Tribes of Southern Omo Valley

There have been times on this trip when we have debated about going some place or another, and most of the time we have not regretted the decision. During the Ethiopia leg of the journey the big debate was to head south or not. Whats in the South?? The Tribes are in the south! Ethiopia for the traveler is essentially split into discrete circuits covering the north, south and east of the country. The North is the Church and Historical circuit. The East has some amazing natural wonders, and the south has the tribes. The tribes of Ethiopia are varied and interesting, they hold much intrigue for those who venture down to visit them, and deciding to take this trip was the best choice of the whole african leg of the journey.

We were really debating this one hard, solely because of the costs - you have to take a 4x4 to visit the tribes, as the roads are even worse than the awful highway roads found around Addis! They really are African Bum massagers! The 4x4 guys have a great monopoly going on and the rates rarely drop below $100US per car per day. Sure for a group this might work out ok, but for us backpackers, thats a lot of Injera!

We were super lucky that as we were booking our jeeps we met a couple of guys from the Czech Republic and Slovakia - Ivan and Michel, they too wanted to do the trip and so we were set, 50% straight off!

I guess the first thing to say is that there are tribes all over Ethiopia, but the southern Omo Valley tribes have gained some notoriety as they have been cut off for a number of years (for main stream travelers, the villages were really only opened for visits 15 years ago), also they have maintained customs and traditions to this day that set them apart from what I or most others would know. They are intriguing and mind boggling in the way they live life. I think it gives some indication on how past generations may have lived.

Of course times are changing as these tribes are becoming more commercially savvy. There are new ‘better’ roads being built and villages are becoming easier to get to. There are park and village entrance fees, and I am waiting for the first tribal Starbucks to open soon!! Seriously I think that we had an experience that was somewhat staged, but as close to real life as I would expect. In the end we were visiting people in their homes and communities and jumping out of a non air-conditioned 4x4 to take photos and gawp at bull jumping and lip plates, is already pretty synthetic. This aside the experience was mind blowing and I am so glad that we decided to visit these tribes.

We were fortunate in that over 3 days we visited 4 different tribal groups - the Konso, the Arbore, the Hamer and the Mursi. Each were different. The Konso were most like conventional towns folk, the Arbore are famous for the beaded and metal jewelry they wear. The Mursi are rough, aggressive, savvy and plain weird! The ladies are famous for the huge lip plates the wear IN their bottom lips. These plate could easily hold my dinner on them and they are apparently a sign of beauty. I am not one to judge but the way that the ladies were taking the plates out and letting the resultant skin flap around was not too catchy for me!!

The Hamer were the most interesting and most welcoming of the tribes we met. We were super lucky to be in the area at the right time of year and the right day to witness and in some ways be part of the famous bull jumping ceremony they have. The Bull jumping is a coming of age ritual that any boy must perform before they can be called men. It is complex and goes on for many days, but the main highlights are as follows.

All boys must undergo the ceremonial process to become a man, indeed even if you leave the village for work or anything else, you must come back to your village for this ceremony.

All the ladies of the family of the boy perform many dances and performances to show their support to the boy. The greatest sign of their support however is that they are voluntarily whipped, by whippers for the area. These are no light dashes with a leaf, this whipping leads to blood. It is a very disturbing process to watch, but one can’t help being enthralled by the ruthlessness of the act. The more the whipping the more you are showing your support for your brother or cousin or son.

The boys family must arrange for many bulls to be brought to the village, the more bulls they can buy the richer they are and again the better for the boy. As you might guess there is whole marriage subtext to this whole thing, as once the boy becomes a man he needs a wife. As ever everyone is one to impress!

The concluding act of the bull jumping ceremony is exactly that. The boy must jump onto and run over the backs of all the bulls that have been collected. Other men of the tribe help him by holding the bulls by their tails and horns and her jumps on them and runs. He must do this non stop at least 3 times and he cant ‘train’ for it. More over as ever with tribes he is naked (why do they always do this!).

