After a week of many conflicting personal reactions, we arrived to Turmi, our second destination. The Omo Valley is a place that can transport a person not only across continents, but back in time. these tribal cultures are violent, gruesome, simple yet so beautiful and so resilient. so much about this place feels exotic and yet so much reminds us how interconnected we all are. this is the Africa untouched by our own culture.

EXPERIENCE

We broke our Omo camp, after an early morning visit to the Kara, and proceeded to Turmi in the Eastern or Southern Omo. We made a stop at a market at Dimeka. The trive we were most eager to visit while here was the Hammar. The Hammar women have high cheekbones, wear thick copper/metal necklaces, elaborate beads, goat-skins and their hair is often colored with red ochre and cow butter. The men often use colored clay on their hair and take real pride in their appearance and culture. 

#4 HAMMAR TRIBE

This was one of my favorite tribes to visit though they are more accustomed to Western faces given their proximity to Turmi. the demeanor in the village felt slightly more relaxed than the previous we visited. The Kara descended from the Hammar, hence their similar hair treatment of butter and red okra. The characteristic event of the Hammar tribe is their bull jumping ceremony, that each boy needs to complete to become a man.

We were lucky enough to be in the region at the right time and were able to witness this impressive event. the women are whipped while the men run over the backs of 9 bulls to prove manhood. so much about this is intense to watch.

A visit to the Omo is a conflicting one as an outsider. initially I felt an overwhelming sense of wanting to see this simple tribal way of life preserved. but as we have spent more time with the people and witnessed more, It’s easy to see that life here is hard and very violent for women (and children and animals). I’ve been so taken aback by the hitting and control these women are subjected to. 

During our days around Turmi, we had  the opportunity to see the ritual bull-jumping ceremony of the Hamar tribe and we made three visits to Hammar village. The market at Turmi was another highlight, where the tribes congregate to sell their wares and indulge in sampling the locally made alcohol.

#5 DASSANECH TRIBE

From Turmi, we drove to Omorate to visit a remote Dassanech village, close to the Kenyan border. Here, we visited their village and photographed daily life. This is an arid area with very fine silt soils deposited by the Omo river in the past. Our local guide brought us to his remote personal village. It was immediately obvious this tribe was poorer than the others we have met.

Their homes were fashioned of metal plates and animals wandered in and out freely. These kids were surprisingly educated and well versed in English however because they live very close to a school. We had one of our nicest visits with this tribe and they did a little local dancing while we were there.

STAY

Unfortunately, our reservations again did not go as planned and we were forced to stay at the Turmi Lodge. Not many hotels earn the title of worst hotel ever, but this one did.  Amenities included one bar of soap for three days, no toilet paper, shampoo or anything else. This hotel had very little electricity, WIFI, water and often the water ran brown in the shower. The shower was never once hot. The restaurant was a quarter mile from the hotel and had about 5 menu items each night despite a menu listing nearly 50 items. There were bugs such as mosquitos and spiders in the rooms and snakes on the premise. The rooms were hot despite broken windows and sloppy screens and the fans never worked since the electrical outlets rarely did. I would highly recommend staying at the Buska Lodge if possible, other travelers in my group stayed here in the past and claim it was much nicer.

EAT

Food took a turn for this worst at this portion of the trip. We were very sad to say goodbye to Desta our camp chef. The Turmi hotel presented some of the worst food of the trip with the standard “Western Menu” served at each meal, though they typically had only about five of the fifty listed items available. We tended to choose combinations of French fries, fried fish cutlets, fruit cocktail and spaghetti with tomato sauce to eat while here. Since there was generally no power at this hotel, we had to choose things that could be boiled or deep fried via the gas. The highlight of this place was the cold beer and Rift Valley wine which they miraculously had.