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boltonian Says: On the road to Jinka, you pass various animals. We saw baboons, donkeys, goats and many colourful birds.The best was a wild camel that chased a man (who was scared to death). We were later told that the camels grab people by the neck and throw them in the air.
boltonian Says: The road to Jinka is long and hot, but on the way there are many great sights.Some of the highlights are the tribes (seperate tip), the youngsters trying to impress to earn your 2 Birr, people selling hand made goods, wildlife, termites (seperate tip), dust devils (seperate...
boltonian Says: In and around Jinka, you will see some other tribes people doing business or visiting friends.We were lucky enough to see some Tsemay and Hamer people.
boltonian Says: To visit any of the tribes of the Omo Valley, you must have your own 4x4. The road is terrible and even a 4x4 struggles in wet times.There are many tribes to visit, but each are located a long way apart, so allow half a day (or even a full day) for each tribe.The most famous...
sachara Says: In Jinka we stayed at the Rocky Recreation Campsite. From Jinka a track leads to the Mago National Park. You need your own (rented) vehicle to reach the park.To reach the park we first crossed two rather deep rivers. The sky was very cloudy. So at this viewpoint we stopped...
sachara Says: The people of Ethiopia wear many different types of clothing. The traditional dress in the northern Christian highland peasantry has traditionally been of white cotton cloth and wrap-around blankets. Here in the Oromo Region the people are wearing bead-decorated leather...
sachara Says: The Banna people, living around Key Afar, are pasturalists. Travelling in the countryside, you will meet often boys with their herds. Most of the time they spend the night between their cattle.There is also some agriculture in the area, but the hot and dry climate and the...
sachara Says: Thursday is the marketday in Key Afar. Arriving at the marketplace, we saw a lively market with a lot of people sitting all around at the ground with their trade, animatedly chatting about the lates news in the area.At first sight the crowdy place was very overwhelming with...
Key Afar, one of the main marketplaces
sachara Says: After descending in the Lower Omo Valley, the first town we visited was Key Afar.Comparing to the highlands, it is extremely hot in the valley and Key Afar. On our walk from the road to the marketplace for the thursday market, we saw some little shops and a lot of local...
boltonian Says: Opposite the airstrip is the Goh Hotel. Small courtyard/car park is surrounded by rooms. Singles with no water 40 Birr, Twins with hot showers 150 Birr.As with all of Jinka, there is no running water or electricity after 11pm at night.The rooms are clean, the showers...
boltonian Says: Half way between Konso and Jinka is a small truck stop. They serve spagetti and injera. Cheap, but watch the waitors for over charging farangi prices.In the heat of the rift valley, a welcome break and place to get a cold coke or beer.
boltonian Says: Bottom end of town. Nice range of food. Little more costly than most, but still cheap by Western standards.They try to push you towards the set menu (40 Birr plus tax), but just ask for the regular menu to see pastas and burgers alongside the usual injera.
Helpfulness
In the Mursi village the women and girls like to sell us their traditional clay lipplates.
The most plates have a round shape in different sizes of about 10 CM.
This woman has also a plate with another shape. Most of the clay plates are decorated with small designs.
I liked the lipplates a lot. It's reallly an original item to bring home. They are very cheap, so I decided not to negotiate to lower the prize.
Updated Jun 23, 2004
Helpfulness
The Lower Omo is well known to have both Maleria and Dengue Fever.
When we were there, it was cold and wet, so very few insects were about.
Make sure you bring a treated net (most hotels have them but full of holes). Use Deet and cover up in the evenings. Take your anti-malarial religiously.
We spoke to a few people there who had been bitten and a couple who had contracted Maleria.
Written Aug 3, 2008
sachara Says: The Mursi are one of the most remote peoples in Ethiopia and live rather autonomous of the government. They lived isolated from the rest of the world and had never heard of Ethiopia till a British antropologist visited them in 1970.They alternate in hostile and peaceful...
Mursi woman, showing her scars
sachara Says: This Mursi woman was very eager and persuasive to show the skars at her shoulder. She followed me, grabbed at my arm and even blocked my way. At the end I admitted, took my camera out of my pocket and paid her the asked one birr. Many of the tribes in the Omo Region have...
sachara Says: Not only the girls, but also the Mursi boys like to decorate and ornament themselves abundantly by unique face and body paintings They were wearing sticks and peculiar jewelry, made of metal and horns.Some boys were wearing plugs in their ears to elongate their lobes.The...
Mursi, women wearing lipplates
sachara Says: The Mursi girls start to pierce their lower lip at the age of 15 or 16, so she can wear a plate. The larger the plate, the higher the bride price will be, up to 20 or 40 cows by very large plates. That's why some girls marry very young to lower the price for the family of...
sachara Says: After a drive of more than 3 hours from Jinka along a bumpy track through the mountains and the hot plains, we reached the Mursi village. To enter a Mursi village, it usual to pay an admission fee for each car. The money is used for the community. The most known traditions...
I had looked forward to my visit to the Lower Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia as one of the most fascinating parts of my three months trip in Africa. In the Lower Omo Valley live a vast number of...
Jinka is not an easy place to get to. There is an airfield, but it seems to be closed for now. Even if it is open, you might want to think twice if you are a nervous flyer as the air strip doubles as...
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