Seeing a boy grow in to a man by jumping over 7-10 angry bulls in a row is a sight to behold. This was not a show, it was not put on to impress the tour groups, these ceremonies are how life moves with the Hamer. I was taken aback by it all and it really was a privilege to see the events unfold. Sure I felt a bit uncomfortable as I clicked away throughout the ceremonies, but to be honest this was a time when the pics did not matter, having seen the tribes of the south Omo valley was an experience by itself and was unforgetable.

What is the cost of a Photo

We have taken over 23,000 photos on this trip so far and many have been of people, of young and old. Indeed the people we have seen on our trip are the most interesting subjects for me when taking photos. To date most of these pictures were largely unstaged, in many cases spontaneous and in some cases, down right sneakily taken! So when we decided to come to Ethiopia and ‘visit’ the southern Omo tribes, Urvi told me of the custom of paying for all the photos. Villagers would be happy to pose for us (even what to pose) but insist on payment. There is no choice in this and in the end you enter into what feels like a mass portrait session, with numerous photo shoots taking place throughout the village.

I must say that this was very unforgettable for me, not least because although the tribes were in tradition dress and setting, most would pose for a photo, this resulted in staged looking photos, which I didn’t like. However we were fortunate to come across one tribal group that did not pose for shots. The Hamer are a welcoming and intense tribe with many distinct traditions. The reason that they were not posing for shots was that we visited at the time of a bull jumping ceremony. This is described in detail in a later post, but we were lucky that as the tribe were busy in this celebratory function, they were happy to invite us in and allowed photos. Indeed some of the tribe are budding snappers themselves, and loved to click away happily. I pondered what they actually thought of taking photos as they believe that when you take a photo it takes some part of the subjects soul away and captures it! Maybe they are right, paying for posed shots was a bit soul consuming for me!

Paying for photos is not in itself a bad thing, but the business transaction takes away all feeling that the photo you take is a glimpse in the real life of the subject. I didn't have the photographic skills to influence the situation, and I guess just photographing these tribes in interesting enough. General feedback on the shots was positive so something must have good right!

File note - where have all the pictures gone???

Anyone reading this blog will know that I really like to make photos
(I love this very European way of describing photgraphy!!!) and I
always add pics to my blog posts. So you might wonder where he pics
have gone over he last month???

Well simply answer in our 'seperation' agreement Urvi go the computer
and I got the camera this means for me there is no easy way to upload
pics, in fact I have been writing he blog on my iPod touch, which
actually is kind if fun!!

You will have to wait till April end for the mass uploading of pics
from north Argentina, atacama and bolivia, trust me I hope they are
worth waiting for!!!

Sent from my iPod

Luang Prabang – lose yourself in noodle soup or coffee

We are now in the northern half of Laos and the jewel of South East Asia for me – Luang Prabang. I kind of think of it as a mix between Hoi An and Don Det. It is so cultured and beautiful that it makes you feel like you have gone back in time to a small French colonial getaway – just like Hoi An. On the other hand it is sleepy and welcoming and takes you slowly by the hand just like Don Det. In truth Luang Prabang is unique and not like anywhere else.



If you arrive by bus here, it is a windy adventure through the mountains that leads to this misty lost outpost. Once you are here, you can’t feel alone, there are so many travellers and also main stream tourists that there is always someone to talk to and share travelling stories with. Although there are none of the big 5 star hotel here yet (thank goodness), there are plenty of boutique hotels to cater for the sneaker wearing high spending American Chinos. Thankfully there are also many wonderful small guesthouses that cost no more that $5 per night for a room. There are plenty of things to do around the town also (trekking, kayaking, caving elephant tours etc), but when you walk around it, and lose count of the days you have been here, you know that Luang Prabang has got you.



It is times and places like these that I truly feel the freedom of a trip like ours. No 3 week deadline and no need to get back to work. We can sit back and sip coffee all day until the sun disappears, and then do it all again tomorrow! That pretty much what we did some days and totally loved it.



