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Ethiopia

A 26-day adventure by skip's retirement travel Read more
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  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Mursi village

    November 3, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The Mursi are a small tribe (fewer than 20,000 individuals) of the Omo Valley not far from the border with South Sudan. They are agro-pastoralists and historically nomadic. Their most important possession is their cattle. They also cultivate crops that can be harvested in the time between moves for pasturage and water for the cattle.
    Their houses are made entirely of bamboo as seen in the 1st picture which shows a look the the village. Each small village is a single clan. The 2nd picture showed the detached door in place. The entry is less than a meter tall. This is said to be below the height where most mosquitoes fly, making it less likely that they will enter the house. The interior is shown in the 3rd picture.
    The 4th picture is a young man with many decorative scars that you can see by enlarging the picture.
    The 5th picture is a grinding stone. The 6th picture is half ground sorghum. They grind it once; dry it; and grind it again.
    The last picture is a longer view of the village. Every time a son marrys, the woman joins the man's village. So the clan grows.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    South Omo Museum

    November 3, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The Museum of the South Omo Research Centre is an ethnographic museum housing the research centre's collection of artifacts. The display is organized by tribe that lives in the South Omo Valley. There are 15 or more tribes here. The pictures below are of the exhibits. There is way too much here to detail each tribe. So I photographed each cabinet so the the tribe name is visible. In most cases there is a sign thst identifies the contents of the case. Check it out by enlarging the photos.
    You should be able to recognize the names of the tribes I visit and connect some artifacts to them. I encourage you to see other posts, some already posted, others yet to come. There is lots more information on line about the tribes than I can post here. Take a look. This is a fascinating and illuminating part of the world.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Bana family

    November 4, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    The Bana are another of the Omo Valley tribes. The people live as individual families spread out rather than in gathered communities. In the 2nd picture, you can see a couple of these among the fields. I'll come back to the 1st picture.
    The next 4 pictures are inside the family's house. The 3rd and 4th pictures look at the house. You can see the structure. They sit and sleep on goat skin mats that are better seen in the 5th picture. Immediately behind the center post is the small kitchen. In the 5th picture our host is making coffee husk tea. That's really a thing. They take the husks remaining after being removed from the bean, chop it up and throw them into hot water to steep. It tastes more like tea than coffee. In the 6th picture you can see the gourds that are used as tea cups. Our host's husband is about to pass that gourd to me, which is that 1st picture. I was surprised that the coffee taste was minimal.
    The last picture looks across the family compound to the view.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Bull jumping

    November 4, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Bull jumping is practiced by the Hamer tribe (see another post). It is a right of passage for boys to be recognized as adults. Only after successfully completing this ritual will they be allowed to marry.
    This is a whole community event that lasts a couple of days with lots of drinking and feasting provided by the family of the jumper. All the women of the village gather to sing and dance. The 1st picture shows this, but please see another post with a video of the singing and dancing. After a while, certain of the young men who have passed the ritual show up with sticks to whip the women who work hard to receive the lash. The 2nd picture captures this, and the 3rd picture shows that this isn't just a trivial ceremony. I'm told this is to show the boy who is jumping how much he is loved. The closer the relationship to the jumper, the more extensive the whipping.
    While all this is going on, the boy who will jump arrives. He is the boy with the goat skin garment in the 4th picture. He is to Ng for this ceremony. It seems there are many reasons why he might be jumping so early.
    After the whipping those same young men have their faces painted as in the 5th picture
    While all that is going on, there is a lot of drinking and talking among the family and the elders to finalize the ok for the ceremony to take place.
    As the time approaches, the women who have been continuing to sing and dance move to the bulls and sing around them. See the 6th picture.
    The ceremony takes place near dusk. As the bulls are encircled by the watchers, the boy who is jumping goes among the bulls and selects the ones he will jump. That's the 7th picture. The bulls are lined up for the jumping as in the 8th picture.
    Finally the main event. In the last 2 pictures, the boy is completing the ritual. There is another short post with a video of a bit of his effort.
    And, yes, this is always done in the nude.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Daasenach

    November 5, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The Daasenach are another of the tribes in the South Omo Valley. The village I visited close to the border with Kenya and near the town of Omorate, the administrative center of the Daasenach region. To reach the village, I crossed the Omo River on a traditional canoe that you can see in the 1st picture.
    The 2nd picture looks at the village. The next 2 pictures are of Daasenach women. Notice the hairstyles. The 3rd picture is an unmarried woman, while the 4th is married. If you look closely at the married woman, you might be able to see small braids on top of her head. She has a braid for each child. This woman has 3. It was said that the Daasenach still practice female circumcision.
    The 5th picture is a look inside one of their dwellings. The 6th picture is a look across one of their fields that is waiting for the next planting season.
    The last picture is a baboon that just wanted to be photographed.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Dimeka

