Arborè and Konso 15/03/10

A long way back is waiting us, we have to reach Karat Konso but we will use a longer road in order to be able to visit another tribe, the Arborè.

Again we drive mountains up and down, these ridges are probably the reasons why the Omo valley’s tribes remained so isolated and developed so many differences between each other even in an area that is so small. We met some Hamer on the track going in the opposite way, towards Turme, today is market day there.

We drove for sometime in beautiful mountains and gorges to end in the same open plain of 2 day ago, but we entered it form the opposite side. From this point on the drive comes quite boring, flat semicultivated landscape with the mountain ridge on the background.

We reach the Arborè village and immediately we noticed some differences. As soon as we parked the car people started running towards us, kids grabbing and wearing a strange hat made of an half pumpkin shell. They are funny looking, they resemble little aliens. We went out of the car and people became very pushy in asking us to take pictures in order to get money. We talk to the local guide and he speaks with the people to obtain the same deal we had with other tribes. All is sorted so we move to the village. This people is very peculiar, kids with the pumpkin, young boys with the face painted with dots, women with a black veil on the head and plenty of blue beaded necklaces on the chest

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Differently for the Dasanech ones these necklaces are long reaching almost the belly. Often a steel decoration made by watch’s wrists is hanging in the middle like a sort of tie

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Extremely scenic tribe with beautiful tall and strongly built grass-huts.

The problem is that they are way too aggressive, they pushed us back and forth and even if we had a deal with the village every individuals asked for many, eventually we stopped taking pictures counted how many pics of each we took, paid and left the place. I do not know where the mistake was, if from the local guide or the tribesman but we did not appreciate what happened and even if the village and the Arborè were interesting to see I would probably avoid it the next time

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People were physically pushing us to get money, and we had to become a bit aggressive to gain respect and this is not nice. We entered the village with great respect and giving money for the pictures is fine to me, being pushed and shouted for nothing definitely not.

We proceeded and before reaching the junction we met to gentle Tsemay women, we talk to them and enjoyed being with nice people again

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Eventually we went for lunch, drove towards Karat Konso buying some incense from kids on the road. In town we briefly visited the market of the Konso tribe, very busy very colourful because of all the cotton fabrics they are selling, women traditionally wear a white and coloured long cotton skirt and men blue striped coloured cotton shorts

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After leaving our luggage in the hotel we went to visit a konso village. Very interesting, they build villages on the top of steep hills, the hills are all made into terraces for cultivation, each terrace is hold by a wall of stones and peebles collected from the same land.

They are master in building stone walls and the village is an evidence of this. It is surrounded by tall stone walls and even as you enter walls are everywhere, each family compounds is surrounded by walls, all dry stone walls perfectly built. Inside the compound there is everything the family needs, stable, store and huts.

We visited the chief's compound, very organised, interesting explanation where given to us about an empty hut. When the chief dies thay mummify him and keep him in that special hut that is already prepared in his compound, it will be said that the chief is sick untill a new chief is chosen. We walked the village in narrow paths bordered by the walls of the compounds every now and then an open square appears, in the middle of this squares there are always tall tree trunks, they are the generation's poles. Every 18 years the new generation has to place a new tree trunk taller then the previous one, you can actually estimate tha age of the village counting the trees. In front of the trees there are monolithic columns, they are rough and squared in section and are there to remember an important victory over enemy tribes.

Lot of characteristics of the village tell that the Konso have been fought a lot, the location on top of the mountain, the walls everywhere protecting the people, the monoliths and thye even have communal huts, elevated from ground that are used by young boys to sleep by night, the youngster role is to socialize and make tribal bonds stronger but they basically act as sentinels in case of enemy attack.

We did not expect such a developed village, it was more what we would have expected from a middle-age small European settlement then from an African tribal village. Stunning stunning place.

Climbing the mountain down we saw all the women climbing up towards home after the market day, all of them walking the steep road with their heavy loads on the back.

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Onestep after the other, tired to the bones but always with a broad smile. I was impressed, I am impressed

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Dasanech and Hamer 14/03/10

Today we drove towards Omorate to visit a Dasanech village. The road towards the Omo river is surrounded by a thick acacia bushland, very thick, basically it is impossible to see farther then 5 mtrs. Plenty of Dik Diks along the road and even two Gerenuk appeared briefly on the side of the road. In the distance we also saw Red naped bush shrike and Northern carmine bee eater.

Getting closer to the river we met the two first Dasanech girls, they are also bare-chested but they have many necklaces with much bigger beads

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They are bringing water and are a bit less friendly then the people we met so far. They are young and again very beautiful but this is something we could say of most of the people we met

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We reach the river, 70 mtrs wide stream of muddy water, we cross it on a dugout canoe that it is everything but straight. Anyway we made it through and we walked towards Rate, the Dasanech village. We discussed with the people and we agreed to pay a fee to the village to be able to take pictures without paying individuals.

