Twelve DAYS OMO VALLEY TRIBES

Days

Trip Description

Day 01 –

Arrival in Addis Ababa

Welcome to Addis Ababa.   

 Addis Ababa Ethiopia‘s capital city means “a new flower”, located in the center of the country, 2100- 2300m above the sea. It is one of the highest-located capital cities in the world. In Addis;

• Visiting Historical places, monuments, museums.
• Exploring cultural life with excellent art galleries, traditional restaurants and live music venues.
•  Enjoying panoramic views, scenic land escapes
• Tasting Ethiopian’s food
•Offer good evening lively Night life  Entertainment  

On your arrival at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, after clearing immigration and customs welcome by Green Utopia staff and get transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day relaxing at your hotel or sightseeing of Addis Ababa.     

A guided tour in Addis Ababa can combine,

A visit of the National Archaeological Museum, the most important museums in sub- Sahara Africa.  It housed the 3.5 million-year-old bones of Lucy. 

The Holy Trinity Cathedral, built in 1945, this cathedral is renowned for its stunning stain-glassed windows which depict scenes from the Old and New Testament of the Holy Bible. 

And Merkato, the largest open Market in Africa where you will find a wide range of commodities on sale (close in Sundays).                                    Based on time availability – Other Activities to be add

Go shopping: exploring Markets & shopping Malls.     Conducting Social  activities: Visit of Ketchene Women’s pottery association,  Visit Former Women’s Fuel Wood Carriers Association,  Visit of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia,  Selamta Family project.    

Galleries in Addis: St. George or Addis Fine Art Gallery represents emerging and established international with a focus on contemporary art from the Horn of Africa and its diaspora. 

Day 02-

Drive Addis Ababa to Langano

Langano

Lake Langano – is a fresh breath taking atmosphere.  The lake with its beautiful white sand beach is bilharzias and crocodile free.

Drive to Langano,stopping at Ziwayon your way. Lake Ziway, the largest of the northern group of Rift Valley Lakes. It lies about 1.5 km east of the town of Ziway, it is best known for its bird life.

Langano is located in the Great Rift Valley at an elevation of 1,585 meters to the east of Lake Abijata.

According to figures published by the Central Statistical Agency, Lake Langano is 18kilometers long and 16km wide, with a surface area of 330square kilometres and a maximum depth of 46meters.

As it is free of Bilharzias (Schistosomiasis), unlike all other freshwater lakes in Ethiopia, Lake Langano is popular with tourists and city dwellers for its swimming, water sport, horse riding, forest walking and mountain biking activities. The lake is brown in color and as well one can experience variety of wildlife around the lake, which includes hippos, monkeys, baboons, warthogs, and a huge variety of birds.

Abijata-Shala National Park.

“Lakes Park” which was once reputed as one of the bird watchers ground in Africa. It was 887 square kilometres in area out of which 482 square kilometres is covered by water of Lake Abijata and Shala. This park used to have about 31 species of mammals such as Spotted Hyena, Golden and Black Backed Jakals, Olive Baboon, Grant’s Gazelle, etc., and 367 species of birds. But currently due to devastated ecology and extreme decrease of Abijata Lake water, one can see only less concentration of flamingos.

Before, myriad of local and exotic birds that come from Europe and different parts of the world used to congregate here in at Lake Abijata.

Day 03-

Drive Langano to Arba Minch

Arba Minch

Drive to Arba Minch via Sodo, Sodo is the hillside capital of Wolaita Zone enjoying a Weyna Dega climate topographically; the town lies at an altitude of 1483 meters above sea level and has a sloppy topography. Sodo town is among the few tows in the region endowed with good infrastructure access continuing to Arba Minch.

