10 DAYS TOUR TO THE SOUTH OMO VALLEY – ETHIOPIA

DAY 01 : Arrival of Addis Ababa and city tour

Upon arrival at Bole International Airport you will be met by a Ruba Tours representative and be taken to your reserved hotel. Depending on your arrival time, we have various sightseeing options:

• Mount Entoto with the best views over the capital.
• Institute of Ethiopian Studies, where you can see a variety of artifacts from all the different regions reflecting the history and culture of the country
• National Museum which among other exhibits the 3.5-million-year-old bones of Lucy.
• Saint-George Cathedral, where paintings by the famous Ethiopian artist Afework Tekele and other ecclesiastical wealth and cultural heritage of the past are displayed.
• Trinity Cathedral: this is the burial place of members of the imperial family and noted patriots; the cathedral is the most magnificent of its kind in the country, ornamented with carvings, mosaics and other artistic works.
• The Mercato, the largest open-air market in Africa
• Unity Park, located within the National Palace of Ethiopia , embodies generational legacy of Ethiopia And Ethiopians.Prime minster Dr Abiy has announced that The park will be open to the public as of October 11, following the October 10th launchThe National Palace was Built under Emperor Menelik II over a century ago, the Palace rests on 40,000Sqm of land. For generations, it has been viewed as the epicenter of political power, where the most powerful family in the land resides. The renovated compound incorporates several sights of interest to visitors, including an arena, a playground, a zoo,three churches,House of Royals and an imperial banquet hall.
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DAY 02 : Drive to Hawassa via Zway, Abyatta and Shala

Hawassa (Amharic: አዋሳ; ʾäwasa, also spelled Awassa or Awasa) is a city in Ethiopia, on the shores of Lake Awassa in the Great Rift Valley. It is 273 km (170 mi) south of Addis Ababa via Bishoftu, 130 km (81 mi) east of Sodo, and 75 km (47 mi) north of Dilla. The town serves as the capital of the Sidama Region. It lies on the Trans-African Highway 4 Cairo–Cape Town and has a latitude and longitude of 7°3′N 38°28′ECoordinates: 7°3′N 38°28′E and an elevation of 1,708 meters (5,604 ft) above sea level. Its name comes from a Sidamic word meaning “wide body of water”.

The city is home to Hawassa University (which includes Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, an Agricultural College, the Main Campus, and a Health Sciences College), Awasa Adventist College, and a major market. The city is served by Awasa Airport (ICAO code HALA, IATA AWA), opened in 1988. Postal service is provided by the main branch; electricity and telephone service are also available.^[3] Important local attractions include the St. Gabriel Church and the Awassa Kenema Stadium. Fishing is a major local industry.

Hawassa was capital of the former Sidamo Province from about 1978 until the province was abolished with the adoption of the 1995 Constitution. It then became the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region. When the Sidama Region was formed in June 2020, the city became part of that region. Hawassa currently serves as the capital of both the Sidama Region and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region. Hawassa will continue to serve as the seat of government of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region for two national electoral cycles, after which the regional government will move to a city within the region’s boundaries.

Night and Dinner at Hayle Resort.

DAY 03 : Drive from Hawassa to Arba Minch via Wolayta Sodo

In the morning we will go visit the fish market.

Then we begin driving towards Wolayta Sodo.

Sodo (Amharic: ሶዶ) or Wolaita Sodo (Amharic: ወላይታ ሶዶ) or (Wolaytatto: Wolayta Sodo Ambbaa) is a city in south-central Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Wolaita Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of 6°54′N 37°45′E with an elevation between 1,600 and 2,100 metres (5,200 and 6,900 feet) above sea level. It was part of the former Sodo woreda which included Sodo Zuria which completely surrounds it.

Sodo is a center of major health and education institutions in Ethiopia. Soddo Christian Hospital has one of the 10 surgical training centers in Africa. The hospital provides a full range of medical, and surgical services, including Orthopedic and General, Maternity, and Pediatrics. Wolaita Sodo University Teaching Referral Hospital is also located in this town and it serves around two million people. The total number of beds in the hospital was 200; out of which 60 beds were in Obstetrics and Gynecology department.

Sodo’s amenities include digital and mobile telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, two banks, and a hospital.^[3] Sodo is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Sodo-Hosaena.

After lunch we drive towards the south, direction Arba Minch.

