Welcome to Enchanting Journeys

Africa. There is nowhere like it on the planet for wildlife, wild lands & rich traditions that endure. No other continent comes close to it for scale, variety and pure, raw impact. Prepare to fall in love.

Welcome to mystical Ethiopia – dubbed the Cradle of Humanity. Ethiopia is like nowhere else on the planet, a beautiful country blessed with a peerless history, fabulous wildlife & some of Africa's most soulful peoples. 

Arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s sprawling capital in the highlands bordering the Great Rift Valley & the country’s commercial & cultural hub.  

After you exit in the Arrival Hall at Terminal? - Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, subsequent to Immigration & Customs, you will be met by The Journeys representative who will ensure your comfort & transfer you to the hotel, help you settle in & also provide you with some useful tips for exploring the area as well as discuss the program for the next few days.

If, for any reason you are unable to make contact with our representative within 30 minutes of waiting, please call the local Emergency telephone # listed on your Contact List. Please follow the advice given by our 24 / 7 Duty Officer.  Please do not exit the Airport & make your own way to the hotel.

Reach the hotel & Check-in.

*Check-in time is 02.00 pm. For earlier arrivals in the morning, we will request the hotel for a complimentary early Check-in but cannot be guaranteed unless reserved & paid for ‘immediate occupancy’.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s sprawling capital in the highlands bordering the Great Rift Valley, is the country’s commercial & cultural hub. And yet, Addis - Africa’s fourth-largest city & its diplomatic capital - is also a traffic-choked, sprawling city of no discernible beauty which many foreign visitors try to transit as quickly as possible. Since its establishment in the 19^th century, Addis Ababa has always seemed like a magical portal, a gateway to another world.

And yet, Addis - Africa’s 4^th largest city & its diplomatic capital - is also a traffic-choked, sprawling city of no discernible beauty which many foreign visitors try to transit as quickly as possible. This urban center serves as the gateway to Ethiopia’s mythical & ancient world, and continues to earn its reputation for friendly people, delicious food & the world’s best coffee.

This urban center serves as the gateway to Ethiopia’s mythical & ancient world, and continues to earn its reputation for friendly people, delicious food, and the world’s best coffee. For the rural masses of Ethiopia it was, & is, a city whose streets are paved in gold; for a foreign visitor, the gateway of Addis Ababa is at the verge of an ancient & mystical world.

Its National Museum exhibits Ethiopian art, traditional crafts and prehistoric fossils, including replicas of the famous early hominid, "Lucy." The burial place of the 20^th century emperor Haile Selassie, copper-domed Holy Trinity Cathedral, is a neo-baroque architectural landmark.  By skipping out on the contradictions of this complex city, you run the risk of failing to understand Ethiopia altogether.

Balance of the day is at leisure for independent exploration or for optional activities (we would be happy to offer suggestions & / or make arrangements if you want to go out).

Despite its size, Addis retains a small-town feel with lively markets, donkey carts hurrying down main streets & traditional coffee shops.

Explore cool neighborhoods with iconic sites, colorful markets, museums, restaurants & discover Ethiopia’s rich religious history through it’s beautiful churches, and of course, best places to grab a cup of Ethiopia’s famous coffee.

If arrival time permits, wander in the bustling vibrant & colorful Merkato - the largest open-air market in East Africa with bright displays of fabric, handicrafts & produce from around the country - where vendors offer all manner of weird & wonderful things - vegetables, coffee, traditional clothes & handmade baskets, recycled metal goods - you name it!

With what is left of the day, we have time to visit some traditional weavers and do some final shopping.

Overnight.  

Early morning, depart for Lake Langano in the rift Valley. Enroute, you will stop at a couple of very interesting places.

First stop will be at the rock-hewn monolithic Church of Adadi Mariam that is believed to be the southern-most church founded by King Lalibela in the 12^th or 13^th century. It is fairly crude in comparison with its counterparts in Lalibela, It is a sanctuary in the building tradition of the northern part of Ethiopia & marks the advent of Christianity in the southern region of Adadi Mariam. Throughout its history the Church has been damaged by both man-made & natural causes but it is being strengthened & restored with aid from Switzerland.

Drive on to the nearby pre-historic Neolithic archeological site of Melka Kunture in the town of Awash Melka, where many stone tools & fossils, dating back 1.8 million years, have been found. Archaeologists have uncovered over 30 occupation sites here. The finds are dated by volcanic depositions left by eruptions of Mount Zuqualla, northeast of Melka Kunture.

There is a site known as Balchit, with imposing outcrops of obsidian.  As recent analyses of samples from several sites in Melka Kunture bear out, these outcrops were used, ever since the earliest Oldowan phases, as an important source of raw material. The exploitation of obsidian in the Melka region went on until historical times, leaving numerous and extensive accumulations of tens of thousands of blades, cores & scars of this volcanic rock.

A Museum was built at the site by the Oromia Culture & Tourism Commission with financial assistance from the European Community, consisting of four buildings with exhibits - one on prehistoric Africa, another on Geology & Volcanology, a third on Paleoanthropology and the fourth on the prehistory of Melka Kunture.

There is also an adjacent "Open Air Museum," which displays the excavation of two Acheulean sites that have been dated to 0.8 million years. Tools used by the Homo erectus who once inhabited the area are displayed in four tukuls (huts) and there is also an open excavation site down a sometimes muddy path.

Then, it on to the town of Tiya in central Ethiopia.

Tiya is known for its UNESCO World Heritage listed archeological site, distinguished by 36 standing stones or stelae marking a large, prehistoric burial complex of an ancient Ethiopian culture, on the outskirts of the village.

Tiya is among the most important of the roughly 160 archaeological sites discovered so far in the Soddo region, south of Addis Ababa.

Almost like a small, African version of Stonehenge, the 36 standing stones, including 32 carved stelae covered with engraved symbols that resemble plants, swords & human figures, standing “akimbo,” with their hands on their hips & elbows turned out. A wonderful archaeological reminder of an early Ethiopian culture, though most symbols are difficult to decipher. These peculiar type of engraved, standing stellae are believed to be almost certainly grave markers – recent excavations at Tiya have revealed the remains of young people of both sexes, buried on the site.

Although the construction of such megaliths is an ancient tradition in Ethiopia, the Tiya stones are fairly ‘recent’, dating to sometime between the 10^th & 15^th centuries. Remarkably little is known about the Tiya stelae, beyond descriptions of their physical appearance. These large monuments likely had some cultural significance when erected, but their meaning remains unclear & very few efforts have been made towards understanding these magnificent monoliths.

Much of the exact background & history of the stones is not yet understood by experts (the exact age of the monuments is yet to be determined) & interpretations of the depicted images vary. Guides will have interesting stories to tell, some of which are backed by research, while other rather stem from local beliefs.

And finally, it is on to Lake Langano.

On arrival by late afternoon, Check-in at the hotel.

Lake Langano, one of a series running south down the Ethiopian Rift Valley and then on into Kenya, resembles a giant puddle of milky English tea set against the blue curtain of the Arsi Mountains. The water may be brown & unappealing, but it is one of the few Ethiopian lakes to be declared bilharzia-free & thus safe for swimming. The western lakeside beaches are marginally better than the eastern,

Bordering the eastern shore of Lake Langano is East Langano Nature Reserve, a beautiful lakeside forest and home to a variety of birds & mammals, including warthogs, baboons & the occasional hippo. The area is a delight to explore on foot or on horseback.

