Accomodation Omo Valley

Hi everybody,

We are 3 girls planning on going to Omo Valley this August. I know it's the rainy season, but this is the month we have.

As this is our first trip to Ethiopia, and our experience in Africa is limited to Senegal and Morocco, I'm not sure what kind of accomodation we can expect there. Are there camp sites, hotels...? And also, can you find good conditions there?

I would also appreciate if someone could give me advise on the kind of tour. Is it enough just to hire a car with a car driver or is it preferable to hire an "all inclusive" package with cook and so, as I read some tour agencies offer?

Thanks in advance!

Places like Arbaminch, Konso and Jinka have hotel accomodation while places like Turmi have camp sites as well as a few bungalow accomodations recently. Nothing acceptable in Omorate, a Lodge with camping facility available in Murule. At Yabello further South on the Kenyan border direction, hotels available.
As for the kind of tour you would be interested in, the scope of your visit will all depend on the number of days you have to spare. Any travel advisor / operator you may be in contact with will ask you the number of days you have and possible preferences so that they can figure out what to include and not. Give them your ideas and am sure they will come up with something worth considering. August being the peak tour season and rainy as well, I suggest you consider package tour arrangement as many other tourists will also be down there and prior arrangement in the hands of the tour operators may be of much help here. In my case, I have had a few extensive tours in Ethiopia since 2005 with an operator - Sora Tours. They have so far proved much competent and do a good job with numerous recommendations on this site from various travellers.You may be able to contact them at info@soratours.com or osmanao@ethionet.et. Give it a try.

Evans

Thanks a lot! This has been very useful.

I was there from Jan-early Mar 2009 ... I went to the south on a 4x4 tour organized from Addis (Abeba tours, about $150 per day inc. driver and guide (and all transportation costs) only ... I would recommend the company; they're in the Ras Hotel). Hotels outside of Arba Minch and Jinka are pretty basic; not a lot of food variety outside of the major centers either. Greenland Tours seemed to do some camping (they had their own sites); I think they are full board but I don't know their prices (they're a big company).

My tour was 14 days ... the typical 10 day southern tour and then a few extra days in the Bale Mountains. Most tours spend two days getting to Arba Minch (stopping along the Rift valley on the way ... lots of lakes), then down into the Omo Valley (basing in Turmi) for a few days, then up to Jinka for a day or two, then back to Addis.

Nomad001, please provide a bit more clarity for me. When you say that you went to the south on a 4x4 tour organized from Addis for about $150 per day, were you alone or was it a group tour? If it was a group tour, was the price per person or did all of you contribute to the total price of $150 per day?

Generally, I rent a 4x4 for a few days and venture out on my own. But, the drawback to this is that I don't know enough about the areas so I'm sure I miss many highlight spots; nor do I have the right connections to get the best exposure to the people and culture in these areas. I return with great photos of landscapes and people from a distance, but very little content beyond my personal reflections.

$150 was for everything, divided amongst our group (there were three of us, so it came to about $50 per person, per day); that's for transportation costs, only: meals, hotels, entry fees, etc ... were extra. But the cost was ~$150/day total, whether you're 1, 2 or 3.

(I did find a minivan (they call them "minibuses" in Ethiopia) in the north that had 4 wheel drive (I think most do?) for about $100 a day, inc. driver and guide ... though I never saw anyone using one in the south (where the roads can be a lot worse)).