 Arba Minch (Forty Springs) derives its name from the innumerable little springs that bubbles up in the evergreen forest covering the flats below the town. It is the site of the only ground-water forest.  Arba Minch is the largest town in Southern Ethiopia. The town lays at an elevation of around 1,300m in the foothills of the Rift valley wall, above a cliff overlooking the mountains sliver that separate the lakes of Chamo and Abaya. With mountains rising to almost 4000m to the west, it is difficult to think of a more perfectly suited town anywhere in east Africa.

Day 04-

Arba Minch

Dorze village & Lake Chamo boat trip

Dorze village, the home of the Dorze people at Chencha. The Dorze are renowned cotton weavers whose tall beehive-shaped dwellings are among the most distinctive traditional structures to be seen anywhere in Africa. The main occupations of the region are subsistence farming and weaving. The Shama cloth produced around Chencha is regarded to be the finest in Ethiopia: Plain white Gabbi robes and brightly colored scarf-like Netalas are sold along the roadside.

In the afternoon enjoy a boat trip on clear blue waters of Lake Chamo to see the crocodiles, hippos & aquatic bird species. The northern shores of Lake Chamo are famous for its large crocodiles, which can be seen in great numbers lounging in the heat. The lake is about 32km long and provides a lush wetland habitat for many species of flora and fauna.

Day 05–

Drive to Jinka

Jinka

Visit Jinka Museum research center in the South Omo Research Centre to learn more about the ethnic groups of the Southern Ethiopia. And also, the village to the Ari people. The villagers will show you how they make liquor out of Sorghum, garlic and maize.

Market visit if the days meet with the market days of the Omo Valley.

Day 06–

Drive Jinka – Mursi -Jinka – Turmi

Jinka- Mursi – Jinka – Turmi

Leave for one of Africa’s vast wildernesses, Mago National Park. Mago was founded in the 1960s and it encloses dense acacia forests and open savanna and provides sanctuary to nearly one hundred mammal species and three hundred bird species, though population densities are sparse these days.

Visit the Mursi village, 140kms round trip. They are known for fierce warrior disposition and wildly decorative appearance, with large circular clay labrets that the women wear in the lower lip. The larger the lip plate, the greater the woman’s value when she is married. She removes her plate for eating and sleeping. Mursi has become a cultural symbol of the Lower Omo Valley. They are the most renowned of the Omotic – speakers, famed for their practice of inserting large clay plates behind the lower lips of their women and colourful dresses and also they go in for body scarification.

The Benna village are on your way to Turmi. They are adorned with clay and an impressive headdress.

Turmi is a place for the Hamer tribes. Visit the Hamer village they are a fine looking people, both men and women take great pride in their appearance, shaving and coloring their hair, oiling their bodies and decorating themselves with beads and bracelets worn around arms and legs. They are famous for their body decoration, moonlight dance (Evangedi Dance) and bull-jumping. Bull jumping marks the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. It is not a done every day.

The Hamer villages are incredibly neat and constructed entirely from mud, wood and thatch; one of the most striking aspects of these small villages –which typically consist of a few extended families across perhaps 10-15huts –is the total absence of non –organic or western artifacts. 

Market visit if the days meet with the market days of the Omo Valley.

Day 07–

Drive Turmi to Karo

Turmi – Karo – Dimeka – Turmi

Drive to the village of Kolcho and visit the Karo tribes. They are considered the masters of body painting, in which they engage when preparing for a dance, feast or celebration.

If today is Tuesday or Saturday visit Dimeka women’s market. The other beautiful South Omo tribes Market held on Tuesdays & Saturdays. Here you could meet no less than four different tribes at a time, namely the Bennas, the Hamer, Erbore & Ari tribes.

Day 08 –

Drive  Turmi – Omo Rate – Turmi – Konso

Omo Rate & Konso

Visit Dassanech village & spend your time with the Omo Rate people.