The forests are mainly podocarpus & wild fig trees, full of Colobus Monkeys & over 300 species of birds, 7 of which are endemic to Ethiopia. There are also numerous wild mammals recorded, although in low populations due to seasonal traditional hunting of the forest by local communities.

Balance of the day is at leisure for independent exploration or to relax.

Early morning, depart for Arba Minch, driving through the fertile land of Wolayta & Alaba regions and stopping briefly at a quaint Alaba village.

Alaba in southern Ethiopia, just a 2 hour drive from Addis Ababa, has yet to be discovered by tourists. The Alabas are an ethnic group inhabiting the central Ethiopian highlands & claim to originate from the Arab cleric, Abadir who settled in Harar. They are mostly Muslims but there are also some Christians. The unique feature of the traditional Alaba villages is that both Muslim & Christian communities have a special propensity & are famous for their beautiful colourful murals painted in their homes - outside walls & inside.

The Alabas lead a very modest life style, are traditionally self-confident & very resistant to outside influence and this consequently, has kept them from modern developments & education. But, now this seems to be changing & the latest statistics from 2002 - 2003 show that there are 36 schools in the Alaba area with some 26,000 students.

Practically all the houses in the rural area are round-shaped, thatch roofed houses, made of wood & mud. They are without ceilings & have mud floors. Livestock spend the night inside together with people. Most of the people get their drinking water from rivers & ponds by carrying it long distances. Firewood & tree leaves are used for cooking. Electricity is available only in a very limited area. 

Also stop to explore Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary, a protected area dedicated especially to the protection of the Swayne's Hartebeest. Although the Sanctuary, covering 58 sq km, was set aside to protect the largest population of Swayne's Hartebeest in Ethiopia, a mammal endemic to the country, the original herd of 3,000 animals has dwindled to a few hundred due to poaching. Nevertheless, the small size of the reserve & open terrain make it the one place in Ethiopia where Swayne's hartebeest sightings are practically guaranteed.

Continue driving & reach Arba Minch by afternoon.

Check-in at the hotel.

Bordered by verdant mountains & home to two of Ethiopia’s largest Rift Valley lakes, Arba Minch is a growing resort town & more than a convenient overnight stop on the southern circuit.

Its name means "forty springs" for the springs in the Nechsar National Park feeding a local forest of gigantic ficus trees, as well as the towns drinking water plant. It is also the home of Arba Minch University.

Arba Minch is actually two cities in one. Its dual settlements of Shecha & Sikela, separated by 3km of virtual no-man’s land, have distinct personalities. Larger Sikela is more commercial & chaotic than her slightly more refined sibling up the hill. Shecha also offers fantastic views over the lakes. The 2 large lakes, placed at different altitudes, are separated by a land bridge.

The provincial town of about 100,000 inhabitants is a mix of majority followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church & Protestants with a 5% muslim population.  It is also a famous (or infamous) former home to a US military drone base where one could often see drones flying out to Somalia to counter terrorism in Ethiopia's troubled neighbor country.

Balance of the day is at leisure for independent exploration or to relax.

Morning at 08.00 am, drive to Chencha, homeland to Dorze people. High up in the Guge Mountains, is cold & cloudy Dorze territory.

Experiencing a cultural immersion in a Dorze village is one of the highlights of any trip to southern Ethiopia - not to mention the journey up there, which affords some spectacular views over Arba Minch & the Rift Valley lakes.  You will have the opportunity to observe the daily activity of the village.

With around 28,000 people in total, the Dorze, speaking Dorze language (an Omotic tongue ) are among Ethiopia’s smallest ethnic groups & are mostly clustered in the southern part of the country in villages around Chencha & Arba Minch towns in the Semien Omo district.

The Dorze people are well known for the fine cotton weaving tradition & their elephant shaped traditional towering huts constructed entirely from natural materials, such as strips of bamboo or false banana tree leafs (leaves from the etete tree).

You will see the children first - naked little imps, their bodies decorated with paint. One may be completely in white, another may sport zebra-style stripes. They hop wildly about - singing, dancing & jumping - hoping to impress the visitors enough to earn a few coins for their community. The little demonstration seems skillful & well-rehearsed. The children spot the dust raised by the vehicles in the valley below from a distance, and prepare themselves to perform. Irrespective of its contrivance, the performance would seem to be an ideal introduction to Southern Ethiopia, echoing all the preconceived notions of a brightly-coloured people living in small huts & dancing around fires.

You can take a walk on the nature-trail through the elephant huts of the Dorze.

The Dorze are not only known for their dancing children that bewitch tourists for small change, but also for their large, handmade houses, which resemble huge grey beehives or the faces of elephants. This elephantine design is not entirely coincidental, as the beasts which inspired them once roamed freely throughout this region. The elephants have long since dispersed, preferring to tramp across the plains of Kenya than those of southern Ethiopia. Their loss is lamented by the Dorze, although it does enable them to court tourism. The elephant-shaped Dorze house remains a major draw, with two air-holes at the top to resemble eyes.

If you enter inside, the elephant house will be dark & will smell strongly of frankincense & of livestock. The latter are there on the ground, concealed beneath a quilt of eucalyptus leaves. It is surely difficult to disguise the fact that a sheep & two goats are sleeping in your house.  You will see (with help from the Tour-guide’s flashlight) that the traditional tools & equipment of the Dorze are tidily mounted on the walls. You can snap as many photographs as you like, especially of the animals.

And feeling a little like school-children from an inner city, who have been ferried out into the countryside to learn to distinguish the wood from the trees, you will be taught about what the Dorze consider good & bad bananas. The bad sort looks much the same as an ordinary banana, but are better suited to use as a building material, or added to a sort of bread dough.

You may go inside a school & see students in activity process of learning.

Join in the kitchen, sitting cross-legged, to   knead at the dough, encouraged by a grinning Dorze-Mann. Visit a small & carefully-tended garden presented in a tiny space, displaying some of the Ethiopian people’s most important fruits & vegetables.

Apart from the occasional tourist visits, which bring in a significant amount of money, the Dorze’s day-to-day life remains largely unchanged from the traditions of the past. The men tend to the maize & bean harvests on the fields & weave the traditional cloth (women take care of spinning of the cotton), the boys chase the goats & cattle across the meadows and the women care for home & hearth.

And finally, depending on the time, walk to the heart of the Dorze village, where the interactions seems most authentic - the village pub. In the evening the locals gather here, in the pub. After all, what better way to end the day than here, relaxing over the strong local liquor & followed by the slightly sour flatbread, laughing about the day’s tourists or discussing the money earned by the children from their dancing in the road. Another ordinary day in the land of the elephants.

The experience comes to an end & you get ready to depart for your hotel in Arba Minch.

Enjoy lunch in the town & relax for an hour.

Later in the afternoon, drive to Chamo lake to see the Crocodile Market.

