Alternative Omo Experience

Omo Valley, meet the Hamar, Arbore and Dorze people. Visit Lake Stephanie, Lake Chamo, and Arba Minch

Hamar Men

Omo Valley pastoralists

This Alternative Omo Experience Tour allows you to stay in the villages of several tribes in the Omo Valley. It is the Omo with a difference as instead of driving in to villages with cameras ready and then heading out with photos on your disk, you will spend time with the community camping by the village and learning about their lives.  You will send the two nights with the Hamar tribe, one of the best known of the Omotic peoples in the more mountainous eastern part of the Omo Valley. You will meet the elders of the village and the host family along with several other families. This is a more remote village in Hamar and not so touched by tourism. You will have the chance to walk to Uri Mountain and to the farmland the Hamar cultivate. The structure of the two days is flexible to give you time to follow your interests and spend more time with the people.

On the third day we will take you to Lake Stephanie and to spend time with the Arbore (Hoor) tribe. This tribe language is belongs to the Cushitic family and they are agro-pastoralist living in the delta of the Woito/ Limo Valley),where the river ends in the salt flats of lake Stephanie (known as Chow Bahir ‘Salt Lake’), near the border with Kenya. The Arbore are known for the remarkable necklaces worn by a girls.

Kocho, Honey, Spice- coffee & Araki to come

In the village you will meet Arbore Kawot(Chief), and  see activities in the village & enjoying the night with local villagers.

Again you will camp here in Arbore.

Early next morning you will visit the village and take coffee in one of the Kawot’s wife’s house and be blessed by the Kawot.

Then rendezvous with a car for a road trip to Arba Minch and on to Dorze.  It’s 4 hours drive to get to Arba Minch for a late lunch.

Head on up into the greenery of Dorze and check into the lodge with its magnificent views across the Rift Valley. In the afternoon we will organise a local visit to the village to see the Dorze house construction and their use of enset (‘false banana’) and taste traditional araki (home made spirits) and coffee. After dinner at the hotel enjoy a camp fire with the Dorze people and their special singing and dancing.

Sunrise over the Rift Valley from Dorze Lodge

Next morning get up early for the sunrise – one of the most spectacular sunrises in Ethiopia over the Rift Valley with the lakes spread out below. Here you really get a sense of the Great African Rift’s proportions.  After breakfast head out on a trek through the green landscape, with several villages separated by woodland, bamboo thickets and green fields. There is a waterfall to hike to, but its a good idea to take a picnic lunch with you.

On your return we will take you back to Arba Minch where you can check into Paradise hotel.  You can enjoy dinner on the terrace overlooking the lakes and maybe take a swim in their pool.

On your last morning – after breakfast with a view, we will take you to Lake Chamo to board a small boat to see some of the largest Nile crocodiles you can see.  The lake is in Netchisar National Park, so you will enter the park where the boats park, before boarding the metal boat and heading out into the lake.  The lake is not that deep – reaching a max of 10-14 meters of depth, but is around 30 km long and up to 14 wide).  You will explore the NW side of the lake and an island where the crocs lie up on a beach having their teeth picked clean by plucky plovers.  There are also families of hippopotami, although they can be bad tempered and you will not get too close.  I personally saw more African Fish Eagles than I have seen elsewhere, often close up on branches submerged trees.  You will also see a lot of fishermen working of canoes made of papyrus, they seem terribly vulnerable to the crocodiles, but all are competing for the same fish.

After your boat trip, if time allows you can walk on the outside of town, on the edge of the forest, to see the springs that give the town its name. Then head into town to one of the great fish restaurants. I rate this the best fish in Ethiopia!  The flight back to Addis is scheduled at 15:40 and its a small airport, so checking in 1 hour before is plenty.

Or add an extension – maybe a day and night in Konso seeing their remarkable villages and staying at Kanta Lodge; or head east to the Bale Mountain National Park in search of Ethiopian Wolves; or head north to Gurage highlands to trek through their green countryside enjoying homestay hospitality. Let us know if you would like to do something like this.