    November 5, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Dimeka is the administrative center for the Hamer region. It is also a market town with a good size market, especially the livestock market.
    The 1st 3 picture are in the livestock market. This is the section dealing in goats. The cattle market is nearby. The 1st picture looks across the open area where business is done. Goats are sold by the kilogram. In the 2nd picture a young goat is being weighed. The 3rd picture is a goat shipment. It could be either arriving for sale or sending out purchased goats.
    The 4th picture is a group of women sitting in the shade. They are likely eating, drinking, talking and bartering. The 5th picture is a pot of natural honey directly from the hive. The last picture is typical of the rest of the market.
    Aside from the livestock market, the rest of the market doesn't look busy. I'm told that is because a large portion of the people are at the livestock market. Once that market finishes, the rest will be busy.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Hamer

    November 5, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Yet another of the tribes of the South Omo Valley, the Hamer are largely pastoralists who value cattle highly. They are one of the larger tribes in the region.
    They are especially well known for their custom of bull jumping (see other posts).
    The 1st picture looks at the entrance to the village of about 850 people while the 2nd looks at a family cluster of houses. The Hammer spread out the clusters so that each family unit has space for housing and for keeping livestock at night. The goats and cattle are out seeking forage and water during the day. The 3rd picture is inside a typical Hamer home.
    The 4th picture is of elder women while the 5th picture is of young unmarried women. I'm told marriage age is about 15 for women and 22 for men. The 6th picture is a newlywed in the house where she remains for a period. Her head is shaved so she grows new hair with her husband. Her body has been painted with local ochre.
    The 7th picture is of some really young goats who were noisily calling to the goats in the 8th picture as they return from grazing during the day.
    The last picture is a man making rope    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Kara

    November 6, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The Kara tribe is the last of the South Omo Valley tribes I'm visiting. They are about the smallest of the tribes in the region, living along the banks of the Omo River. The name, Kara refers to fish, and some of their diet is just that. However, they are agro pastoralists like most of the other tribes.
    They are perhaps best known for their body painting.
    The 1st picture looks at a a painted man pointing out the Omo River. The rest of the pictures are various members of the tribe showing the variety of body decoration practiced here. The last picture is a woman working at a traditional grinding stone. She is grinding wheat.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Konso

    November 7, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The Konso are a large tribe living primarily in an arid region of southwest Ethiopia, and they have adapted to the climate. The traditional villages begin with a compound atop a hill. When that fills, they start a ring around and slightly down hill. As that fills, another ring is built farther the hill. And so on until the hill is filled. Then the process starts again with another hill. Each ring is separated by stone retaining walls.
    They are also known for their terrace building. Hillsides near the villages are terraced, with each family having their own area to farm. Unlike other tribes, the Konso keep their livestock in the family compounds. They collect the manure, mix it with ash and use it as fertilizer.
    The 1st picture looks over some of the terraced land, and the 2nd looks across a valley from the village I visited to the area they farm. This village houses as many as 5,000 people.
    The 3rd picture is a typical gate to a family compound, and the 4th picture is in a compound. Notice it's on 2 levels: the upper for family and the lower for livestock. The carvings in the center mark and ancestor's grave. This would be a hero, having killed a major beast or many enemies.
    The 4th picture is a community house where the immediate community would gather for all common purposes. The 5th picture is the upper part of the community building. They say these buildings can last 100 years. This upper space is also where young men sleep. They provide a night watch, fire response, etc.
    Associated with the community building is a flat open area as in the 7th picture that is used for celebrations and all sorts of activities. At each of these is a large rock as on the 8th picture. This is for the right of passage. When a young man can lift the rock and throw it backwards over his head, he is deemed grown and strong enough to be considered an adult.
    The 9th picture is some of what they make. You can see a man working a loom, and if you look closely, you might see a woman spinning cotton.
    The last picture is one of the retaining walls between levels. I'm told this wall is over 400 years old and about 3 meters tall.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Hawassa