Trip to “Crocodile Market”! you would think it will probably be a place with a lot of merchants selling to tourists some bags & belts made of crocodile skin!  Why not some crocodile shoes? But, you would be completely mistaken. There is no market, there are no people who live in this national park; only wild animals.

The Crocodile Market is a point located 15 min drive away from Arba Minch in the Nechisar National Park, where the Kulfo River empties into Lake Chamo. Here, you will find oodles of crocodiles sunning themselves. Both the density of the congregation & the size of the crocs (over 6 metres is common) make this one of Africa’s best crocodile displays. There are also plenty of hippos, fish eagles, a few baboons & different aquatic birds.   

The Park stretches for 514 sq km of territory, including the “Bridge of God” (an isthmus between Lakes Abaya & Chamo) & the Nechisar plains east of the lakes. The highlight of course, is the Nile crocodiles.

Spend some time enjoying the scenery before embarking on a 2 hour boat trip on one of Ethiopia’s largest water body & cruise around Lake Chamo to observe the river life

You cannot imagine that the banks on the other side of the lake would be covered with such huge Nile crocodiles, literally hundreds of massive reptiles lying in the sun with the mouths wide open to regulate their temperature. Crocodiles usually eat after dusk so it seemed that they would not be that hungry in the afternoon. The Boatman will maneuver to within a few metres & you will surely feel a rush of adrenalin.

The 'boatman' will also take you to the place where the river flows out of the Lake. Here, you have a high probability of spotting hippos. You will see the Hippos from a farther distance as getting closer to them is quite dangerous. Hippos are one of the most dangerous animals in the world. You will only see some dark hippo eyes watching as you make your way through their territory.

Return to the shore by sunset & disembark from the little ferry boat.

You will now have the chance to walk around in the Park with a Ranger & see Monkeys, Hornbill, Zebra, Dikdik & Antelope.

Come back to the hotel.

Balance of the evening is at leisure to relax or explore independently. You may want to go to the University area to walk around & enjoy dinner in one of the pubs.

Overnight.  B L D  

Morning, depart for Jinka. passing by the town & villages of the Konso people who are renowned for their colorful hand-woven cotton clothes and beautiful rock terraces.

The gateway for the Lower Omo Valley, Konso, is a small town of about 5,000 souls, in Southern Ethiopia, with a population which is largely agricultural, cultivating & weaving cotton, beekeeping & general agriculture. It involves the irrigation & terracing of mountain slopes to grow their staple crops of sorghum & corn and cotton & coffee. Cattle, sheep & goats are raised for food & milk

Named after the Konso people, Konso boasts a lofty ridge-top setting, but it is the ancient, complex & fascinating culture of the Konso people & their architecturally inspiring villages around the town that make it a must-stop.

Konso Cultural Landscape is a 55 sq km arid property of stone walled terraces & fortified settlements in the Konso highlands of Ethiopia. It constitutes a spectacular example of a living cultural tradition stretching back 21 generations (more than 400 years) adapted to its dry hostile environment. The landscape demonstrates the shared values, social cohesion & engineering knowledge of its communities.

The stone walls, terraced fields & ceremonial structures comprise such a unique lifestyle that the whole surrounding traditional Cultural Landscape with terraced agriculture & typical villages was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Important features are the unique designs of the houses, the organization of the 32 dwellings behind 1 to 6 rows of defensive stone walls as well as nearby fossil beds. The communities also build traditional reservoirs to supply the villages with water during the dry season. The terraces are built behind up to 5m high stone walls to prevent soil erosion & maximize the collection of rainwater, so as to enhance agricultural production.

The site also features anthropomorphic wooden statues - grouped to represent respected members of their communities & particularly heroic events - which are an exceptional living testimony to funerary traditions that are on the verge of disappearing. Stone steles in the towns express a complex system of marking the passing of generations of leaders. Group members also erected carvings (wagas), which are created in memory of a dead man who has killed an enemy or animal. The statues are often arranged in groups, with statues representing the man, his wives & his adversaries present.

Konso is known for its religious traditions. The latter include the gadaa generation-grading system of social organization, similar high priests & a cult of phallicism. They also have numerous cults based around the breeding & veneration of serpents. Although today, there are marked differences in customs between the Konso & their Oromo neighbours, Konso society has also retained some commonalities with traditional Oromo culture.

A permaculture farm, Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge, was founded in 2007 north of town and works with international volunteers & three local schools to grow food, promote ecotourism & provide permaculture education. There is a market on Mondays & Thursdays just out of town along the road towards Jinka.

This will be an excellent day to mingle among the people, take photographs with them & learn first-hand about a culture virtually untouched by the outside world.

After exploring the UNESCO sites for a couple of hours, continue on to Jinka located at the foot of Mago National Park.

Reach the hotel by afternoon & Check-in.

Set in the hills above Mago National Park, fast-growing Jinka is the biggest market town in the region & one of the most well-known tourist destination in the country. It is also as the center for 16 indigenous ethnic groups including Ari, Banna, Mursi & sometimes Bashada.

Jinka is home to the German-funded South-Omo Museum & Research Center, perched on a hill northeast of town. The museum hosts an interesting exhibition on the region's cultures & there is also a collection of ethnographic DVDs to view.

Balance of the evening is at leisure to relax or explore independently (we would be happy to offer suggestions).

Early in the morning today, at 07.00 am, you will drive to a Mursi tribal village.

One has to reach a Mursi village as early in the morning as possible, before they started to drink their home brewed rice beer, which apparently makes them even more aggressive.

According to the latest 2007 national census, there are a total of 7,500 Mursi, 448 of whom live in urban areas.

Surrounded by mountains between the Omo River & its tributary the Mago, the home of the Mursi is one of the most isolated regions of the country. Their neighbors include the Aari, the Banna, the Bodi, the Karo, the Kwegu, the Nyangatom and the Suri. They are grouped together with the Me'en & Suri by the Ethiopian government under the name Surma.

The first rays of sun throw the Kudu antelopes into a light dither. Nothing but flat, parched land as far as the eye can see. Dust clouds pass over the prairie. It slowly gets lighter & the outlines of the round straw huts, scattered around a few trees, gradually become visible. The Mursi people in the secluded Omo Valley in southwestern Ethiopia are waking up.

First, you see the cattle. They arduously nibble at the sparse thorn bushes around the simple houses at the tree. Tribal members slowly emerge from the round mud huts, loosely clothed in a cloth that they have just used as a blanket for sleeping. This is the only clothing that Mursi men, women & children tend to have, as jewellery is more important to them. The average village consists of six or seven little huts set up inside a circular fence made of fallen trees and thorny shrubs with a low small door to keep the cattle from entering.   

Living in one of the most isolated regions of Ethiopia, the Mursi tribe in the beautiful Omo Valley, are one of the most fascinating tribes in Africa. Although they have suffered in recent years from extreme drought, which has made herding and cultivation difficult, they still adhere to their traditional and unique culture.

Like many other tribes, the Mursi people live as nomads on the lower area Africa’s Great Rift Valley in the Omi river basin. Extreme drought has made it difficult for them to feed themselves by means of traditional cultivation and herding.  The individual village communities set off again after 9-18 months, depending on how quickly their cattle grazes the land. The establishment of national parks has restricted their access and threatened their natural resources. But, everything here in the Mago National Park still looks very green.

