The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

I had excellent experience to see and learn about Ethiopia's culture, people and nature. I will remember it for the rest of my life. The culture, the people, the terrain was simply magical and so out of this world.


Ethiopia’s many corners will inspire and evoke a passion inside like no other country on earth. A journey offering divine scenery, religious ruins, extraordinary wildlife & many fascinating communities that live as they did 10’s of thousands of years ago.

Find below some of the pics i took during my trip.

Southern Ethiopia

The Hamer People


The Hamar occupy a mountainous region in the eastern part of the lower Omo Valley. Their name is also spelled Hamer. The “Jumping the bull” ceremony is the most spectacular rite of passage in Southern Ethiopia. This ceremony marks the initiation of young men in to adult hood. The main players are the initiates, those who are going to jump the bulls and the maz, those recently initiated who have already undergone this rite.

The initiate boys are required to jump in to the backs of formidable obstacle jump down on to the other side and then repeat the entire procedure on the day after the “jumping the bull” ceremony, women gather together, beautifully attired in their bedded skins and iron jeweler. Hammer women wear their hair in dense ringlets smeared with mud and clarified butter4 and topped off with a head featuring oblongs of gleaming aluminum courtship daces follow and continue for the following two days and night.

The ‘Mursi’ tribe



The most celebrated residents of south Omo are undoubtedly the Mursi tribe! Their ways are beyond anything you could ever comprehend. Known best for their lip plates, the Mursi’s live simply, beyond the Mago National Park in huts and small communities. They are nomads and forever moving from village to village.

Some anthropologists believe that the Mursi started using large lip disks as a way to deter slave raiders from other tribes from stealing women. The Mursi today disagree, and see it as a sign of beauty and status. Recent generations of women have chosen not to follow the tradition, and prefer not to stretch their lower lip.

Mursi headdresses are made out of animal bone and leather cow hide. It is both a decoration and an object of intimidation for other neighbouring tribes.

Dassanech Tribe


This is the most southerly of the tribes who live in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley only 28km from the Kenya border. They live in small huts made from sticks, corrugated iron & animal hide. The men and a few of the women carry around guns for protection against hyenas at night.

Dassanech girls are circumcised quite young, at the age of 10 or 12. They must go through this process, which is normally administered by their mother or another older woman, in order to marry and for their father to receive his payment. Payment for a bride is made to her father in kilograms of honey, cows, coffee, goat & chicken. Until they are circumcised, the young girls are considered ‘wild animals’ or ‘men’ to tease them. The reason for this is that their clitoris has to be removed before they act like women.

The most significant ceremony in a man’s life is called Dimi. Its carried out and celebrated to signify his daughter for fertility and future marriage. Once a man has gone through Dimi celebration he is them considered an elder of importance. About 10 cattle and 25 goat are slaughtered and other livestock traded for coffee. Men and women dress in animal fur capes to feast and dance, and the elders of the village bless the daughter, who will soon bare more children of the tribe.

Cattle are of great importance to the Dassanech people. They are a symbol of wealth, strength and power in the region. Not to mention a vital source of milk, food, clothing & blood - which is used to drink during serious seasonal drought.

The Daasanach tribal area, Omo River Delta / Lake Turkana, Ethiopia

Arbore women are well know for their long headdresses. The girls shave their heads to indicate virginity, and only start growing hair after marriage.

Arbore Tribe, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia

Dallol is situated in the very north of the Great Rift Valley. It is well below sea level at -155m, which is the lowest point in Africa. It acts almost like a cauldron, trapping all the heat with in the one area. It is known for being THE hottest place on the face of the earth.

Dallol is a field of phreatic craters in the barren salt plain north north east of the Erta Ale Range. The Dallol craters are the Earth's lowest known sub aerial volcanic vents. The most recent of these craters, Dallol, was formed during an eruption in 1926. Colorful hot brine springs and fumaroles deposits are found in the Dallol area. There are hot yellow sulfur fields among the sparkling white salt beds. It really is a miraculous sight to see if you can handle the heat! The Afar Triangle is also well known for recent discoveries of remnants of the oldest fossil hominid. ‘Lucy’ the 3.2 million year old partial human skeleton can be seen in the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.

The danakil depression

Lalibela


The mysterious and extremely holy city of Lalibela is located approximately 700km north of Addis Ababa. The city is the home to what some consider being the eighth wonder of the world.



The town has 11 rock-hewn monolithic churches built by King Lalibela in the late 12th and 13th century. These miraculous churches with spectacular ancient architectural structures are caved, inside and out, out of massive rocks that took almost 25 years to complete.

King Lalibela was the second son of King Zan Seyum - the 7th King of Zagwe dynasty. He had lived in Jerusalem for 5 years before he became king and aimed at establishing New Jerusalem in Ethiopia. UNESCO has recorded this site as one of the world’s wonders. The Lalibela rock-hewn churches apart from their historical significance are renowned for their excellent and unique rock caving that is believed to have been partly built by angles. The detail displayed on the rocks reflects the beautifully executed craftsmanship of this time.

The pics looks like you snapped it from a magazine. Show us your own pictures in those locations and we will believe you.

