Seven days visiting the tribes of the Lower Omo Valley

Our seven day visit to the Lower Omo Valley started and ended in Arba Minch. We decided to go with a guide after reading various opinions about the pros and cons of independent travel. We chose Ephrem Girmachew from Southern Ethiopia Tours based on positive reviews, his local connections and the vibe we got from his response to my emails. We were very pleased with our selection.

Ephrem and a driver transported us in a comfortable, recent model 4WD. Over the next week we visited villages of the Gamo, Abore, Banna, Mursi, Kara, Hamer and Dassanech tribes, as well as attending a number of markets that were crowded with tribespeople going about their commercial and social activities. Visits to different villages and tribes offer different experiences. The most meaningful for me were those where we were able to have a personal interaction with a someone from the village and learn directly about their way of life and culture, being invited into their home to observe this for ourselves. Our visit to the Gamo tribe was a standout in this aspect, whereas our visit to the most famous of these tribes, the Mursi, was more of a purely commercial transaction from their perspective (i.e. money for photos). I think this says more about the Mursi than it dies about our guide!

An absolute highlight (and privilege) of our week was getting to attend a Hamer bull jumping ceremony! We were two of around a dozen visitors to this ceremony. Over a period of four hours we watched the various stages of this important event unfold, from the imbibing of the local food and brew, the (willing) whipping of the jumper’s female relatives, the blessing of the young jumper, to the climax, his jump over the backs of a row of bulls (he passed with flying colours!). Moreover, the Hamer people were happy to include us along the way, sharing their food and drink, and painting our faces. Our presence seemed to only increase the fun they were having.

Visitors to this area should be aware that accommodation standards vary by establishment and location from luxurious to absolute rock bottom. We experienced both over the course of the week. You would do well to inquire closely about accommodation so that no unwelcome surprises await! Another of our favourite memories is basic camping at the Mango Campsite on the Kaske River at Turmi, meeting bushman Frank, and hanging out with the local Banna people.

Throughout the week, Ephrem utilised his extensive range of local contacts to make our visits as personal as possible, and “facilitate” any photographs we wished to take. This is where the whole visitation thing can become tacky, with money changing hands for photos. Ephrem’s experience helped a lot here and enabled us to better enjoy our visits. It would be great if every visit could start with 20 minutes of just looking, asking questions and getting answers, before any camera was brought out of its bag or pocket. Maybe then the tone of some visits would change?

Ephrem was a wealth of knowledge about the tribes, and answered our questions or offered interesting snippets of information along the way. Importantly, he was also fun to be with over the week!

Ethiopia has weathered a period of unrest and civil disorder over the past six months, culminating in its government declaring a 6-month State of Emergency in early October. The Australian Government issued a "Reconsider your need to travel" alert for Ethiopia. We were concerned by this and were in regular contact with Ephrem during the weeks leading up to our visit. His reassurance that there had been no unrest in this area, based on his local intelligence, gave us the confidence to proceed. Unlike our travel in the north prior to coming to southern Ethiopia, there was no evidence anywhere from Arba Minch to Omorate of an increased police or military presence. We did however have to abandon our intended visit to a Konso village after learning that the local guides’ association was unhappy with the government and had withdrawn its services. Staying out of the village was prudent in this context, and this was a good call on Ephrem's behalf.

I have no hesitation in recommending Ephrem as an excellent guide for southern Ethiopia. You can reach him via <snip>

Based on our experience, we would be happy to visit both northern and southern Ethiopia again under the same circumstances in safety. It's a pity that the State of Emergency has caused an unnecessary drop off in tourism. The State of Emergency has almost eliminated the civil disorder, making tourism safer (although dissidents perceived as a threat to the government are being treated harshly).

The other thing worth noting is the need to use Western Union to transfer the deposit for your tour. I was unfamiliar with it and at first was not inclined to trust the process, but this was due to never having used it. It was really quite easy to do on line and Western Union offices are widespread throughout Ethiopia. Once we were in the country, we just used ATMs as usual, although the individual transaction limits were often frustrating, and their availability in this area is limited to Arba Minch and Jinka.

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