Their economy is concentrated on an ancient way of bartering & sharing possessions with other tribe members.  As tourists are now often visiting Mursi villages, offering money in exchange for photographs, the communal economy is changing.

The Mursi are the most mystical & fearsome Tribe of the Omo Valley & one of the last remaining tribes in Africa to still wear traditional dress (or no dress) & accessories.

The Mursi undergo various rites of passage, educational or disciplinary processes. The cultural curiosity draws them a lot of attention & their unique accessory make the indigenous Mursi people stand out.

Mursi (& Surma tribe) are probably some of the last groups in Africa amongst whom it is still the norm for women to wear large pottery, colourful, painted clay or wooden discs, or ‘plates,’ into their lower lips, many as large as saucers.

Girls' of the Mursi tribe may have their lips cut at the age of 15 or 16. The women have the choice of piercing their lips, their ears, or both. The lower lip is slit open as early as puberty & small clay plate called a dhebi, is inserted. The girl must make, bake & paint the dhebi. Through the years, larger plates are inserted into the lip causing it to stretch. Some researchers claim that the size of the lip plate (the bigger the better) was a sign of social importance or wealth within the tribe. Occasionally lip plates are worn to a dance by unmarried women & increasingly they are worn to attract tourists in order to earn some extra money.

There are many theories about the original of the lip plate tradition. One says that the Mursi men wanted to guard their women by making them unattractive. One theory is that lip plating originated as a deliberate disfigurement designed to make women & young girls less attractive to slave traders. Whether it is true or not, a girl must still undergo a long procedure to get the identity mark characteristic of the tribe.

People might also be interested to know that although the initial 3-6 months are no doubt painful for a girl, once the lip has healed (& the Mursi have very good plant based ointments to heal these wounds), there is no pain involved. The most painful part, however, is when it rubs against the lower incisors, which can break off at random.  For the past few years however, young girls have been able to decide for themselves whether to go through with it, rather than have it forced upon them by men.

The lip disk is considered a sign of beauty & fetches an appropriate dowry of cattle when the women marry. They remove these disks when they eat or sleep. The Mursi women also decorate their bodies by scarring designs and patterns and rubbing these scars with saliva so that the wounds heal as a raised scar and remain on their bodies for life. These are symmetrical and geometrical designs that are performed by selective people of the tribe.

The Mursi men also undergo various rites of passage, educational or disciplinary processes.

Traditional ceremonial duelling (thagine), a form of ritualised male violence, is a highly valued & popular activity of Mursi men, especially unmarried men & a key marker of Mursi identity. Age sets are an important political feature, where men are formed into named "age sets" and pass through a number of "age grades" during the course of their lives; married women have the same age grade status as their husbands.

They go into ceremonious battle armed with a two-metre long wooden stick called a donga, duelling with men from other villages. A Mursi should learn the stick fight to perfection, and he should start early, because the queen of his heart will be at stake, and the blows of the slender, strong stick will be lethal & hard. Sometimes blood is shed & sometimes it lasts for days. To achieve the right appearance, they give themselves decorative scars. For the Mursi people, becoming a living work of art is an important part of their development.  With pierced lips, body scarring, and marks carved into their shoulders that keep a count of enemies killed - welcome to the most mystical & fearsome tribe of Ethiopia - the Mursi.

Like several other tribes of Ethiopia, the Mursi men must compete to claim the hand of a girl in marriage. They challenge other contenders to a fierce stick fight, where they attack each other with serious blows with a long & strong stick and the last man standing wins the bride. An adult Mursi must therefore defeat his adversary in a fiercely fought match of skill & strength to claim the most beautiful girl of the village.

The religion of the Mursi people is classified as Animism although some Mursi have adopted Christianity.

Like many agro-pastoralists in East Africa, the Mursi experience a force greater than themselves, which they call Tumwi. This is usually located in the Sky, although sometimes Tumwi manifests itself as a thing of the sky (ahi a tumwin), such as a rainbow or a bird.

The principal religious & ritual office in the society is that of the Komoru, the Priest or Shaman. This is an inherited office, unlike the more informal political role of the Jalaba. The Komoru embodies in his person the well-being of the group as a whole & acts as a means of communication between the community & the god (Tumwi), especially when it is threatened by such events as drought, crop pests & disease. His role is characterized by the performance of public rituals to bring rain, to protect men, cattle & crops from disease, and to ward off threatened attacks from other tribes. Ideally, in order to preserve this link between the people & the Tumwi, the Komoru should not leave Mursiland or even his local group (bhuran). One clan in particular, Komorte, is considered to be, par excellence, the priestly clan, but there are priestly families in two other clans, namely Garikuli & Bumai.

“Photo? Yes, photo?” we hear from all around, directed at the visitors to the Mursi village. The women are vivid sights to behold & the main reason that tourists make the trek over the boundless mogul field in a 4×4 vehicles.

When Western tourists started travelling sporadically to the Mursi homeland in the early 2000s, two vastly different worlds collided. Some visitors gave a tip as thanks for permission to take a photo. The Mursi people soon realised that their appearance was unusual & a photograph was worth money. Each one costs 5 birr, or around 20 cents – even for small children. This price applies at a per-person rate for group photos.

Swapping cash for photos creates more profit than breeding cattle. Even agriculture is no longer attractive. Why should it be, when the model job is more lucrative? While the income from tourists is overtaking agricultural income by far, millet & maize fields lay bare. For years now, cattle have been sold instead of reared. And even the women’s lip plates are largely Made in China.

The Mursi people accept cash for nearly everything. On top of 200 birr per head for entry fee into the village, the journey through Mago National park costs 460 birr per vehicle. Not to forget the essential local travel guide, who asks for 300 birr & the scout who wants 150 birr.

That is enough money for all kinds of antics. A large part of the photo & entrance money is spent on kalashnikovs imported from neighbouring countries Kenya and South Sudan, for as little as €50. Those who don’t have the money can exchange 10 cows for one.

The rest of the income goes towards schnaps, which the Mursi drink heavily during the day. They are known for their alcohol-influenced behaviour. In fact, tourists are often advised to visit early in the mornings, when the inhabitants are still half-asleep. Later in the day, some are inebriated from home-brewed areke, a milky, maize-based drink with a very high liquor content - or, indeed, Western alcohol available in the provincial capital of Jinka. In the afternoons, the atmosphere is too heated to let visitors see the Mursi. Or maybe, the other way around.

But what actually happens with the money they are getting? The tribal leader proudly explains it is distributed fairly - except for the photo tip, which is each person’s “own little business”, he says, laughing. Big business, though, is his area of expertise; he & his brother spend half the year travelling around the world, giving lectures. This has taken him to 6 countries, while his brother has been to over 20. As a Mursi ambassador, he waves the flag for his brothers & sisters, spreading the message of their way of life. It is a wonder that the culture hasn’t changed so quickly when it is being promoted by these two.

For a while, the Ethiopian government has been wanting to integrate the Mursi people into the modern world: sending children to school, providing work for adults in the city, or even better, in their backyard. The government is building a huge sugar cane plantation, poised to be the biggest in the whole of Africa. The local tribes will want in on it, the Mursi included. They are to become sedentary, do “proper” work and arrive in the technology-ruled present.