Night and Dinner Hayle Resort.

DAY 04 : Boat Trip on Lake Chamo & Dorze Village in Chencha Mountains

In the morning we take a boat trip on Lake Chamo (Amharic: ቻሞ ሐይቅ) is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region of southern Ethiopia. Located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, it is at an elevation of 1,110 meters. The Chamo lake is just to the south of Lake Abaya and the city of Arba Minch, east of the Guge Mountains, and west of the Amaro Mountains.

Lunch in Arba Minch (formerly called Ganta Garo) is a city and separate woreda in the southern part of Ethiopia. “Arba Minch” means “40 Springs”, originated from the presence of more than 40 springs. It is located in the Gamo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region about 500 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, at an elevation of 1285 meters above sea level. It is the largest town in Gamo Zone and the second town in SNNPR next to Hawassa, which is now the capital city of the newly formed Sidama Region. It is surrounded by Arba Minch Zuria woreda. This Town has plenty of natural gifts including the bridge of God, Crocodile ranch, crocodile market, different fruits and vegetables, different fishes farmed from Chamo and Abaya Lakes, more than 40 springs, different cereals, and crops, surprisingly having the two big Lakes in the country, lake Abaya and Chamo, respectively, next to Lake Tana, etc. This makes the town an attraction for domestic and international tourism.

In the afternoon we head on to the Chencha mountain to visit a Dorze family.

Dorze people are a small Omotic-speaking ethnic group belonging to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family living in the Gamo Highlands of the southern region of Ethiopia. The Dorze people are one of the must-visit sites and peoples in this part of Ethiopia. They have an estimated population of about 30.000 people living mainly in the villages near the cities of Chencha and Arba Minch, in the Semien Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region. Their residence stretches from the Omo River banks to the highlands over Lake Abaya.

The Dorzes are famed for their amazing weaving mastery. Weaving, producing local liquors, music, and false banana food (kocho)  production are some of the unique traits of the Dorze people.  Dorze people live on hills and they are famous for their huge huts, resembling a giant beehive. Although these huts look fragile, they can last up to 60 years. The huts can also be transported to another location, thanks to the structure made of vertical poles. Smaller huts can include guest houses, a workshop, a kitchen, and even a cattle shed. When termites attack the hut, the Dorze can just remove it from its foundation and relocate it. This allows the home to last much longer, but every move shortens the height of the hut. Interestingly opportunities for a pen for animals are made available in the Dorze towering huts. This makes it possible to protect animals from the vagaries of the weather as well as animal rustlers.

If you make your trip to the Dorze village you will fall in love with everything that you see there. The landscape is so majestic and spectacular, their home design is a joy to watch, their traditional costume will leave you wow. And never forget to taste the local liquor they produced and the bread of the false banana called ‘kocho’.

Night and Dinner at Hayle Resort

DAY 05 : Drive to Konso.

In the morning we drive further south to enter the land of the hard working Konso people.

Konso (also known as Karati) is a town on the Sagan River in south-western Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Konso special woreda of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 5°15′N 37°29′ECoordinates: 5°15′N 37°29′E and an elevation of 1650 meters. It is also called Pakawle by some of the neighboring inhabitants.^[1] The town and the surrounding villages were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011 as a cultural landscape for its unique cultural traditions and importance for the Konso people.

History

Oral traditions of the Konso people suggest that they migrated to the region roughly 400 years ago, which is supported by the number of generations (21) noted since the first ritual chief.^[3] In 1897, Menelik II took over the city.^[4]

Father Azaïs presented the Waga (wa’kka) statues in 1931. In 1956, Murdock associated the archeological megaliths of the town to a cushitic signature. In Kluckhohn’s Markets of Africa published in 1962, the author traces high levels of ancient economic developments in the city. In 1984, Amborn studied the historic labor-intensive agricultural techniques of the region.^[4]

The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 30, 1997 due to its purported universal cultural significance and official made a World Heritage Site in 2011.^[5] Konso is the first place in Ethiopia recognized as a “cultural landscape”.^[6]

A permaculture farm, Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge, was founded in 2007 north of town and works with international volunteers and three local schools to grow food, promote ecotourism, and provide permaculture education.^[7]

