....this hotel had some cool paintings in the lobby...
So then we were off to Lake Chamo for some wild life viewing. We all laughed when they gave us the life vests, as we knew if we ended up in the water, the vests wouldn't help us any against the real threat....crocodiles.....
First, we saw more bird life, including these pelicans....
...not sure what this yellow beaked bird is...
...then our first croc sighting as they skimmed the water looking for something good to eat....
This fish eagle was eyeing us, as well as the crocs...
...herons are plentiful in this area....
...and hippos were also around...
And then, we found the favorite rest spot for the huge crocs....
Ethiopia claims that the world's largest crocs live in this lake....but in my prior travels, both Uganda and Australia have made similar claims. Although I never saw any close up in Australia (only in the water), I do recall that the one that was sunbathing along a river in Uganda was at least bigger than the ones we saw here...
After our croc viewing, we headed back towards shore, when we saw that this fish eagle managed to sneak down amongst the crocs and grab himself a fish....
....when he saw us clicking with our cameras, he became threatened that we wanted his breakfast, so he picked up his catch and headed for the treetops...
This local was also trying to do some fishing amongst the crocs.....yikes, it doesn't look like that boat offers him much protection!!
Phew, back to the safety of the boat dock :-).
Then back on the road to visit more of the Omo Valley. What would you guess these are in the trees?.....
You would be right if you guessed beehives! These beehive baskets were hanging in the acacia trees, all along the road. Honey is a big crop here, and is the main ingredient in that local liquor that we tried yesterday.
We stopped for lunch at a beautiful newer resort property....
....with phenomenal views..
The hotel rooms, as well as the restaurant were built in a similar fashion to the local huts (Jim, maybe you can see the construction better in this shot)...
Unfortunately, the service was extremely slow, and it used up a good chunk of our afternoon....so when we were finally served, we ate and ran, so we could see at least one of the tribes this afternoon.
Our next stop was at an Arbore village, a tribe of only about 5,000.. Their huts are a bit more air conditioned, and the goats live right inside with them (this was true in most of the villages)...
A unique feature of this tribe is the shaved heads of their young women..
Once married, they can grow their hair (hmm,photo a bit fuzzy...I thought I got a good one of this mother)...
The young boys like to paint their faces and have their photos taken (again, as before, for money :-(.
Hey, are those "crocs" on his feet?...
Because of our late lunch, the day was coming to an end (as noted by the shadows in these photos,), and so we headed to our new home for the evening, the Buska Lodge. We will be here for two nights, which seems like a luxury with so much moving around!
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Location:Lake Chamo, Ethiopia.
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