The advent of Tourism there created a Catch 22 situation - a contradiction. Visitors in a way, hinder development as they show interest in the Mursi, while financing them through their visit. Without this money, the Mursi would have gone from their centuries old tradition a long time ago & evolved to find their way to do conventional work in the cities & assimilated into modern life.

The construction of the Gibe III dam - the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa - and large cotton & sugar plantations and factories are also impacting heavily on the tribes living in the valley who depend on the Omo river for survival.

After spending a couple of hours interacting with the Mursi, depart for Mago National Park.

The dramatically beautiful 2162 sq km Park is divided by the Mago River, a tributary of the Omo, into two parts. To the west is the Tama Wildlife Reserve, with the Tama river defining the boundary between the two. To the south is the Murle Controlled Hunting Area, distinguished by Lake Dipa which stretches along the left side of the lower Omo.

The major environments in & around the Park are the rivers & riverine forest, the wetlands along the lower Mago & around Lake Dipa, the various grasslands on the more level areas, & scrub on the sides of the hills. The largest trees are found in the riverine forest beside the Omo.

The Park is also famous for a rich diversity of ethnic groups living in or around it along the lower Omo (within the park) - including the Aari, Banna, Bongoso, Hamar, Karo, Kwegu, Male & Mursi tribes. But, the Park's perhaps best known attraction is of course, the Mursi.

Wildlife is fairly abundant by Ethiopian standards, however, there is no chance of an East African-safari-style experience. Poaching remains a problem and the thick acacia woodland dominating the plains makes seeing what wildlife remains quite tough.

You can expect to see dik-diks, baboons & guinea fowl, and, if you are lucky, Burchell’s zebras, lesser kudus, defassa waterbucks, gerenuks and black & white colobus.

Return to Jinka & visit the Cultural Museum of the People of the Lower Omo Valley.  

Balance of the evening is at leisure to relax or explore independently (we would be happy to offer suggestions).

Overnight.  B L D  

Morning, depart for the small market town of Turmi in south-western Ethiopia in the accessible Omo valley, surrounded by Hamer villages.

Reach Turmi & proceed to one of the Hamar villages spread around the town. On Monday, the villagers, along with nearly every tourist in the valley, descend on the large market in the town. The smaller Thursday market is almost tourist-free.  

Hamer women, with their shimmering coppery-coloured tresses, sell vegetables, spices, butter, milk & traditional items like incised calabashes, head stools, metal arm bracelets & fantastically smelly goatskins decorated with beads & cowrie shells - it doesn't get more atmospheric than this.

The Hamer men have many striking characteristics, one particularly noticeable is their elaborate hair-dressing. They wear a clay “cap” that is painted and decorated with feathers & other ornaments.

The 25,000 strong Hamar tribe lives among the bush covered hills in the villages spread around Turmi. Hamars are agro pastoralists, making their living as successful cattle herders & farmers. Once they hunted, but the wild pigs & small antelope have almost disappeared from the lands in which they live and until 20 years ago, all ploughing was done by hand with digging sticks.

The land isn’t owned by individuals; it is free for cultivation & grazing, just as fruit & berries are free for whoever collects them. The Hamar move on when the land is exhausted or overwhelmed by weeds.

Often families will pool their livestock & labour to herd their cattle together. In the dry season, whole families go to live in grazing camps with their herds, where they survive on milk & blood from the cattle. Just as for the other tribes in the valley, cattle & goats are at the heart of Hamar life. They provide the cornerstone of a household's livelihood; it is only with cattle & goats to pay as ‘bride wealth’ that a man can marry.

There is a division of labour in terms of sex & age. The women & girls grow crops (the staple is sorghum, alongside beans, maize & pumpkins). They are also responsible for collecting water, doing the cooking & looking after the children - who start helping the family by herding the goats from around the age of eight. The young men of the village work the crops, defend the herds or go off raiding for livestock from other tribes, while adult men herd the cattle, plough with oxen & raise beehives in acacia trees.

Sometimes, for a task like raising a new roof or getting the harvest in, a woman will invite her neighbours to join her in a work party in return for beer or a meal of goat, specially slaughtered to feed them.

During the day, it is most common to see women & children in the villages as the men are out in the field tending to their animals while they graze. To make money, Hamar villages will gladly pose for photos but you will have to pay them.

Relations with neighbouring tribes vary. Cattle raids & counter-raids are a constant danger. The Hamar can marry as many women as they like but only within their own. They have nothing against borrowing - songs, hairstyles, even names - from other tribes in the valley like the Nyangatom & the Dassanech.

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Hamar parents have a lot of control over their sons, who herd the cattle and goats for the family. It is the parents who give permission for the men to marry & many don’t get married until their mid-thirties. Girls, on the other hand, tend to marry at about 17.

Marriage requires ‘bride wealth’, a payment made to the woman’s family & generally made up of goats, cattle & guns. Although it is paid over time like instalments of a bank loan, it is so high (30 goats & 20 head of cattle) that it can't usually be paid back in a lifetime.

One effect is that whenever a family has a lot of livestock, the wife’s & mother’s brothers will claim outstanding bride wealth debts. It means that Hamar men can't stay wealthy & grow wealthier as their livestock is claimed by others. If a man can afford the bride wealth, he can have three or four wives, But, women only marry one man.

The women who are not first wives are treated more like slaves as they do a majority of the work. The leather band, with the metal protuberance, hanging around her neck signifies that she is the “first wife”. Her hairstyle of bangs & fine dreadlocks, coated in red mud that has been mixed with oil, is typical of the Hamar. She wears an apron style piece of goat skin that is adorned with beads that come from Kenya & that she most likely traded for. Earrings, necklaces, armbands & often leg bands complete the Hamar look.

Because men tend to be older than their wives, they often die first. Lots of Hamar households are headed by women who have survived their husbands - one study found an amazing 27 out of 39 married women were widows. A widow also has power over her husband’s younger brothers (and their livestock) if their parents are already dead. Brothers & sisters are important to each other in other ways.

They are an extraordinary people with a unique expression & culture.

They are said to be abreast with everything happening around the world, even with football, but that has not stopped them from practising a rather bizarre culture of women proudly accepting beatings as part of an initiation ceremony for men. The most dramatic example is the ritual whipping before a brother’s cattle-leaping ceremony.

A Hamar man comes of age by leaping over a line of cattle. Bull-jumping has been practised by the Hamars for thousands of years & the ceremony which qualifies him to marry, own cattle & have children. The timing of the ceremony is up to the man’s parents & happens after harvest. As an invitation, the guests receive a strip of bark with a number of knots - one to cut off for each day that passes in the run up to the ceremony. They have several days of feasting & drinking sorghum beer in prospect.

On the afternoon of the leap, the ceremony starts with all the female relatives performing a dance, during which they offer themselves as subjects to be whipped by men who have recently been initiated.

