Some thoughts and comments on the lower Omo/Dodola
I spent about two weeks in the South of Ethiopia, 11 days of this as part of an organised/landcruiser tour.
This was end of December 2008.
From back home, reading the TT and guidebooks, it seemed safer to organise a trip beforehand, to not be stuck in Addis trying to get people together.
Thus, I had arranged to meet three other people for a landcruiser tour to the south, 11 days.
Costs:
car/driver/fuel was 130 USD/day, plus
entrance fees, hotels, food, souvenirs(hardly any), whatever.
I spent about 3500 birr in total for those 10/11 days, on top of my share in the car/driver.
There are a lot of fees to pay, for entering a town, seeing a village, taking photographs, guides, scouts, ... better be prepared for this!
Hotels between about 100 or 150 for a double/twin, or about 50 to 100 for a single, where we stayed, basic, sometimes with en suite shower, further south (Turmi etc) shared shower somewhere across the yard.
Advantage of organised tour/ private landcruiser
we could go to places that otherwise would not be easy to reach (Nechisar Park near Arba Minch, some of the worst road we had ever seen; Mursi village; some other villages)
we could go on our schedule, not needing to wait for buses etc. - I guess this is the main plus, it saves time
Going with the landcruiser, we were part of the landcruiser club - there are not a huge number of tourists, but the ones that go meet in the same places (the further south, the more this applies, once there are only one or two hotels available) - nice to meet other farenji for dinner, but then, it depend's on what you want...
By public transport -
this seems well possible, except for some places that are difficult to reach. For those with time, it should be no problem.
Jinka
There is a guides association, they are just starting a project, offering tours to villages that are outside the normal tourist routine. Places that you cannot get by car, so one would have to walk, take a mule, stay there for the night... it seemed great to me, and I had not known about it beforehand, so could not try it. This would be a different way of meeting/visiting villages in a different way, with more time.
The office is located at the unused airstrip - telephone they gave me is 046-7751728
Tribal villages with landcruiser
was, well, an experience. Museum with the people on display, dressed up for the fanenji, very pushy for fotographs, 2 birr per person, that makes group photographs expensive, and the whole experience is quite stressful. Go well rested and after a good breakfast. Mursi village was especially pushy, almost aggressive.
Konso village (near Arba Minch) was overwhelming with the amount of kids ('we don't do family planning')
Arba Minch/Lake Chamo
lake chamo by small boat, to 'crocodile market' - this is a spot where a few crocodiles hang out. it was nice to see the crocodiles and some hippos, also being in a boat on the lake is a good change from sitting in a car most of the time. For people who have done safaris elsewhere, seen hippos and crocodiles, it might not be as spectacular.
Murule Camping
outragously expensive at 135 per person for the night staying in our own tent. Also, unbearably hot - our driver had warned us that it would be too hot, but we kind of had insisted to spend a night away from villages and hotels, here at the river, well, at the campsite next to Murule Lodge.
It was nice to walk down to the river, to do some cooking ourselves, watch birds etc. Just the night was too hot for sleeping...
Water
We kept about four 'six packs' (of six big water bottles, about 1.8 or 2 liters) in the car, over the whole duration of the trip, we went through about 10 sixpacks, between the four of us, for water on the way, in between, etc - and obviously there were drinks etc in restaurants and hotels.
Water (big bottle) ranged from about 6 to 10 birr, cheaper in Addis, more expensive further south.
Bottled water was available almost everywhere, except for Murule Lodge.
Sorry, I have to go, so Dodola will be an extra comment.