The village is a dustbowl close to the river, huts covered with skins, elevated stores to keep the food, tens of women of all ages and kids everywhere. Few man are playing bao close by

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The old women are all decorated with complicated head pieces made of old Japanese watches metal bits and feathers, one of them is wrapped in a big serval skin

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Their faces with all the lines of age are telling stories that we cannot read.

Many women bear decorative scarifications on the arms, they are bare-chested and the quantity of colourful necklaces is unbelievable

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Some of them wear a sort of hat made of leather with the edge decorated with all sort of metal parts form soda caps to AK 47 cartridges, we soon learnt that the hat is when wrapped on the head but is used as dancing skirt once unwrapped

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After a couple of hours we head back and cross the river again, we met a man with a very very complicated hair decoration made of coloured ochre and ostrich feather, only now we fully understand why they use the borkoto (stool) as a pillow

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Back to Turme we enjoy a good meal and wait 4 in the afternoon to visit an Hamer village.

We reach the first and made the same agreement for pics through the local guide with the elders, we enter the village and start taking pictures and observing life. The huts are much more heavily built then the Dasanech ones , the women differently dressed and decorated with the goat skin partially covering the breasts and the iron rings on neck, wrists and ankles

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One girls bears the scars of the whip, her brother managed to jump all the bulls and che asked to be whipped to demonstrate her love for him. After few minutes came out the chief of the village, he is drunk, he started shouting to the guide, then he came to greet us in a gentle way and went on again shouting to the guide. We decide to move and so we went to another village. We waited the people to come back from the fields and we spent time with them in the golden light of the late afternoon.

Married women with their heavy iron rings tease each other in a constant muttering.

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Young unmarried girls all beads and shells, constantly worry about their beauty and react much stronger and faster to the sharp words of the laughing older women

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Women's body is rubbed with red ochre as the hairs, they are gentle and beautiful and I have great respect for this people who proudly brings on a traditional style of life regardless all the lures that tourism brings along

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Even if we cannot understand each other in words we did in other ways, we could communicate because they were putting an effort into it and I was impressed.

The village was clean, the people friendly everything made me thinking of a community that stands its ground and is not afraid of the challenge of the future. It is an impression just an impression because we did not scrape more then the surface of the surface of thir life but still, is a nice feeling

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Omo Valley 13/03/10

We left Yabello very early, the sun was still sleeping, the air is dark and chilly.

The road towards Karat Konso is a constant up and down, beautiful views and thorny woodlands caressed by the first light

We saw several Magpie starling, a fast White tail swallow crossing the sky chasing insects with incredible speed and many flocks of Vulturine guineafowls

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As we keep entering the hills we started seeing Impala Lilies (Adenium obesum), but not the size we use to see in Tanzania, these ones are enormous as big as trees.

All around before the town we see huge terraces on the slopes of the mountains, it is the special skill of the Konsol tribe, they build walls of stone to hold the soil in order to cultivate this steep area.

We arrived in Karat Konso ready for a nice breakfast with Njera, eggs and mitmita, a bit spicy but a very good boost of energy.

We saw many Konso women on the way out of town, they are climbing the steep road each of them bearing the heavy weight of a load of grass

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Proceding on this beautiful road we keep climbing mountains up and down and eventually we reached a big open plain, this area is cultivated with cotton and we can see big fluffy mountains of the white fiber.

Back in the mountain again we had our first encounter with people of the Bana tribe. Women as usual bringing heavy loads. Their hairs a red with ochre, their faces beautiful, their smile sweet.

They wear a piece of animal skin all decorated with Cipreas

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After the women we met the first man, AK 47 on one shoulder, the borkoto ( the stool that every man brings that is used also as pillow not to ruin the hair decoration) in the other hand, He is very fierce borthering aggressivity but really nothing worrying

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It is a strange land were pristine tribes ask money for a picture, some people thinks that this is not right, I think that if things are done gently is completely acceptable.

In the thick of an acacia woodland came out of nowhere two beautiful young girls, they are decorated with beads and bare-chested

. Their eyes are deep and gentle, they wear their tradition with pride and their beads are messages that we may not understand but in their life convoy precise informations, their days are though, they do not have lot of what we reached but they still have lot of what we lost

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We are going to the Dimeka market, where Hamer and Bana sell their goods, on the way we see Hamer women, again stunning people, hair plastered with red ochre, leather dress decorated with beads and cipreas, neck rings to declare thair marital status, two iron ring for a married woman, two rings and a conic decoration for the first wife

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The market is colourful and interesting but there is too many people for me, kids holding your hand, boys trying to sell you this and that. Still a place I am happy I have seen.

From the market we proceed to Turme where we overnight, the lodge is very nice and comfy and also well run.

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