Luang Prabang is a world heritage city, and totally justifiably. Once again, it’s the people that make it even more special. Each night the main road, that runs through the heart of the main town is overtaken by the most wonderful night market. Sure there are lots of tourist souvenirs to be had, but there was none of the strong arm tactics of the Chinese or Vietnamese sellers. The ladies were so nice, and the young girls who were learning the trade were so adorable. You can tell that people in this market were not selling for grim survival. Sure people were not rich, but this was their trade and not a last ditch attempt at staying afloat. For me this was much more relaxed and made for a far nicer window shopping experience. We walked round there so many times, it was a bit of a routine, and made for a lovely end to a busy day of doing not very much!!



During one of our walks around the town we came across this amazing charitable programme called @ my library. Set up by an American who came to visit and stayed for 8 years(!) the library was set up to help young adults learn and improve their English. They loan out books, have computers and a host of learning aids and games to help the guys and gals out. They also have cameras and printing facilities, and support kids to learn photography.



I was really impressed with some of the work they had displayed - it was amazing. It showed me that photography is not just about big lens and expensive kit. It is fundamentally an art of using your eyes and mind to capture what you see around you. I was so motivated by the place and the work of the kids that I volunteered to take some guys out and help them with their photography. I did this for a day and it was the most nerve racking thing I have ever done. Don’t really know why, but I guess I was teaching someone something that I am still learning. I had to condense my thinking on photography into something that would be useful for the guys and I wanted it to be fun. This was all in one session and when we had never met each other before. The guys i went out with were great, one – Sek, did not know English at all, but was so keen and interested to take pictures, it was a real inspiration to me. It was a great day, and I think I probably learnt more from it than they did!! I hope that we can do some more ‘work’ like this through the trip. I want to contribute to others lives not just enjoy what their country has to offer me, let’s see how that goes...

Luang Prabang has been an experience for me in so many ways. Both Urvi and I have had time to slow down, and really talk and think about many things. Also purely from a travelling perspective, I have enjoyed being in now place for some time. Somewhere new and unfamiliar that we could make our own and make familiar for US. So much so that we had our own range of local eats that we would visit and Urvi’s favourite was thee noodle soup lady – we ate at the same noodle soup stall so many times, that she knew our veggie order, and even before we made it to the stand she would be starting to make it. It was a really warming feeling...

All the guidebooks say that Luang Prabang will hold you and not let you go. I totally see that. We loved it and would love to spend more and more time here. However as will all good things they must come to an end, and India is calling......!

‘You had to be there' Moments

I love photography; I love the ability to capture a moment, a point in time. I love the fact that pictures are immediate ‘postcards’ on my life, where I have been and what I have seen. But more importantly I am attracted by the unlocking of emotions and thoughts that photographs give.

You look at a photo you have taken and immediately the door to that memory is thrown open. Long after the immediate reaction to the pictures content vanishes, you are left with the thoughts and emotions of the experience, my mind wanders in and around the picture, what was going on in the scene, who was there and what could I hear and smell.

An example if this is my 2 current favorite pictures I have taken – a simple shot of my hero Sachin Tendulkar and a sunset scene of Chicago. Neither are going to win awards and neither are perfect, but each time I see them I recall and unlock so many thoughts.



The Chicago sunset was my first taste of real freedom, I was on a summer vacation in the US, and I had gone to Chicago, alone but so excited. That boat trip came at the end of a long balmy summers day and the shot represents the new period of my life I hoped would start – independent, aspirational and ambitious.



Sachin Tendulkar, the God on this earth, up close and personal. I took this shot when india were playing in Birmingham, and in taking this shot I got so close to the little master, and he actually looked at me. Sounds so ludicrous, but any sense of connection can be powerful.

These are real “you had to be there” pictures, where the full impact is not contained in the prints, it is contained in the moment.

I will continue to take photos - I hope throughout my life - but I hope even more that I have more of these types of moments where the photo is just the start and actually it is the experience that holds the value. I hope that this world trip is just full of these times.