The girls go out to meet the Maza, the ones who will whip them - a group of men who have already leapt across the cattle & live apart from the rest of the tribe, moving from ceremony to ceremony. The whipping appears to be consensual; the girls gather round & beg to be whipped on their backs. The beatings go on until their backs turn bloody. During the beatings, women are not allowed to scream. They do not also flee the ceremony but rather beg the men to beat them over & over again. They don’t show the pain they must feel & say they are proud of the scars. They would look down on a woman who refuses to join in, but young girls are discouraged from getting whipped.

One effect of this ritual whipping is to create a strong debt between the young man & his sisters. If they face hard times in the future, he will remember them because of the pain they went through at his initiation. Her scars are a mark of how she suffered for her brother.

As for the young man leaping over the cattle, before the ceremony his head is partially shaved, he is rubbed with sand to wash away his sins & smeared with dung to give him strength. Finally, strips of tree bark are strapped round his body in a cross, as a form of spiritual protection.

Meanwhile, the Maza & elders line up about 15 cows & castrated male cattle, which represent the women and children of the tribe. The cattle in turn are smeared with dung to make them slippery. To come of age, the man must subsequently leap across 15 cows in order to be allowed to marry & once that is achieved a celebration is held to end the ceremony

If he falls, it is a shame, but he can try again. If he is blind or lame he will be helped across the cattle by others. Only when he has been through this initiation rite can he marry the wife chosen for him by his parents & start to build up his own herd. Once his marriage has been agreed upon he & his family are indebted to his wife's family for marriage payments amounting to 30 goats & 20 cattle.

At the end of the leap, he is blessed & sent off with the Maza who shave his head & make him one of their number. His kinsmen & neighbours decamp for a huge dance. It is also a chance for large-scale flirting. The girls get to choose who they want to dance with & indicate their chosen partner by kicking him on the leg.

It doesn’t stop there. Wife beating is an accepted part of life rather than a taboo & the convention is that a man will not generally tell his wife why she is being whipped. This has created deep scars at the backs of the women which they proudly show off as beautiful. On the other hand, if a beating is severe then family or neighbours will step in & after a couple have had two or three children, beating stops.

In spite of these, women in the Hamar tribe are expected to be strong like the men & are supposed to do all household chores, take care of the children & sow crops as well as keep the cattle

On this photography intensive trip, you will experience how the Hamer people live, in an arrangement of camps that consist of several related families. The families live in tents arranged in a circle, and the cattle are brought into the centre of the camp at night. The structures are covered with thatch during the dry season & canvas mats during the rainy season.

For the last 10 years, tourists have been visiting the Hamar, especially to watch the cattle-leaping ceremonies. The Hamar appear to be confident in the survival of their traditions. Despite increasing contact with town-dwellers, they continue to marry only from within the tribe & scorn those who refuse to take part in tribal ceremonies. Of more concern to them are the tourists who refuse to pay for the privilege of taking photographs.

The proper etiquette is to bring a small gift for the chief or head elder of the tribe when asking permission to interact with the villagers. This gift of sugar, flour or coffee should actually be in a small cloth bag.

Some believe this contact will change Hamar society by undermining their cultural values. Others say it is one way that they can be preserved, as the money from tourists helps to pay for the cattle-leaping ceremonies, & the tourists' attention gives the Hamar pride in their customs.

Many elements of their traditional religion are still practiced today. For instance, they believe that natural objects such as rocks and trees have spirits.

The road network & local towns are expanding in this part of the Omo Valley. Some Hamar people are moving to town, going to school, forgetting traditions & choosing not to join in whipping rituals. For others, towns are a place to sell surplus produce & buy goods from outside.

After exploring the village & interacting with the Hamar, proceed to your hotel to Check-in.

Balance of the day is at leisure to relax or explore independently (we would be happy to offer suggestions).

Morning, depart for a full day 8 hour excursion to Omo Rate to visit the Dassanach people who are the southernmost people of the country,known for their scarification & Karo tribe.

The Daasanach are an ethnic group inhabiting parts of Ethiopia, Kenya & South Sudan.

Having lost the majority of their lands over the past 50 years or so, primarily as a result from being excluded from their traditional Kenyan lands, including on both sides of Lake Turkana, and the 'Ilemi Triangle' of Sudan, they have suffered a massive decrease in the numbers of cattle, goats & sheep.

The Daasanach are traditionally pastoralists, but in recent years have become primarily agro-pastoral. They grow sorghum, maize, pumpkins & beans when the Omo river & its delta floods. As a result, large numbers of them have moved to areas closer to the Omo River, where they attempt to grow enough crops to survive.

Cattle are central to the lives of the Dassanech - just as they are for the other tribes of the Omo Valley. As well as meat, milk, leather for clothing, houses and mattresses, they provide status in the tribe, and the bride-wealth that allows a man to marry. Daasanach rely on their goats & cattle which give them milk, and are slaughtered in the dry season for meat & hides. Sorghum is cooked with water into a porridge eaten with a stew. Corn is usually roasted & sorghum is also fermented into beer. 

Like many pastoral peoples throughout this region of Africa, the Daasanach are a highly egalitarian society, with a social system involving age sets and clan lineages - both of which involve strong reciprocity relations.

They have an interesting ‘class’ divide. The phenomenon & their versatility is a fine illustration of how life has to adapt in fundamental ways in the face of some of the most inhospitable conditions in the world.

When Dassanach people lose their cattle to disease, drought or a raid by a neighbouring tribe, they are unable to sustain their usual way of life. Instead, they become the Dies, or ‘poor people’ & turn for their livelihood to Lake Turkana, where they fish & hunt crocodile and occasionally, even hippopotamus.

The Dies’ place in Dassanech society is unique. As cattle are a central status symbol & they have none, they are looked down on. On the one hand, they are considered members of the tribe yet economically & to some extent culturally, they are set apart.

The different members of the tribe do, however, help each other. In times of need, Dies provide food for the Dassanach ‘herder’ (richer) families as well, sharing crocodile meat & fish with the villages. The Dassanach, in turn, give the Dies meat from goats or cattle. Dies do have access to livestock if they really need it. For instance, a man still needs to exchange ‘bride-wealth’ with his wife’s family in order to marry. Most Dies have relatives with cattle & as bride-wealth is repaid over long periods of time, the cattle can be drawn upon over months & years as new calves are born.

In good times, Dies can acquire livestock again & return to the mainstream, being herders, by exchanging goods for small stock and acquiring more & more livestock over time. Ideally, being Dies is only a temporary thing until they can return to ‘being’ Dassanech again. For some, a generation or more is needed to complete the transition back to cattle herding. But for others, the shift has become permanent. It also follows that in times of plenty, there are fewer Dies. As famine spreads, their numbers increase. For those who have lost their cattle, there is another option. That is to cross tribal boundaries, which have always been fairly permeable & join with another group where an individual might have a family connection.

The Daasanach ‘herders’ live in dome-shaped houses made from a frame of branches, covered with hides and woven boxes (which are used to carry possessions on donkeys when the Daasanach migrate). The huts have a hearth, with mats covering the floor used for sleeping.

The Dies, or lower class, are people who have lost their cattle & their way of living. They live on the shores of Lake Turkana hunting crocodiles & fishing. Although their status is low because of their lack of cattle, the Dies help the herders with crocodile meat and fish in return for meat.