The town of Omorate is only 30km away from Kenya and South Sudan and functions as a border post. At only 375 meter above sea level it is the lowest place in the Omo Valley and often very hot and dusty. In this semi-arid area the Dassanech people manage to survive. An old and inappropriate name for the Dassanech is Galeb. Here you will find many men wearing a clay cap over their hair. This might be to show they killed an enemy or a dangerous animal but most of the time it is for beauty only. How to tell the difference is that for the first one it only covering the back of the head. To protect their clay cap when sleeping (it can last for several months) man carry their wooden pillow or headrest.

The Dassanech people live on both sides of the Omo River. Most visitors cross the river by boat to get to a village. It is up to you to take a traditional canoe or to take a more convenient motorboat. Return back to Turmi village and proceed to Konso.

Arbore / Erbore, is far more rustic and unaffected than many similarly size towns in south Omo, in common with their linguistically and culturally affiliated Tsemai neighbors, the Arbore migrated to their present homeland from Konso perhaps two centuries ago. Because they have ancestral and cultural links to Konso and the pastoralists of the surrounding lowlands, the Arbore traditionally played an important role as middlemen in trade between the Omo River and the Konso Highlands. The town of Arbore lies in an area where several tribal boundaries coverage.

Proceed to Konso village. the Konso people are known for their characteristic intricately terraced hillsides, fine woven materials, and the carved totems with which they decorate their graves.

The cultural landscape of Konso is the youngest World Heritage Site of Ethiopia, listed in June 2011. Karat is a small town in the Konso area, often called Konso. The market days are on Monday and Thursday. The Konso people are living in concentrated walled villages on the top of a hill. These maze like settlements are unique for the region. The villages are well organized with individual compounds, communal houses and village squares. On these squares you find the so called ‘generation pole’ which is erected every 18 year to mark a new generation. Well known Konso villages are Gesergiyo, Mecheke, Kamule and Dekatu. Around the village there are extensive terraces where the crops are grown. Their agricultural skills are among the best found in Ethiopia.

Visit the Waga stelae, are grave markers for an important Konso man. The Konso are famous for their waga stelae or carved wooden grave markers. A row of these stelae are erected on the grave of an important Konso man. One symbolizing the hero, the others his wives and his defeated enemies or killed dangerous animals.

Day 09–

Drive Konso to Yabelo

This journey takes 90kms/1.3hrs.

Today following your breakfast you drive to Yabello & visit the Borena People.

The Borana people are part of the Oromo which are the largest ethnic group of Ethiopia. The Borana are pastoralist who travel long distances with their cattle and camels in search for scarce food in an arid environment. Their appearance is much more ‘African’ in the way that the women are dressed in the colorful cloths found at many other areas in Africa. Yabello is the largest town in the Ethiopian Borana area, they are also found in northern Kenya. It is a good base to explore the area and the Saturday market is well worth a visit.

Visit the Salt lake El Sod. The crater lake El Sod is known as Chew Bet in Amharic language, which translates as ‘salt house’ For centuries Borana people harvest salt  from the lake for human and animal consumption The latter distributed in a wide area including northern Kenya to keep the cattle healthy. The lake is situated in a beautiful setting and offers a short but strenuous hike along the same path the donkeys take to bring out the salt.

You will also visit the Singing Well of the Borana people. The Borana people live in a semi-arid area where water is scarce. To supply their cattle (and themselves) with this precious liquid when there is no surface water, they dug wells by hand up to 30 meters deep. These wells made it possible for the Borana people to survive for centuries under harsh conditions. It is an impressive sight to see a well operating. Man and woman form a human chain down in the well passing buckets between them to bring up the water. Meanwhile there is a loud chorus of singing to keep the rhythm going. Animals waiting for their turn to drink.

The other attractive feature of Borena is the Wildlife Sanctuary if interested you can also have a stopover. The Yabello Wildlife Sanctuary was created to protect a small population of the endemic Swayne’s hartebeest. Other species inhabiting the sanctuary, mostly covered by acacia savanna, are Burchell’s zebra, greater and lesser kudu, gerenuk, Grant’s gazelle and Guenther’s dik-dik. The sanctuary is of particular interest for birders, two endemic species are limited to a small area around Yabello: Stresemann’s bushcrow and the white-tailed swallow.

