Photography of the Omo River Valley Tribes

Tribes of the Omo River Valley

Melak Tadesse https://www.facebook.com/experienceAwayoflife/

         Open The DOOr TO amazing experiences

       The short answer is that I think travel to the Lower Omo River Valley is safe.  There are, however, some qualifications of which you should be aware.

       As you may know, the United States State Department has put Ethiopia on the "no non-essential travel list" and had before my friend and I went to Ethiopia.  The U.S. State Department is overly cautious when it comes to travel abroad, however.  That said, the lower Omo River Valley is the safe part of Ethiopia -- many other parts are not as safe.  So, if you plan to go to other parts of Ethiopia -- for example, Lalibela to see the ancient Christian ruins (a major tourist site) -- you would need to research that area. 

      For your trip, you would fly to Addis Ababa, from which is a long drive to the beginning of the Lower Omo River Valley.  Also, driving from Addis Ababa to either Arba Minch or Jimma (or from Arba Minch or Jimma to Addis Ababa) passes through areas where there has been, or which are very close to where there has been, some troubles in the recent past. 

      My friend and I decided we did not want to make that drive -- as I think most people decide -- so we flew from Addis Ababa to Arba Minch to start the trip and planned to fly from Jimma to Addis Ababa at the end of the trip.  At the end of the trip, however, the morning flight from Jimma to Addis Ababa was cancelled the night before that flight, I had a connecting flight the next evening and a flight to Marrakesh, Morocco, the following morning.  I did not want to risk the afternoon flight from Jimma to Addis Ababa being cancelled, so we drove.  On the outskirts of Addis Ababa, we saw some factories which had been damaged by fire and maybe six burned out buses, but had no problems whatsoever ourselves.

      Also, a fair distance from the western side of the Omo River, in the Surma area, gold has been discovered, not that the Surma will benefit from that.  There are, however, bandits in that area.  Melak will know and can tell you whether there is a risk of going to that area when you are in country.

     In the Lower Omo River Valley, some tribes are related or friendly; others are the opposite and occasionally fight.  Melak will know which areas between unfriendly tribes and avoid them so, if there is fighting, neither you nor he get in a cross fire.

     The last thing I would add about going to the Lower Omo River Valley, as we did with Melak, is that you will be in areas where everyone is Black.  Some people are uncomfortable with that -- I am not at all.

      I cannot speak to being a woman tourist alone, either in Ethiopia or any other area in the world.  That is just not something I've experienced.  Obviously, if you want, Melak can be with you wherever you go.  Also, in each village we visited, Melak hired a local person to accompany us -- that smoothed the way for us. 

      The markets we went to in the Lower Omo River valley were wonderful.  With one exception, we were not the only tourists at the markets, however.  There will be other tourists in country when you visit, all the guides will know when and where the markets are, and, with one exception, you should expect that you will not be the only tourist at the markets.  The exception was a market with two friendly tribes where Melak told us in advance we would be the only tourists, and we were.  I do not remember which market that was, but the first photo pasted below if of the market, from afar.  Melak will know the market instantly.

       I would encourage you to go to markets where there are other tourists.  For example, on the morning of the "Bull Jumping Ceremony" that we went to, there was a Hamer market that we also went to (there is no conflict between the two, the market is in the morning and the Bull Jumping Ceremony does not get started until about noon).  There were other tourists at that market, but the Hamer there didn't seem to notice or care.  The second and third photos I've pasted below are from that market.  

       There will also be other tourists at the Bull Jumping Ceremony, but that ceremony is absolutely "cannot miss" experience.  I have traveled extensively (99 countries, many third world and primitive) and have never seen anything remotely like it.

       The villages in which we camped were not small, but they were out of the way and rarely visited by tourists.  In many, the men being essentially nude and the women bare breasted was common.

       Probably, way back when, some tourist gave a tip for a photograph.  Now, everywhere except the markets and Bull Jumping Ceremony, people ask to be paid for photographs.  Each person you photograph, except at the markets and Bull Jumping Ceremony, will get 5 birr (U.S. $1 = almost 23 birr; 1 Euro = a bit more than 24 birr).  If a baby is in the picture, another 5 birr is paid.  At the beginning of the trip, my friend and I each gave Melak U.S. $150, which he converted into small note birr.  Melak, or the local he hired in each village, paid the people whose photographs were being take, freeing us from having to deal with that.  I recommend you do the same but, if photography is what you will primarily be doing, give Melak $300 to convert to 5 birr bill for yourself.

       The Bull Jumping Ceremony is, in my experience -- and, as I said above, I have traveled very widely and to a lot of very primitive places -- unique.  If you have a camera which takes videos, I would bring it; if not, I recommend you get one and bring it.  Still photos, by themselves, are not adequate to capture what is occurring.

       There is a wet season in the Omo River Valley, I think.  Probably, you do not want to go then. Melak can tell you the best time to go.  

       Probably, you will want to have a photo of Melak in advance.  The last photo pasted below is a photo of Melak and a Surma lady who has the largest lip plate Melak has ever seen.  Melak is a little less than 6 feet tall.  By the way, the Surma and Mursi are related, the speak the same language and in both the women have lip plates.  [I actually bought two used lip plates - 100 birr each; heck, no one else in Los Angeles has even one.]

       Of course you should tell Melak you read my review and that we have communicated and, if you wish, that you want a trip like the one he did for my friend [Glenn] and me.

       Finally, I have attached a word document which has a bunch of photos, copied from the Internet, from the Lower Omo River Valley and then a surprisingly very good article on the Lower Omo River Valley from Conde Nast magazine.  I recommend that you view the photos below and in the word document attached, on a computer screen, as opposed to a cell phone screen. 

         I hope this is helpful.https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1237159-d593874-r369572561-Omo_National_Park_and_River-Jinka_Southern_Nations_Nationalities_and_People_s_Re.html