Hunting Crocodiles has been turned into art.  They men risk their lives hunting for crocodile at night in the shallow waters of the Omo River delta, sitting in small dugout canoes. They hunt in silence, making occasional hand gestures to instruct the oarsman to change direction. Using a torch – their only concession to modernity – to pick out the crocodiles’ eyes in the darkness, they slowly manoeuvre their canoes close to the crocodile before letting fly with a harpoon attached to a rope. Once the barb penetrates the tough skin, the crocodile has little chance. It is hauled alongside and repeatedly speared until it is safe to haul it inside the canoe.

Even a small crocodile can provide a good meal for a family. In fact, the fishermen are in some ways luckier than their herding cousins, whose livestock is often at risk from the enduring drought now affecting the Lake Turkana region. They can still obtain good sources of protein from fish during even the harshest droughts.

Within the village, it is the women who build & take down the huts during migrations. They are semi-circular constructions with no interior divisions, made up of sticks & branches called miede. The first part of the hut to be constructed is the ‘store’ - actually a small box-like structure made from reeds & rope from cow skin. This is also the box used for moving items on the donkey back. It is set on one side of the hut & used for storing tobacco, coffee & other important items.

These huts are well ventilated, as it is important to have airflow through in such a hot environment. There is only one entrance, a small opening that is closed by animal skin - that way it is extremely difficult for an enemy to go through the opening un-noticed. Inside the huts, are a hearth, an area where animal skins are laid for sleeping on & the store. Women also claim the right-hand side of the hut (and of the porch outside) as their own.

The tribes here have always traded between each other, for beads, food, cattle, cloths and so on. More recently, the trade has been in guns and bullets. Inevitably, as roads are made through the area, other goods like beer & food find their way into the villages.

The Dassanach tribe is not strictly defined by ethnicity. Anyone - man or woman - will be admitted, as long as they agree to be circumcised. Over the centuries, the tribe has absorbed a wide range of different peoples. It is now divided into eight main clans, which to some extent reflect the wide-ranging origin of its members. Each clan has its own identity & customs, its own responsibilities towards the rest of the tribe & is linked to a particular territory.

The largest clan is the Galbur, or Water & Crocodile clan. The Dassanach believe its members have the power over both water & crocodiles and are responsible for dealing with diseases of the glands across the tribe. The Turat clan is responsible for dealing with burns from the fire. They have powers to keep away snakes & to cure many diseases, and also have the ability to keep away enemies from their animals. Another important clan is Turnyerim, which has powers over drought. They pray for rains during dry periods & they can also cure snakebites by spitting on the wound. Other clans claim to have healing powers over eye infections, scorpion bites, muscular problems, & so on. Members of the same clan are forbidden from marrying - or indeed dancing - with each other.

Dassanach girls are circumcised young, at around 10 or 12 years of age. If they are not circumcised, a girl can’t marry or wear clothes and her father won’t receive her bride-price, so he has a direct interest in her going through the ordeal. Until they are circumcised, girls are called ‘wild animals’ or ‘men’ to tease them - the idea is that their clitoris has to be removed before they act like women.

Women who have been through the ritual, wear a pleated cowskin skirt and necklaces & bracelets, they are usually married off at 17 while men are at 20. Boys are circumcised. Men wear only a checkered cloth around their waist.

Girls may be circumcised in their mother’s house, or in another village, but always with other girls of their age going through the same ritual & the cutting itself is usually done by an older woman who will be helped by the girl’s relatives. She is held down & a leather strap is tied around her ankles or in between her legs to restrict the girl’s movement, until the wounds have healed & the pain has subsided.

When the ritual has been completed, the girl is given sour milk to drink & a necklace by her mother. From then on, she is allowed to wear a leather skirt to show she is now considered an adult. Marriage for girls often takes place soon after.

The biggest ceremony in a man’s life is called Dimi. Its purpose is to celebrate and bless his daughter for fertility & future marriage. When he has gone through Dimi, a man becomes an elder. About 10 cattle & 30 smaller animals are slaughtered and other stock is traded for coffee. Men & women dress in animal fur capes to feast & dance, and the leaders of the village bless the girl.

Dimi ceremonies, with their need to slaughter cattle, take place in the dry season - when cattle aren’t producing much milk & grazing has limited value. Slaughtering cattle at this time of year provides meat when other food sources are low.   

Spend 2 hours exploring the Dassanech village & interacting with the clan.

Then, enjoy the packed Lunch sitting in a shade somewhere before driving through a beautiful savannah landscape with the highest termite mounts, to the next adventure - visiting the Korcho village to meet the Karo tribe.

The Omo Valley is home to an estimated 200,000 indigenous peoples who have lived there for millennia. Amongst them are 1,000 to 3,000 Karo who dwell on the eastern banks of the Omo river & practise flood-retreat cultivation, growing sorghum, maize & beans.

The village of Korcho is beautifully situated on a hill overlooking the Omo River & is one of three Karo villages. The other 2 are Duss & Labuk, all on the eastern side of the Omo River. The Karo tribe is one of the smallest tribes of the Valley.   

The Karo were known for their magnificent houses (when still rich in cattle), but after they lost their wealth, they adopted the much lighter conical huts. Every Karo family owns two houses: the Ono, the principal living room of the family, and the Gappa, the centre of several household activities.

You will see the tribal members, artificially painted with white limestone, red ocher & clay mixed with yellow minerals, lined up in perfect poses, a dream for any photographer.

On the river slope with the Omo River as a beautiful backdrop, the Karo men, covered with impressive body paint, beads & feathers, will proudly pose with their Kalashnikovs. Fixed rate is 5 birr (= 1 $ almost), to be allowed to take a picture. The money is well deserved, but the situation feels uncomfortable for most folks.  

Body painting is a tradition of the Karo tribe & something that is done daily regardless of whether tourists come or not. Kalashnikovs are a status symbol, but also a necessity to protect both the herd & themselves. At regular intervals, the Karo tribe is in conflict with its neighbors, especially the Nyangatom tribe on the other side of the river. In the Omo Valley, it has been easy to get to Kalashnikovs because of its close proximity to Sudan & the warships there.

In recent years, the Ethiopian government has rented or sold large areas to Chinese, Indian, Malaysian & Saudi Arabian investors for large sugar cane & cotton plantations and their lives are severely threatened. The annual flooding of the Omo River feeds the rich biodiversity of the region & guarantees the food security of the tribes especially as rainfall is low & erratic. The Tribes depend on it to practice ‘flood retreat cultivation’ using the rich silt left along the river banks by the slowly receding waters.

Karo also practice rain-fed, shifting cultivation growing sorghum, maize & beans on the flood plains. Karo fish in the river & sometimes they manage to catch a crocodile.

Cattle, goats & sheep are vital to most tribes’ livelihood producing blood, milk, meat & hides. Cattle are highly valued & used in payment for bride wealth. They are an important defence against starvation when rains and crops fail. In certain seasons families travel to temporary camps to provide new grazing for herds, surviving on milk and blood from their cattle.

The Karo & Hamer tribes have a close relationship and speak almost the same language. The traditions are quite similar & both tribes practice bull jumping ceremonies. But in the Karo tribe, the bull jumping takes place for a large group of boys & men with many years of space, while in the Hamer tribe it takes place every time a boy is reaching the age for marriage.

