Day 69 - The Omo Valley

Point of departure : Arba Minch

Point of arrival : Turmi, Omo Valley

Accommodation: rooftop tent @ Kasske River Camp (aka Mango Camp), Turmi

Km travelled today: 287km Cum: 12 544km (gravel 191km cum 3 168km)

Countries so far: 7/16

Where to next? Mago National Park, Omo Valley

Total number of photos taken: 84 (cum 3 171)

Merry Christmas once again! It's Christmas day in Ethiopia (29 April 2002).

Morning started with John repairing the puncture (BUT in the process the handle of the Reamer breaks) and it's 10h00 by the time we leave. Joachim's vehicle is still a problem and the road yesterday exacerbated the problem so he decides he cannot continue and heads back to Addis Ababa. We part ways at Konso.

Descending from the lush green urbane highlands of the Rift Valley (+/- 1 400m above sea level) into the low lying plains (+/- 500m to 900 m) of the thinly populated badlands of South Omo is like travelling back in time and is Africa at its most basic form… not even the taxis get through here, and largely untouched by outside influences.The Omo Valley is famous for its culturally diverse, colourful and traditional agro-pastoralist tribes who inhabit this region.Approximately 24 different tribes live in this region, inter alia: Hamer, Bena, Karo, Ari, Tsmai and Mursi. In this region there are four of Africa's major linguistic groups including the Omotic speakers(a group as endemic to this region as the Ethiopian wolf is to the Simien mountains).

This is certainly once in a life time experience but travelling through the region is not easy.They are in the process of building an asphalt road from Konso through to Jinka in the north and Turmi in the south, but it's road works for hundreds of kilometres… they just don't seem to finish one piece and start the next.

The road is lined with children waiting for the "faranjis" to come past. They run alongside the vehicle shouting "give give birr" - no wonder the Ethiopians win all the medals at the Olympics - they learn to sprint from an early age, running along the "faranji" vehicles. On one occasion we stopped to take photos and they came running out of nowhere. What we discovered later at the campsite was that the little rascals stole the feather duster from the spare wheel cover at the back and ripped the cover in the process.

At Turmi we camped at Kaske Camp (aka Mango Camp) - run by the local Hamer community. The facilities were remarkably good and clean (cold showers only) although not quite western standard, beers and cooldrinks were available and we had a lovely sight surrounded by trees with a bon fire of note. The firewood cost more than the camping but was most enjoyable.