^^^^

Those are my pics dude. I'm not using 3310 lol, i use a high pixel tablet/spart-phone with a density of 468ppi,if you know what that means.

Btw, i don't need you to believe me, just enjoy the pics.

Semien Mountains


The Semien Mountains are north east of Gondar. They are spectacular and are the perfect trekking site for the adventure seeking traveller. They are listed as one of the official World Heritage Sites. The terrain is magnificent, Ras Dashen being the tallest peak at 4,550m.

I gotta go now, will post more pics when i'm less busy.

Aringarosa: ^^^^

Those are my pics dude. I'm not using 3310 lol, i use a high pixel tablet/spart-phone with a density of 468ppi,if you know what that means.

Btw, i don't need you to believe me, just enjoy the pics.

i believe you dear!

AWESOME THREAD!!

I have been waiting for something like this since the Nairobi thread in the travel section!!

Aringarosa: The danakil depression

YOU WENT THERE?!!!!!

OMG!! please tell me about it!! Im so jealous!

[img]http://img1.nairaland.com/attachments/1214570_image4_JPGf5f5ba38f96e28f537a6833b4ab41a81[/img]

So you actually took a picture of someone with an AK47?

Very beautiful pictures, do you have more?

Op, great thread, wonderful pics!

Until they are circumcised, the young girls are considered ‘wild animals’ or ‘men’ to tease them. The reason for this is that their femalecore has to be removed before they act like women.

The girls shave their heads to indicate virginity, and only start growing hair after marriage.

Quite Fascinating and intriquing...

*Kails*:




YOU WENT THERE?!!!!!

OMG!! please tell me about it!! Im so jealous!

Lol @ being jealous.

Yes, i was at the danakil depression, arguably the hottest place on earth and home to the Afar people of East African countries like Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea. I must say it isn't a place for the faint-hearted...temprature alone can reach upto 60ºC. It’s unbelievably hot.

KidStranglehold:

So you actually took a picture of someone with an AK47?

Yes i did...

I'm not the first and i won't be the last...

Horus: Very beautiful pictures, do you have more?

Thanks Horus!

Yes, i have got loads of pics, I'll post them when I'm less busy.

Great threat but this guy is a liar!

Stop lying about taking pictures you stole from the internet.

http://whoiskingcarla.com/tag/lower-omo-valley/




The picture was taken by Joey photographer in 2011.

I bet this woman and her baby stood in the same position from 2011 to when you went to Ethiopia, no?

Oh well, I just took this picture on my way to Addis Ababa yesterday!

shymexx: Great threat but this guy is a liar!

Stop lying about taking pictures you stole from the internet.

http://whoiskingcarla.com/tag/lower-omo-valley/




The picture was taken by Joey photographer in 2011.

I bet this woman and her baby stood in the same position from 2011 to when you went to Ethiopia, no?

Heh...Knew something was fishy.

shymexx: Great threat but this guy is a liar!

Stop lying about taking pictures you stole from the internet.

http://whoiskingcarla.com/tag/lower-omo-valley/


The picture was taken by Joey photographer in 2011.

I bet this woman and her baby stood in the same position from 2011 to when you went to Ethiopia, no?

Hey! For exception of that one pic, the rest of pics are from me, i put it up with mine to compliment the one i took....

I'll upload the rest of the pic sometime today and you can compare it with Joey's..,

Aringarosa:

Hey! For exception of that one pic, the rest of pics are from me, i put it up with mine to compliment the one i took....

I'll upload the rest of the pic sometime today and you can compare it with Joey's..,

I said it that you are just downloading the pictures from the internet and pasting here. If you don't show us any picture that shows you in oe of those sites then u are a big liar. I have seen some of those pictures before jare. If you are in Addis and you don't snap the Sod Absynia, the beautiful round about in front of the UN ECA, any of the orthodox church etc..my brother, I won't take your pics serious.

@OP...
I agree with Gunuvi.
I hope you do have something legitimate to post next time.
Otherwise I'd be really disappointed.

gunuvi:
I said it that you are just downloading the pictures from the internet and pasting here. If you don't show us any picture that shows you in oe of those sites then u are a big liar. I have seen some of those pictures before jare. If you are in Addis and you don't snap the Sod Absynia, the beautiful round about in front of the UN ECA, any of the orthodox church etc..my brother, I won't take your pics serious.

Hahahah...what is "Sod Absynia"? lol. It is called "Yod Abyssinia", it's an Ethiopian traditional restaurant, found around Bole and it's axis. Of what significant will a pic of a restaurant be? I went to visit historic site that evoke passion,spectacular scenery like the"DANAKIL DEPRESSION, fascinating communities that live as they did 10’s of thousands of years ago, not restaurant.

And you talk about Round about in front of UN ECA? There's no round-about in front of UN ECA, there's the home of the President of Ethiopia (Girma Wolde-Giorgis)directly in front of UN ECA. Maybe you wanna talk of the "Meskel square" in's not in front of the UN ECA.

Fyi, i work for an NGO here for close to a year now, so don't talk what you don't know.

Back to uploading my pics....



The 3m croc passed us and swam on down the river

Our tour van, a 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser and pic of no comment

The Bull jumping ceremony of the Hammer tribe.

A girl from the Mursi tribe