....the guinea hens...
...the jackal...
...the olive baboons...
...and of course you can't go to any country in Africa without seeing the huge termite high-rise condos....
As we arrived at the Omo River, our dugout canoes awaited us...
...for the ride across the river...
....to visit the Dasenach tribe...
This tribe used to be more nomadic, and their smaller, more squat huts still reflect that (I.e, they were easier to break down and carry from place to place). They also withstand the winds which are stronger here in this part of the valley. We had a local guide who was a part of the tribe, but had gone away to school....but he came back, working for an NGO, to try to encourage his tribespeople to embrace education. There was a school adjacent to the village, but he said it was very difficult to get the children to consistently attend classes. But I think he underestimated his influence, as I had a young man who walked with me (so that he could help me up and down the banks of the river for some birr....birr is their money of course)....anyway, this young man was repeating, under his breath, everything the guide was saying to us. I asked him if he was practicing his English, and he said, yes, he wanted to go off to university some day. I asked why he wasn't in school now and he shared that he attends the 6-10am session at the school. So the guide is making an impact on at least that one life, and I am sure others.
The tribespeople, just like the others we had visited, wanted birr to have their photo taken...I was starting to accept this, although I still don't like it...it felt quite exploitative (is that how you spell that?)...it wasn't the price, as they usually wanted 2-3 birr which is equivalent to about six cents per birr. But I was starting to give in to the process, so I could get photos of people such as this.....
....I thought she also warranted a closeup for the ornament she wore across her forehead (yes, that's a beer opener!)...
Then I took a few others....
....including this one of the old chief...
....and who could resist the little girl holding the lamb (note her bottlecap headdress)..
We then headed to a market where members primarily of the Hamer tribe come to sell their goods. We watched this man negotiate to buy these goats. We thought he was just buying one, but he walked away with the whole lot of about ten of them....
These folks under the tree were selling khat, the narcotic plant...
...and the gourds and jewelry were displayed for purchase, mostly by the tourists...
I think these two youngsters were actually from the Benna tribe, based on their headbands...
Note the multiple bracelets this woman is wearing....the number of bracelets a woman wears indicates how many cattle her husband owns and therefore is a measure of his wealth and prestige within the tribe...
From the market, we headed to a Hamer village. Each family's compound was separated by having a fence such as this one, which was unique to this tribe...
This woman was pressing sorghum, another crop grown in southern Ethiopia...
There are several distinguishing features with regard to this woman. First, the hair....this is unique to the Hamer tribe and they use clay and butter to keep the braids in place. Also note the necklace with the round protrusion...this signifies she is a first wife. The silver necklaces below it indicate she is an only wife....when her husband takes his second wife, these would be removed, and the second wife would then wear one of the plain necklaces...
A couple of the younger girls with the clay/butter hairdos and full tribal garb...
Tomorrow, we will visit a Benna farm...
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Location:Omo Valley, Ethiopia
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