The Omo Valley Cultural Tour

Welcome to Ethiopia! Your adventure begins in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Upon arrival, you will be welcomed by our airport representative who will then transfer you to the hotel for check in. The rest of the day will be spent at leisure.

You will also meet your driver guide today for the tour briefing so that he/she can be able to take you through the itinerary. The guide will also be able to answer any of your questions related to your trip. 

Included Activities

• Airport Arrival Transfer

Meals Included

• No meals

Accommodation: Golden Royal Hotel or similar

After breakfast, you will join your guide for a sightseeing tour of Addis Ababa. You will visit the most emblematic points such as the National Museum, Meskel Square, The Holy Trinity Church, The Menelik Mausoleum and many more.

The National Museum is where you will find the remains of “Lucy”, an early hominid fossils dating back to 3.5 million years ago, discovered in Ethiopia’s Awash Valley in the Afar triangle in 1974.

After the tour, you will be taken back to the hotel and spend the rest of the day at leisure.

Included Activities

• Addis Ababa city tour

Meals Included

• Breakfast
• dinner

Accommodation: Golden Royal Hotel or similar

After breakfast, you will be transferred from your hotel to the airport in time for your flight to the town of Arba Minch, where you will be met by your guide and transfer to the hotel. Upon arrival, you will check in and have your lunch as you wait for the late afternoon activities. We will visit the Dorze ethnic group whose unique houses made of bamboo sticks form up to six metres high. The Dorze people are renowned for their colorful traditional textiles which are sold as well to other tribes within various regions of the country.

Later, we will drive back to the hotel and spend the rest of the evening at leisure.

Included Activities

• Visit Dorze tribe

Meals Included

• Breakfast

Accommodation: Haile Resort or similar

After breakfast, we will check out and head off to Konso (approximately 2hours), which is one of the UNESCO cultural heritage site in the country. We will visit the Konso ethnic group to learn more about their culture, traditions, norms and values. After the activity comes to an end, we will proceed to Jinka town.

If time allows we will stop at the colorful Key Afer market (only on Thursday) where several local tribes from the surroundings come to buy or sell their wares.

Included Activities

• Visit Konso tribe

Meals Included

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Accommodation: Eco Omo Lodge or similar

Today we will depart after breakfast and drive to Mago National Park to visit the Mursi ethnic group (approx 2 hours). The Mursi are famous for their women’s lip plates which are worn for cultural purposes. The women make an incision in their lower lip when they are young at adolescent stage and they will enlarge it little by little until it becomes large enough to hold a round-disc of 5cm in diameter. They do wear the lip plug as a sign of beauty.

Later, we will drive back to Jinka town for lunch before proceeding to Turmi (approx 3hours) for the night. Turmi is home to Hamer Ethnic group well known for their unique rituals such as bull jumping ceremony and the moonshine dance (Evangadi) which is a traditional dance where both men and women participate.

Turmi will serve as our base for the next few nights to allow us to visit and explore the other different tribes within the region.

Included Activities

• Visit Mursi tribe

Meals Included

• Breakfast

Accommodation: Buska lodge or similar

We will have breakfast and drive south to Omorate village to visit the Dassanech ethnic group living on the banks of Omo River. The men are well known for their unique hairstyle which marks rise to age system.

They Dassanech people are agro pastoralist and they grow a lot of sorghum, maize, and beans along the Omo River when the delta is flooded.

We will return back to Turmi for lunch and later visit the Hamer tribe not far from where we will be staying.

Included Activities

• Visit Dassanech tribe
• Visit Hamer tribe

Meals Included

• Breakfast

Accommodation: Buska lodge or similar                         

We will depart after breakfast and drive to the Karo village where we will visit the Karo ethnic group. The Karo people are well known for their body painting and are one of the smallest tribe in the region in terms of population (approx 1300 people).  They are agro pastoralist and are well known for their traditional dancing and painting of their bodies with a mixture of ash and fat or water. The Karo men, just like the Hamer tribe use clay to construct unique hairstyle and headdresses signifying status, beauty and bravery. They also practice the bull jumping ceremony for boys like the Hamer tribe as a rite of passage to adulthood.  

Later, we will return back to Turmi for lunch and the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

Included Activities

• Visit karo tribe

Meals Included

• Breakfast

Accommodation: Buska lodge or similar

The trip comes to an end today after breakfast and no activities are planned. We will check out and drive to Jinka town (approximately 3hrs) to catch your flight back to Addis Ababa.

 Kindly notify the driver guide about your departure timings so that he/she can be able to organize for your transfer in advance.

Included Activities

• Airport Departure Transfer

Meals Included

• Breakfast

SPECIAL INFORMATION:

If you would like to extend your trip to Northern Ethiopia for another leg of historical tour (charged separately), then feel free to contact us and we would be glad to arrange for you this post-trip extension.