Cultural landscape

The landscape around Konso is heavily terraced, in order to protect against soil erosion from the sporadic and often heavy rainfall in the region.^[3] The terraces are steep (some of which reach 8 meters in height) and reinforced with stone. Additional reinforcing turrets and buttresses are built along the retaining wall.^[3] Building and maintaining the terraces usually requires the entire family.^[3]

Walled settlements called paletas are located on the high plants and hilltops of the regions for their strategic advantage.^[2] The villages are encircled by one to six concentric rings of stone walls, mainly consisting of basalt boulders.^[2][3] The oldest walls on the inside can be up to 4 meters high and 2.5 meters wide.^[3] Inside the paletas, the Konso live in individual compounds consisting of several thatched structures, including granaries, houses, and cattle kraals. The villages also contain are often several large gathering spaces called moras, used for communal and ceremonial purposes.^[3]

The Konso people maintain a unique tradition of erecting generation marking stones, called daga-hela, which are quarried and transported through a ritual process.^[2] In addition, they are known for their waga sculptures, statues that memorialize deceased members of the community. These statues are often stylized and anthropomorphic, describing the community member, their families, and sometimes important events in their lives.^[3] The sacred forests near the paletas contain several important ritual locations, especially for initiations, and serve as the burial places for the ritual leaders.^[3]

Near the Konso hills are fossil beds with a high density of early hominid remains.

Night and Dinner at Qantas Lodge

DAY 06 : Drive to Turmi via Erbore.

Today we drive south west towards the Weyto river and beyond. After the small village of Weyto known for its cotton plantation, we will meet the Erbore people.The Arbore are a Cushitic ethnic group living in southern Ethiopia, near Lake Chew Bahir. The Arbore people are pastoralists.^[2] With a total population of 6,850, the Abore population is divided into four villages, named: Gandareb, Kulaama, Murale, and Eegude.

Arbore language

That the language of Arbore belongs within a “Macro-Somali” (now “Omo-Tana”) group was first recognized by Sasse (1974). Other members of this group are Daasanach, Bayso, Rendille, Boni and the various Somali dialects. Omo-Tana itself is a major division of Lowland East Cushitic. Arbore’s nearest relatives (jointly classified as Western Omo-Tana) are Daasanach and especially the probably extinct Kenyan language of the Elmolo fisherman of Lake Turkana. The sub-grouping is justified^[3] in terms of uniquely shared lexicon and certain common grammatical innovations, amongst which the generalizations of the absolute forms of the 1st person singular and 2nd person singular personal pronouns to subject function, thereby replacing the earlier Proto-Lowland East Cushitic forms, e.g. 2nd personal pronouns, e.g., 2nd person singular tai/u ‘thou’: ki/u ‘thee’, but Arbore ke ‘thou’ and ‘thee’.

Arbore well exemplifies a number of typical Lowland East Cushitic features such as: a three-term number system (basic unit: singulative: plural) in nouns, within which “polarity” figures, i.e., gender alternations across the various number forms of a lexeme; a morphosyntax thoroughly deployed in distinguishing topic and contrastive focus; great morphophonological complexity in its verbal derivation and inflection.^[4] Of historical interest is the language’s preservation of at least a dozen verbs of the archaic “Prefix Conjugation”, often attributed to Proto-Afroasiatic itself.

We will continue to Turmi, the epicenter of the most humble and noble tribe of the south Omo valley.

Night and Dinner Evangadi Lodge.

 

DAY 07 : Drive to Karo & Hamer Village.

Today we drive west towards the Omo river to meet the Karo.

Karo^[2] (also Cherre, Kere, Kerre) is a South Omotic^[3] language spoken in the Debub (South) Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region in Ethiopia. Karo is described as being closely related to its neighbor, Hamer-Banna, with a lexical similarity of 81%,^[1] and is considered a dialect of Hamer by Blench (2006),^[4] but as a separate language belonging to the Hamer-Karo subfamily in Glottolog. The Karo people, who live close to the lower Omo River, use colorful bodywork, complex headdresses and body scars to express beauty and importance within the community. 2,400 speakers^[5] are using the Karo language.

We will return to Turmi for lunch and in the afternoon we will visit a Hamer village

Hamar people (also spelled Hamer) are a community inhabiting southwestern Ethiopia. They live in Hamer woreda (or district), a fertile part of the Omo River valley, in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). They are largely pastoralists, so their culture places a high value on cattle.

