Ethiopia is a must for anyone who likes photography or wants to see where the colors were invented. Right from the first contact with the locals, my respect for this beautiful people and their country grew. My prejudices went up instantly in the air and the sun immediately felt warmer.
“Precious is the wisdom gained through experience”
This photo trip to Ethiopia has given us masses of experiences that we didn’t consider ourselves capable of.
Thanks to an excellent travel program developed by Untamed Travelling, we have been able to experience the crème de la crème in a country that you can’t describe in a few themes like other countries. Ethiopia is still very authentic with the most primary form of life with a pronounced respect for nature and man.
For this discovery tour, Untamed Travelling has provided a transport from which we could shoot enthusiastically – also driving from the car– very comfortably. This gives the advantage of being able to penetrate every moment, unexpectedly, into an unforced world of the population and their daily lives. At every photo-stop (which we were also allowed to determine for ourselves) we were amazed by the wonder of local life: beautiful people, whose past you can read from their expressions and colorful attire. In preparation for the trip I had only consulted books with old photos from Ethiopia, and as it turns out, those same scenes can still be seen today in the same décor. Apparently, time has stood still here.
GREAT RIFT VALLEY
After leaving Addis Ababa, it heads south towards Lake Langano. Towards Great Rift Valley. Along the way we stop at small villages where people are busy threshing with cows. After some pictures of the first impressions we are very spontaneously invited to the coffee that is put in the right traditional way. Our driver is the ideal interpreter and ensures that the language of friendship is immediately on the right wavelength.
In the past I have been on safari several times in Africa, but what lives here together of birds borders on the incredible. The huge advantage is that you can photograph these birds very easily, because they do not fly away immediately because they are not hunted.
In the past I have been on safari several times in Africa, but what lives here together of birds borders on the incredible. The huge advantage is that you can photograph these birds very easily, because they do not fly away immediately because they are not hunted.
Breakfast in the morning at the Sabana Beach Resort – where we see a breathtaking sunrise over Lake Langano – is already getting our day off to a good start. Even today we stop at Alaba villages and at the very many beautiful viewpoints that follow each other indefinitely. When we visit a Dorze tribe we get a warm reception – with again real Arabica coffee – and we see how they colour and weave cotton. That evening we spend the night at the Paradise Lodge. Very nice lodge near Arbaminch where we see the mists rise above Lake Abaya, Chamo and Nechiar Forestduring breakfast. A uniquely beautiful face!
CHAMOMEER AND JINKA IN THE OMO VALLEY
We start with a boat excursion on Lake Chamo. African ospreys, pelicans, Goliath herons, hippos and crocodiles frequently fill our memory cards in the cameras. Then we leave for Jinka. Our driver drives his 4×4 very windy but careful among the goats, cows, zeboes and donkeys that mainly fill the roads.
An unforgettable stop we make at the Key Afer market of the Benna tribe, the most colorful market of the Omo-vallei where the local customs and traditions among the most diverse forms can be enjoyed. You will be short of eyes and can enjoy the real Ethiopian life intensely and undisturbed.
DANCING ALONG WITH THE DASSANECH
After a short walk we arrive at a Berber tribe, the Dassanech. Their huts are very primitive of branches and leaves and here and there there are metal plates over them. Women stand together under a leaf shelter. They only wear a goat skin skirt or a piece of fabric. Young girls work each other’s hair with a mixture of red earth and vegetable oil. Two boys are cutting woodwork and in addition a number of girls are making a colorful string of pearls. The men are out with the cattle. Spontaneously, about thirty women, children and men meet at a central point in their settlement. Hand clapping sounds and the feet stomp along the dust red earth to the beat. They look happy and we are taken to be part of their dance skills.
BULL JUMPING CEREMONY
In the afternoon we risk a trip in 4×4 through the dry bed of a river to a place where a BullJumping Ceremonywill take place at the Mursi tribe. It is extremely rare and certain parts of the ceremony are also prohibited by law. During the ceremony, married young girls prove how strong they are by being beaten to heavy blood by whips of young men who have not yet been given a girl by their father to marry. Then seven large bulls are lined up. The suitor (‘bull jumper’) who wants to prove that he is marriage-proficient is brought naked in front of the bulls lined up next to each other. To loud cheers from the girls, the boy walks twice back and forth over the backs of the bulls. If he saves this without losing weight, he has proven to have the necessary strength and balance to be able to marry.
Experiencing something like this is a realistic confrontation with the really hard life and traditions of these tribes in this 21st century. We already knew from the first day that this trip could not be broken anymore, but after this experience we were overwhelmed!
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE
From Buska Lodge,where one tries to give the maximum with a minimum of resources, we leave towards Konso. In the hills we visit a Konso village that is protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Shortly thereafter, the high sun gives a brilliant light on the beautiful red rock formations of Gesergio.
The trek goes through the Borana Desert. Along the way we see the Borana tribe and their ‘singing springs’, under loud chanting the cattle are washed and given to drink at self-excavated wells. A blue sky with here and there a white erratic cloud and above it a sun that gives to everything beautiful color. A feast for my camera eye! We get to the Sod Crater with salt extraction where scientists are investigating the movements in the deepest part of the Earth.
SIDAMA REGION & BALE MOUNTAINS
In the Sidama region there are many coffee plantations. Same at the Aragash Lodge. There are many birds including a very rare and colorful turaco which we also get to see. Furthermore we see vervet monkeys, colobus monkeys and even a hyena comes to visit near this very beautiful lodge.
Through to the upper Bale Mountains the temperature takes off seriously and we get to the Bale National Park where the bergnyala, the bushbock (kind of antelope red.), knobbly boar and the Ethiopian wolf live. We all get these animals in front of the lens and can even at some point get the whole teeth of a wolf in view! Fantastic! Also during a nice walk on the Sanetti Plateau at 4,000 meters altitude all these animals pass by the revue.
The very skimpy nature there is indescribably beautiful. White, yellow, purple flowers give the bottom a mystical color. We stay at the eco-friendly Bale Mountains Lodge,run by a lady with an unparalleled love of nature and with a sublime service. The night will get cold and therefore a wood-burning stove will be put on in the room during dinner, so that it is nice and warm when you come to your room.
AWASSA; ICING ON THE CAKE
As the icing on the masterful cake of Untamed Travelling we get the last place to stay at the beautiful Haile Resort on the boards of the Awassameer. This Haile Lodge is a top location with hundreds of birds and the tranquility of a magnificent lake where we photograph our last heartwarming sunset over the lake, through a glass of white wine and sink into the richness of a fortnight of indescribable wealth and experiences. The lodge is owned by Haile Gebreselassie. An Ethiopian athlete who won Olympic gold twice, became a world long distance running champion nine times and was the marathon’s world record holder from 2007 to 2011.
Only after such a journey do you really know that the value of an organization like Untamed Travelling is more than 17 letters: It’s a kiss of life!
Nand Fiems,
Photographer – Belgium
