Lower Omo Valley Photo Tour | The Journey to The Tribes of Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia Tours

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Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley is one of the most fascinating regions; The Lower Omo Valley of Ethiopia is home to a good number of tribes, the region is one of top area gifted with the cultural diversity of over a dozen tribes that coexist with varying degrees of peace. Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley is mostly a dry savanna expanse fed by the Omo River –one of their most important resources.

On along the Omo Valley River and throughout the Omo Valley region, hundreds of small tribal villages pepper the landscape, each of them with their unique customs and even their own language. According to the legends of this area, Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley tribes have lived here for centuries, and since the discovery of human remains dating back nearly 2.5 million years, Ethiopia’s Lower Valley region has been declared a Unesco World Heritage site.

Photo by Piper Mackay

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Ethiopia’s South Omo Region (Lower Omo Valley) being as remote and foreign as it seems, it is possible to visit the Lower Omo Valley and several of its tribes. Due to their location in the Ethiopian South Omo Region (Lower Omo Valley), This tends to be either an expensive, slow, or challenging trip – both logistically and physically.

But, if you contact us, it is very possible to make this trip on a decent budget and without having to rely entirely on expensive tour agencies. After visiting Ethiopia’s South Omo Region (Lower Omo Valley) several times, we can share everything you will need to have a very successful trip:

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There are dozens of tribes you can choose from but here are some of the most recognizable tribes (with alternate spellings in parenthesis). Also, the bold names are considered to be among the most popular or most accessible ones:

  • Mursi – famous for their lip plates
  • Meen (Bodi)
  • Surma (Suri)
  • Tsamako
  • Tsemai (Tsemay, Tsamai)
  • Turkana
  • Banna (Bana, Bena)
  • Bashada
  • Basketto – outside Omo Valley
  • Borana – outside Omo Valley
  • Dassanetch (Daasanach)
  • Dime
  • Dorze – outside Omo Valley
  • Hamar (Hamer) – famous for their ochre hair
  • Karo (Kara) – famous for their body paintings
  • Arbore
  • Ari (Aari)
  • Konso – outside Omo Valley
  • Kwegu (Muguji)
  • Nyangatom (Bume)

Photo by Piper Mackay

We are well versed in where the above tribes are located and we can surely take you there, but Before booking for this trip, we kindly advise you to share with us your area of interest, this can help in planning for your logistics and time as well, and feel free to enquire.

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Each tribe of Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley has a different dress code and tradition. Some of the Ethiopian Lower Omo Valley follow religions, like Islam and Christianity while others have cultural beliefs. Some of these Ethiopian Lower Omo Valley tribes are settled agro-pastoralists, while others are nomadic or semi-nomadic cattle herders.

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The time needed to visit Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley is depended on how many tribes do you want to see and which ones as their accessibility varies. Your travel determines a lot and it may determine the means of transport to use, either going overland (public bus or private transport), The journey to Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley takes one day (eight hours+) to go from Addis Ababa to Arba Minch, where you can see the Dorze tribe.

Then you will need to proceed to Konso a journey that will take over two hours, here you will be able to explore the Konso tribal community, and then proceed with Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley journey of over five hours to reach the Jinka tribe, and finally in the Lower Omo Valley.

To reach the Jinka tribe it may take more than a day if you opt to use a bus. Alternatively, you can cut long travel by flying to Arba Minch or Jinka.

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We recommend you to give one day per tribe unless when tribes are close enough, it can be possible to see two tribes in one day. But, we remind you that the road conditions in the Ethiopian Lower Omo Valley are not the best, so it may take more than what you think based on distances.

We recommend you, a 7 days Lower Omo Valley Photo tour (Flying To Arba Munich), which will take on a journey to explore the Dorsze Tribe, Hamer tribe.

If you have a good time, we advise you to spend twelve (12) days tour or (preferably longer) if you’re doing everything overland. Before we forget, you should put it in mind that private transport is more comfortable and convenient compared to public transport, you need a high degree of patience and flexibility if you are to use public transportation in Ethiopia, especially in the Omo Valley region.

And most of the time buses don’t leave until they are full, and if there is no enough “traffic” from one town to the other, they just decide not to leave at all. That’s wasted time. Private transportation is not the most comfortable either, but at least you will depart according to your schedule, and settling all that we ask you to Enquire from us and we shall advise you on how to plan this photo tour.

Photo by Piper Mackay

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Whether you are traveling to Ethiopia’s Omo Valley or elsewhere in the world the most important thing to consider is when visiting that particular destination and it is the same case here, before traveling to Lower Omo Valley as it could make or break your trip.

In the Lower Omo Valley region, several roads are unpaved and ungraded, and some of them pass through riverbeds and streams, so we recommend you to visit Ethiopia’s Omo Valley outside the rainy season. During rainy days, some roads become impassable.

The rainy season starts from March to June, with the months in between being the wet season – so avoid visiting during these months if possible, and the best time is at the end of June through September and from November until early March when it’s the dry season. October tends to have some light rains that may or may not affect accessibility.

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It doesn’t matter if you’re a budget backpacker or a luxury traveler, at some point, you will have to hire at least a Land cruiser/jeep and a driver to take you to some of the tribes. But, the question is, do you want to hire them for a full tour or just for the necessary parts?

The reason why we recommend hiring them for the full tour is that they will take care of all the logistics, transportation, and accommodation for you. For someone who doesn’t want to spend his or her time figuring this out, it is highly recommended and the ultimate wild safaris team is ready to do this!

And the average payments is 150$ to 250$, and If you’re more than one traveler, we lower the cost a bit, but it will still be over $100 per day, and for the accommodation, it varies from 100$ to 400$. If you are not interested to go through the hassle of looking for organizing this tour yourself, why not talk to our Safari planner from here.

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Please point in my mind that before you book for this Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, at least, you need to know the area of interest, “which tribes you want to see and what ceremonies you don’t want to miss.”

For Example,

  1. What is included and excluded on the tour?
  2. Do you want to see the bull jumping ceremony at the Hamar tribe?
  3. Do you want to witness the whipping of the brides?
  4. Do you want to see the tribal markets?

Kindly share with our Safari Planner expert from here and we shall advise you accordingly and this will greatly influence your itinerary.

Photo by Piper Mackay

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If your international flight to Ethiopia is with Ethiopian Airlines, then you’re in luck! Ethiopian Airlines gives all its international passengers a generous discount on their domestic routes as long as they show their international boarding pass when booking in one of their local offices or at the airport.

This discount makes flying quite accessible and in some cases even less expensive than the bus. But, you must book in person and show your Ethiopian Airlines international boarding pass when purchasing.

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If you opt to go independent this Ethiopia’s Omo Valley photo tour, you’ll definitely need to find your own accommodation. Unfortunately, most, if not all, budget places in the Omo Valley are not online, so you’ll have to look for your accommodation once you get there.

This is pretty much a “you get what’s available” situation. Just walk around and go door to door asking about availability and prices. And most of the accommodations here are basic and some rooms on the lower end just have a hard mattress bed with a mosquito net and a filthy shared bathroom which could literally be a wooden shack on the patio with a hole on the ground and a shower, and we advise you to enquire from a travel agency to advise you.

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If you have a driver-guide, he will take you to some pretty good restaurants, but should you be on your own, you’ll find it easy to find food in any town. Okay, you may manage to find some local restaurants in bigger cities; unlike in smaller towns like Turmi.

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We kindly recommend you to our safari planner expert from here, he will help you!

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