Walk around the village & interact with the friendly Karo. Some kids go to school & speak in English.

Come back to the Lodge.

Balance of the evening is at leisure.

Morning drive to Yabello with a stop at the villages of the nomadic people of Arbore.

The Arbore is an ethnic group living in southern Ethiopia, near Lake Chew Bahir. With a total population of 6,850, the Arbore population is divided into four villages, named: Gandareb, Kulaama, Murale & Eegude.

Their economy of subsistence depends largely on the periodical floods of the river. The Arbore people are pastoralists & depend on sorghum cultivation, seasonal fishing & hunting and engage in a wide regional network of bond friendship for the exchange of gifts.

The age organization controls cattle, pasture & water. It distributes cultivable land after floods & guarantees law & order in the territory of the Arbore.  Each generation class (herr) comes to power after an initiation which is held once in about 40 years in rituals known as ner & chirnan.

Each generation class consists of four age classes (jim). The group containing the young people waiting to be initiated into a jim is called Morqo. The same term is used for the four age classes. The political chief is usually called kyrnat, the ritual qawot,

The Garle & Olmoque clans, who are senior & junior, jointly lead the political & ritual life of the Arbore and their neighbors, and the leaders of the age organization survey the smooth running of daily life among the Arbore.

Both the Arbore & their neighbors enter the sacred cattle-gates of qawots (ritual chiefs) with gifts of heifers, bulls, honey, coffee, tobacco & herbs to receive blessings for human, animal & crop fertility, for rain & for victory against their enemies.

Having adopted Islam, but not completely eradicating ‘pagan’ traditions, the Arbore practices female circumcision as a pre-requisite for marriage. Arbore men carry marry about to 4 women & after marriage, the woman gets a new name - the name of the beloved cattle of her husband. 

Arbore girls & women adorn themselves with rich ornaments of beads & metal. They also wear beaded leather skirts & the unique Beads are one of the main distinguishing features of Arbore. In addition, unmarried girls completely save their skulls & cover their heads with a piece of black cloth to protect it from the sun.  Married women braid their hair & the men wrap their heads with a piece of white cloth. Rituals associated with marriage are extremely important for Arbore.

Unlike Karo or Dassanach tribes that can bury their dead right next to their house, the Arbore set up grave sites further away from the villages. When a man dies, he is buries with his ornaments, wrapped in a new piece of fabric & sheep’s skin. The dead man is asked to bless the cattle of the tribe. After a few days, his family slaughters a goat & one of the goat’s leg is placed on the grave.      

However, the main feature differentiating the Arbore from other Omo Valley tribes, is the high spiritual status. It is believed that Arbore priests are endowed with a special strength & power and if a Priest from another cannot solve a problem, a delegation of elders with gifts is sent to Arbore to ask for help.

Thanks to this as well as sharing natural resources, inter-tribal marriages & mastery of multiple languages, the Arbore lead a very quiet existence as no other Omo Valley tribe is brave enough to attack them or their cattle.  

Spend a couple of hours interacting with the villagers.

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Come back to the Lodge.

Balance of the evening is at leisure.

Very early in the morning, Check-out & head to the north visiting the nomadic people of Borena & the other people of Sidama who are renowned for their cultivation of Enset or False Banana.

The various Oromo people groups are the largest, most widely dispersed groups in Ethiopia. They also reside in Kenya, Somalia & Egypt. Composed of approximately a dozen tribal clusters, these peoples prefer just the term "Oromo" when speaking of themselves. Nearly all of these peoples speak mutually intelligible dialects of a language called "Oromo, Borana-Arsi-Guji". Although they retain similarities in their descent system, they differ considerably in religion, lifestyle & political organization.

Oromo have a reputation for being easygoing & sociable. They value hospitality & almsgiving, especially to relatives & friends.

The majority of the Oromo are Muslim; however, only a minority of the population still practices the traditional religion. These ethnic religionists worship a supreme being named Waqa. Wadaja feasts reflecting a Muslim influence, are organized on various occasions & livestock is sacrificed in Waqa's honor. Today, these feasts

The Borana Oromo people (also called the Boran), are a sub-ethnic section of the Oromo people who live in southern Ethiopia & northern Kenya.

The Borana people were traditionally a culturally homogeneous society & follow their traditional religions Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity & Islam.

Many people still believe that objects such as trees, springs & rocks have spirits. It is also believed that spirits called jinn may take possession of people. While fasting during Ramadan (the Muslim holy month) is observed by most adults, celebration of other Muslim festivals is limited.

Like other ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa & East Africa, Borana Oromo people regionally developed social stratification consisting of four hierarchical strata. The highest strata were the nobles called the Borana, below them were the Gabbaro (some 17^th to 19^th cenury Ethiopian texts refer them as the dhalatta). Below these two upper castes were the despised castes of artisans & at the lowest level were the slaves.

They are notable for their historic gadaa gadaa (literally "era") political system - a limited democratic socio-political system long before the 16^th century, when major three party wars commenced between them & the Christian kingdom to their north and Islamic sultanates to their east & south.

The Gadda system elected by consensus from males born in the upper Oromo society, amongst 5  Oromo miseensa (groups), for a period of 8 years, responsible for various judicial, political, ritual & religious roles and war. The Abbaa Bokkuu is also responsible as the leader for cows & other possessions. Women & people belonging to the lower Oromo castes were /  are excluded.

Spend a couple of hours interacting with the villagers.

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Come back to the Lodge.

Balance of the evening is at leisure.

Early morning, visit the ‘Fish Market’ at the Shore of Lake Awassa before coming back to the hotel.

After a quick breakfast, Check-out & depart Addis Ababa, driving through the chains of the Rift Valley Lakes of Langano, Abiyatta Shalla & Ziway.

Arrive by late afternoon & drive around the ‘modern’ part of Addis Ababa (there is no accommodation envisaged unless specifically requested & paid for).

Evening, proceed to a restaurant for a ‘farewell’ dinner

Ethiopian restaurants can be found the world over, but none compare with the food made in Addis Ababa. Vegetables are locally sourced & the meat typically comes from freshly killed animals. Nothing here is mass produced & every dish is made fresh to order. Addis Ababa is the best place in the country to try Ethiopian food,

One of the best things about Ethiopian food is that no other cuisine in the world is quite like it. Traditional cooking here blends unique combinations of spices to create distinct flavours: some hot, some savoury. Spices are the key ingredients for many types of Ethiopian wat (a dish somewhere between a stew & a curry) that are eaten with flat, spongy bread called injera.

The meal is accompanied by a traditional music & dance performance. Pack your dancing shoes because guests are encouraged to join in.

And finally the times comes to bid adieu to the ‘Cradle of Civilisation’ with its amazing history, wonderful cultures, friendly faces & stunning landscapes. You will no doubt be left with many fantastic impressions. But, we sure hope that you may want to discover a bit more of Ethiopia on your next visit. 

In time, you will be met by a Journeys Rep, who will ensure your comfort & transfer you to Terminal? - Addis Ababa Bole International Airport for the flight back home.  B D

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