Demographics

The 2003 national census reported 46,532 people in this ethnic group, of whom 10,000 were urban inhabitants. The vast majority (99.13%) live in the SNNPR.^[1]

According to the Ethiopian national census of 1994, there were 42,838 Hamer language speakers, and 42,448 self-identified Hamer people, representing approximately 0.1% of the total Ethiopian population.^[2]

Culture

The Hamar are known for their unique custom of “bull jumping,” which initiates a boy into manhood. First, female relatives dance and invite whipping from men who have recently been initiated; this shows their support of the initiate, and their scars give them a say on who they marry.

The boy must run back and forth twice across the backs of a row of bulls or castrated steers, and is ridiculed if he fails.^[3]

The men of the tribe will often style their hair with clay, creating a sculpture of sorts that is styled with various pigments, mostly red and white, and in smoothing the clay they create very small protruding tube in which they house ostrich feathers from their hunts.

Night and dinner at Evangadi lodge in Turmi.

DAY 08 : Drive to Jinka via Key Afer (Thursdays)

Once a week, a small town of Key Afer in the Lower Omo Valley holds a large market (the largest in Omo Valley) where three different tribes come together to buy and sell. The market brings together people from Tsemai, Hamer, and Bena tribes. Everything from fruits and vegetables to wood to honey and butter to silverware and animals is sold here – the open-air market brims with color and sound. Some are not tourist-friendly, but the vast majority of mostly women sellers are happy to pose for your pictures with their wares.

Lunch picnic

In the afternoon, we will arrive in Jinka and visit an Ari village.

The Ari are the most ‘modern’ of the region’s ethnic groups. They dress no differently than city dwellers these days, but life in Ari villages (የአሪ መንደር) remains interesting. In almost all villages you’ll meet potters, blacksmiths and women grinding grain to make the Ari version of injera, which uses maize or sorghum instead of tef and has dagussa (‘finger millet’) mixed into it. If you’re lucky someone may invite you to try bunaketele, a delicious drink made from coffee leaves, chillies and several spices including lemongrass.

Finally we will reach Jinka’s Ecomolodge

Night and Dinner at the Ecomolodge

DAY 09 : Drive to Mago Park & visit Mursi Village

Early drive towards Mago National Park to meet the most famous tribe of the Omo valley.

The Mursi (or Mun as they refer to themselves)^[1][2] are a Surmic ethnic group in Ethiopia. They principally reside in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region, close to the border with South Sudan. According to the 2007 national census, there are 11,500 Mursi, 848 of whom live in urban areas; of the total number, 92.25% live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR).^[3]

Surrounded by mountains between the Omo River and 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 Mekan, the Karo, the Kwegu, the Nyangatom and the Suri. They are grouped together with the Me’en and Suri by the Ethiopian government under the name Surma.

We return to Jinka for lunch and in the afternoon we will visit the Jinka ethnographic museum.

Jinka is a market town in southern Ethiopia. Located in the hills north of the Tama Plains, this town is the capital of the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region. Currently Jinka is the center of Jinka town administration. Jinka has a latitude and longitude of 5°47′N 36°34′ECoordinates: 5°47′N 36°34′E and an elevation of 1490 meters above sea level. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the country. It is also an important center for at least sixteen indigenous ethnic groups as well as others from the rest of the country.

Overview

Jinka is home to the German-funded South-Omo Museum and Research Center^[1] and an airstrip (IATA code BCO^[2]). Postal service is provided by a main branch; electricity and telephone service are also available.^[3] Its market day is Saturday. The Mago National Park, 40 kilometers south by unpaved road, is a nearby attraction.

The local clinic was reported in 1996 to be in the process of upgrading to hospital status, which would become the first in the Zone.^[4] According to the SNNPR’s Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, as of 2003 Jinka’s amenities include digital telephone access, postal service, electricity provided by a diesel generator, a bank and a hospital.^[5] Jinka increased its electrical service since the government installed regular electricity lines.

Night and Dinner at Jinka Ecomolodge

DAY 10 : Fly back to Addis Ababa.

In the morning we will walk around the Jinka market place before heading to the airport.

The flight between Jinka and Addis Ababa is about an hour and upon arriving in Addis we will have lunch and drive thru the largest market of Africa the Mercato. Later we will do some late souvenir shopping and have a farewell dinner at an Ethiopian Restaurant before departure.