    November 7, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Hawassa is the 3rd largest city in Ethiopia and largest south of Addis Ababa. It lies in the Great Rift Valley along the eastern shore of Lake Awasa. Hawassa had been the capital of the entire southern region of Ethiopia, but today is one of several regional capital cities.
    The 1st picture is looking out from the hotel over the resort grounds to the lake. The 2nd picture is of the lake with fishermen, taken from the lakeside promenade in the 3rd picture.
    The 4th picture is of a typical street in the city. One Ethiopian person I spoke to called this a clean city, and it is. Much of the city has this feel.
    The 5th picture is of the Sidama monument, also called Sumuda, with St. Gabriel's Church in the background. The monument to the Sidama people is like a coiled false banana leaf. The images all around lift up the traditions and culture iyf the Sidama people.
    The last picture is a closer look at St. Gabriel's Church, an Ethiopian Orthodox cathedral.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Bale Mountains National Park

    November 8, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) lies in the southern Highlands of Ethiopia. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for it's scenery, environment and as a water catchment area supplying water to millions in this part of Africa.
    The park has 5 zones based on ecotypes. Three are looked at in this posts. The other 2 will each have their own. Listed in order of increasing elevation, these 3 are: northern grasslands, northern woodlands and Erica moorlands.
    The 1st 2 pictures are in the grasslands. 1st is a couple of warthogs. In the 2nd you might be able to see a couple mountain nyalas looking back. These also show the grassland environment.
    The next 6 pictures are in the northern woodlands. Pictures 3 & 4 show what this area looks like. It is beautiful to walk through. Pictures 5 & 6 are mountain nyalas. The 7th picture is a bohor reedbuck. The 8th picture is another antelope species, but I don't recall the name.
    The last 2 pictures are of the Erica moorland. One at the same level and one from above on the Sanetti plateau (see another post). The area is the transition zone above the treeline to the plateau. It is named for the species erica arborea of the heath family that grows here.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Sanetti Plateau

    November 9, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    The Sanetti plateau is the 4th ecotype zone at Bale Mountains National Park (see another post). The 1st thing that makes the place unique is that it is about the largest area afro-tundra anywhere. Tundra in Africa? Who knew? I didn't.
    The 1st 3 pictures look across the landscape. Lots of lichens and low vegetation, except that on tall plant that is reminiscent of a palm tree. It isn't. It's giant lobelia. There are many places with standing water. It's the end of the wet season here. Those water holes will dry up in the dry season.
    The next special fact is that the 2nd highest point in Ethiopia is here, and it's reached by the highest road in Africa . At almost 4,400 meters, it is 2nd only to the peak at Simien Mountain (see another post). The 3rd picture looks across the summit to the elevation sign, while 4 & 5 look out to the view.
    The next important fact is that BMNP is home the the largest population of the extremely rare, red list endangered Ethiopian wolf. There he is in the 6th picture.
    Pictures 7 & 8 are 2 more of the parks resident wildlife. They are the blue winged goose and the wattled ibis.
    The last picture is s view off the north side of the plateau. The south side was clouded in, unfortunately.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Harenna Forest

    November 9, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This is the 5th ecotype in Bale Mountains National Park. We go from afro-tundra at the top of the escarpment to rain forest at the bottom. The Harenna forest is a rain forest, the 5th ecotype. It is about the largest natural and mostly untouched woodland in Ethiopia.
    This area of the south side of the plateau. Once leaving the agro-tundra and start down the escarpment, you pass throu the erica zone to the woodland zone as expected. But there's a difference. On this side, it's a cloud forest. As moist air hits the escarpment, it rises and condenses, forming a cloud. You can see the cloud moving up the slope. The 1st 2 pictures are in the cloud forest. Those funky trees that look like they should be in the forest around the wicked witch of the west are erica arborea.
    The rest of the pictures are different places in the rain forest. The forest is so dense, it was hard to find places to get a sense of it. These give a fair overview of what I saw.
    One thing to note. In the last picture, toward the top, there's a black oblong object that seems out of place. It's actually a beehive. Locals make these and hang them to harvest the honey.
    Harenna forest extends farther down the mountain where it takes on the woodland speciation typical of the region. I took no pictures as it is essentially the same as the Bale Mountains National Park post.    Read more

  • skip's retirement travelEthiopiaskip's retirement travel

    Traditional Culture Show

    November 10, 2022 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    For my last dinner in Ethiopia, I attended a dinner with a cultural show. The show lasted almost 4 hours with singers and dancers. The intent was to share something of the many cultures that exist here. (See several other posts for some of those cultures.) Unfortunately, there was no description of which culture was represented by which dance or song.
    The 1st picture is of the instrumentalists who accompanied the show. They are all playing traditional Ethiopian instruments, albeit modified for electric pickups for amplification.
    The remaining 9 pictures are snapshots of some of the acts. I'm told the costumes reflect the culture that the song or dance is from.    Read more

    Trip end
    November 11, 2022
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