Visit the Omo Valley tribes without a tour (and save hundreds)!!

I am wanting to head to the Omo valley around november 13th. Anyone else heading that way?

Hi ScotchAmaretto and others on this thread,

Can you give some advice to a lone traveller?
Im thinking of going there for a week. Is that enough time?
Do I need to pre-book the buses to Arba Minch and Jinka? or are they available on the spot ? are there any particular times?

Also if you can forward any contact nos for the local guides you used to get to the villages over there?

Would really appreciate it!

Thanks
Moutushi

Yes every one can save money without guide,but it is sad to visit the villages on the road where all the tourists stop, where buses arrive, for me it is always better to spend some more money and live a real experience rather than "wasting money" (though less) for a journey that requires a guide and 4x4, or make another trip or postpone to a time that you will have some extra cash, with a guide.
Villages in the bush are real experience in Omo,and, unfortunately, and fortunately so fewer tourists arrive, there is need of a guide and 4X4

This past January my companion and I travelled to the Omo Valley region in Ethiopia to document the tribes. Our expedition would not have been successful without our guide. People claim that anyone can visit Omo Valley and get around by busses without spending money on a guide but that’s only good if you are just visiting for vacation or if you are not expecting to create a respectful body of work within the timeframe of ten days. If you are going there with a purpose such as documenting (photographically) you really need someone who will take you to the right places. By “the right places” I don’t mean the tribal villages where you’ll be trying to photograph and there will be four groups of tourists interfering with every shot of yours. Neither the major towns like Jinka, that’s not were the real beauty lies.
Our trip started from New York. We landed in Addis Ababa and were picked up by our guide and the driver from the airport. It was a pretty warm welcoming even though we had not met them in person before. We had to make all arrangements through e-mail because of the distance. The second day we started our long drive into the valley. We would wake up early in the morning, drive for a few hours to the next Town and from there drive out to the villages, shoot till dawn and drive back to the Town for rest. But some days we would even reside with the tribe within the perimeters of the village, where we set up a tent and sleep for the night, share and exchange our artificial canned food with their local fresh produce. All that brought us closer to the habitat we were documenting and our subjects, making our trip a success. The tribes visited on this trip were Bena, Mursi, Arbore Hamar and Ari. You can view the work produced on this trip here: alexandervisuals.com , trupalpandyaphotography.com

Our guide who we still keep in contact with is Emanuel Cheneke. You can contact him at imanynehushitar@gmail.com and +251 92 704 3931

I just returned from the Omo Valley and it was incredible. However, I would like to offer some advice to avoid some classic tourist mistakes.

Andualem is the BEST Guide / Driver in Omo. Here is his site: http://omovalleybetessebetours.wordpress.com/
He speaks excellent english, and is very passionate about his work. He is based in Arba Minch

Most of the tours can feel like transactional and exploitative photo tours, but Andualem knows many of the tribes people personally and arranges more intimate experiences in the villages by camping with the people. You cannot do this with any other groups.

Here is some advice I learned the hard way:

1. Contact Drivers Directly- It is cheaper, and they do all of the work, so these are the people you should pay, not brokers. Andualem offers a flat fee of $175 per day which covers everything (fees, lodging, car, food etc), you will not have to open your wallet once you begin. Other tours will charge more, and it does not include the entry and guide fees.

2.DO NOT go through a travel broker- They do absolutely nothing, do not care about you whatsoever, and try to scam you for more money. Specifically, avoid a guy named Haile who hangs out at tourist hotel, he is completely useless. He will say there are no groups to join to get more money, and try to scam your money any chance he gets.

1. Join a Group: It is best to travel in groups of 3 or 4 to share costs. I went to Arba Minch alone, and there are many tourists who go and look for others. Go to the tourist hotel, most drivers etc hang out there.

2. Camp - Much better experience, and you actually get to interact with the people instead of looking at them like zoo animals.

3. Put down your Camera- Do not automatically take out your camera and start shooting pictures. The village people do not act naturally and they will start demanding bir, which gets awkward and uncomfortable. The best advice I got from my guide was leaving my camera in the car for a few hours when visiting the Mursi people. I ended up giving my camera to a Mursi girl, and just let her take pictures. It was a roll reversal, because she usually has pictures taken of her.

If you are in Ethiopia this trip and Simien Mountains are my 2 favorite places I have seen.

Hello,
I just wanted to say that this kind of trip is definitely possible and even not to difficult to organize. Nobody will ask you for any kind of permits. The only problem is that you might have to skip some of the villages, as they are a bit more difficult to reach (like Omorate village - Dasenech tribe). You can count on information that local people will provide, regarding the time of departure of local minibuses. Of course, without your own transportation you might be stuck in some villages for a bit longer than you wanted, but on the road from Arba Minch to Jinka is very easy to find a minibus.
I would like to add that, overall, I was disappointed with whole trip to the Omo valley. All villages were turned into a circus show! You come - you pay - you take photos - you pay again - they want more money from you - you ran. If you want to see something more real visit markets. Markets were great and you can still experience something real (but people are not happy with taking pictures...).

After visiting the Omo Valley, I went to Dorze village. To be honest it was the best time of my whole trip in Ethiopia. People are great, views are breathtaking, guide was very nice and did exactly what I asked him to do and the village tour was amazing and worth every Birr! If you want you can contact Zelalem zyigebaha@yahoo.com, who can organize pick up from the airport in Arba Minch for you. Zalalem can organize also a trip to the Omo Valley for you - he asked for 80 USD per day for whole car (it is very good price!! as usually the price starts from 100-110 USD). Zalalem works with Mekonen lodge. You can also call my guide Teshome - 094 2969361 (just speak slow as his English is not perfect).

Just one last remark about the guy called Fitretu Getachew - fitretu@yahoo.com, whose name appeared on this forum. He is business men and nothing else. I would even call him a crook! He will take your money, he will promise you everything, but in case you have any complains he will simply ignore you. Try to avoid this guy!

Feel free to contact me in case you have any questions.
P.

PS. Soon airport in Jinka will be finished, so you can consider flying directly from Addis.

Hi again. One more thing about Omorate village.
If you want to visit Dasenech tribe you have to travel to Omorate. I met an amazing guy there who runs his own pub/restaurant and soon he will open a guesthouse. His name is Mike - 00 251915613199, robawold432@yahoo.com - recently he won a grant from a German NGO to run solar-panel kiosks in his village. Here you can charge you batteries and have a cold beer after long trip.
He speaks very good English, as he studied in Kenya. He can help you to organize transportation to Omorate village as well and solve other sort of problems.
If you decide to visit this cool village, try to get Salomon as your guide for the tribe (very good English, young and intelligent guide). After the visit to the Dasenech trip, you can ask Mike or Salomon to take to local pub were locally made moonshine is served! I had a lot of fun there :-)
to summarize - it was difficult to get to Omorate (I ended up renting a private hire), but it was an interesting trip. If you're there, visit Mike!
P.