and women's takes on being a good wife. The subject of women brings three things to mind: unbelievable that this is how women think of themselves and are treated, that it is so widespread throughout Africa and the world and makes me appreciate how far we have come in the USA, but know that there is still much further to go. It took much argument to get them to play a video, Shooting with the Mursi since they were running off generator power that was interesting and parelled many of my thoughts about visiting the different tribes.
Day 6: Jinka to Arba Minch (Konso Tribe and Lake Chamo)
We began the drive back towards Addis Ababa and at breakfast in Key Afar we met a Japanese girl who had traveled Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and now Ethiopia who was looking for a ride so she joined us for the day to Arba Minch.
We visited with the Konso tribe and sedimentary deposits nicknamed New York. We picked up a guide at the the association in Konso Town, Rikumo, who was well spoken and interested in sharing the his knowledge with us. The New York landscape was not as big as I expected and looked more like Denver than NYC. The kids were making rope from sisal by placing sisal on rock, stepping on a sharp stick and pulling the sisal and then would then weave it together. We then toured the rock walled villages of Konso which had the most character of all villages. There was a main area w a generation tree (1 stick added every 18 years) that also had large rocks for battles won and small rocks for battles lost. They have quarters near the entrance to the village that young men sleep in to act as guards and protect the village. Women wear multi-colored skirts and men wear comfy shorts. They are known for a tea they make w moringa that is supposed to be good for your blood.
We stopped by the Fasha Saturday market, which was just getting started. We were the only tourists and enjoyed cruising around the large cattle and goat section, colorful garments, men with sewing machines, women mixing their maize with USAID cans, ping pong games, different fruits, coffee leaves and grains. Unfortunately we had to continue on but it was definitely our favorite of the 3 markets.
We headed into Arba Minch to pick up our boat captain, Ermias. The guide was "too tired" to head out with us, so Menayo joined to guide and translate. The small motor boat with a canvas covered top to the crocodile market located within Chamo Lake in Nechisar National Park. At one point the water was too shallow to drive the boat, so the captain hopped in and pushed us along. Two minutes later I saw the largest crocodiles I had ever seen. We also a few hippos, tons of pelicans, yellow billed storks, African fish eagles, Egyptian geese and some herons during the boat trip. We were also treated to a nice sunset as we headed back to shore.
Day 7: Arba Minch to Addis
We began our trip back to Addis Ababa a different way than what we came down, through the rift valley route. We stopped at two places along the way, Shashemene and Lake Lagano.
Shashemene is home to the rastafari Capital of Africa and is referred to locally as Jamaica. We met some interesting people like our guides Barracuda and Djibouti and a random guy we met named Rastaman Moya. We got a guided look at the museum and then at the tabernacle that they had built. It was interesting to get the whole story about Ras Tafari who changed his name to Haile Selassie when he became emperor.
We also stopped at Sabana Beach Resort to check out Lake Lagano and treated ourselves to some American cuisine...cheeseburgers, coke, and ice cream. The lake was dirty brown, but supposedly doesn't have bilharzia and the bird life that it is noted for resulted in us seeing some king fishers. It was relaxing and a nice last stop to our trip to the Omo Valley.
It was then another 4 hours to get back to Addis Ababa with all the Sunday evening traffic. And reality hit that the Omo Valley tour was officially over.