The Borana Lodge, in a beautiful setting in the bush (acacia) savanna, is the best place to stay in the area.

Day 10 –

Drive Yabelo to

Yirgalem 

Yirgalem & coffee plantation

Visit a number of coffee and various fruit cultivating towns with splendid greenery everywhere. And spend the night at the Aregash Lodge; nestled between coffee fields and lush vegetation in Yirgalem town.

On your way visit the archaeological sites of Tutu Fela&Tututi.  Tutu Fela is probably one of the most impressive sites contain about 80 ancient stelae which are variously carved with facial feature, phalluses etc. indicating the brave or sex of the person buried underneath, Tututi (lies on the hill 2.3km from the village of Chelba. It consists of some very large, tapering, generally un-carved standing stones with marking grave) and Socoro Sodo stelae field.

The Aregash Lodge is a natural retreat of astounding beauty and tranquillity. The Bamboo thatched Tukuls Contemplate the traditional Sidama village that inhabit nearby. The nearby forest is home to diverse, prolific flora and harbors with over 100 species of birds and mammals. The coffee plantation and the nightly visits of jackals and hyenas are further attractions to be found in the surrounding area. Activities include trekking, horseback riding, and visits to historical caves, sacred sites and natural hot and cold-water springs.

Day 11–

Yirgalem 

Sidama Village

Today explore the Sidama Village at Yirgalem. Visit their cultural village along with coffee and false banana (Enset) plantation. The cultivation of enset (false banana or Abyssinian banana) and everything which revolves around it has generated an entire culture, especially for inhabitants of Gurage and Sidama. Today you will have the full day access to experience the culture of the sidama village, the full process of Kocho preparation from the false banana tree…tasting the Sidama”s known cultural ‘Bursame” with Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

Day 12 –

Drive Yirgalem to Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa& Departure

Drive to 45kms/ 1hr to Hawassa. Lake Awassa is a beautiful freshwater lake, set amongst hills and luxuriant vegetation, quite unlike the alkaline lakes to the north. Birds are so very plentiful here little energy is required in finding them and hopefully get some good views of the beautiful Black and white Colobus Monkeys. Enjoy Awassa’s magnificent spectacle of water birds.

Visit “Amora Gedel”-the daily fishing market on the shore of Lake Awassa. You will really get close to pelicans, storks and other birds very much used to human company. Then head to Addis Ababa.

Last minute shopping in Addis Ababa or relaxing at your hotel and transfer to your hotel for the day use.

Visit to Entoto Hills – best introduction place to Addis Ababa. Mt. Entoto is the highest peak in Addis Ababa reaching 3,200 meters above sea level, giving the opportunity to catch stunning views over the city and the surrounding area from the summit.

It is the first settlement in Addis Ababa where Emperor Menelik II resided and built his palace in 1887. It is a historical place which offers a unique glimpse into the history of Ethiopia’s distinct culture. The compound at the peak hosts the Entoto Mariam church, an Ethiopian artefact muse-um as well as Menelik II palace.

In addition to its historical significance as one drive up the hill there is an appreciable drop in temperature and the air is filled with the scent of the Eucalyptus trees which line the road.

On the way up the roadside stalls offers fresh Ethiopian coffee.  Also, if you have an interest in Ethiopian traditional clothes stop by at Shero Meda Market. There is a wide variety of beautiful fabrics, shawls, scarves, dresses, tops and jewellery with lots of choice and really good for gift ideas.

Tonight you will have a wonderful cultural evening at one of Addis Ababa Restaurant; Ethiopia is a mosaic of people with more than 80 languages, different lifestyles, costumes and cultural dances. Take a chance to experience some of these cultural dances and traditional meals with a drink of Tej, a type of wine made from Honey.

DEPARTURE      Hope you enjoyed your stay with us, Many thanks for coming & Have the safest flight.