12-Day Omo Valley Cultural Trip from Addis Ababa with tribal visits

• Arrive in Addis Ababa at Bole International Airport and meet us for a transfer to the hotel.

Overnight at the hotel.

• Today, enjoy a full-day city tour in Addis Ababa. Visit the National Museum, where you will see the famous fossil Lucy, who is 3.2 million years old, the Ethnographic Museum, Entoto St. Mary Museum, Holy Trinity Cathedral, and Merkato Market, the largest open-air market in Africa.

Overnight at the hotel.

• Drive to Hawassa via Butajira.
• On the way, visit the rock-hewn church of Adadi Mariam, believed to have been carved by King Lalibela at the end of the 12th century, and the steles of Tiya, which were carved from monolithic stones and used as tombs for soldiers who died between the ages of 18 and 22. The Stele of Tiya is also registered by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites.

Overnight at the hotel.

• After breakfast, drive to Lake Awassa to visit the colorful water birds and the fish market, where people buy fresh fish from fishermen.
• Then drive directly to the lakeside town of Arba Minch.
• On the way, visit two different villages. One is Alaba village, and the second is the Dorze people, who live on Guge Mountain and are famous for their beehive bamboo houses and weaving skills. In their society, it is taboo for men to spin cotton and also taboo for women to make traditional cloth.

Overnight at the hotel.

• In the morning, drive to Nechi Sar National Park to visit many species of birds and mammals. Nechi Sar National Park is located in the Rift Valley and is enriched with many species of birds and mammals, including African orange-bellied parrots, bustards, weavers, somber rock-chat, yellow-throated serine, red-fronted barbet, pygmy baits, lesser striped swallow, Anubis baboon, black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox, Egyptian mongoose, warthog, Soemmerring's gazelle, lesser kudu, and Salt's dik-dik.
• After lunch, take a boat trip on the third-largest lake in Ethiopia, Lake Chamo, which is famous for big crocodiles, hippos, and water birds.

Overnight at the same hotel.

• After breakfast, drive to Weyto via the town of Key Afer.
• On the way, visit the Konso village, where you will see colorful costumes, impressive terracing of the land, annually engraved wooden statues used as grave markers, and the community house. In the community house, called Mora, all young boys above 12 years old are expected to stay every night until their marriage. Then drive to Weyto for lunch. After lunch, continue driving to the town of Jinka.
• En route, visit the Tsemay people, who give girls the right to choose their husband before marriage. During this time, if the girl becomes pregnant, it is not acceptable in the community. In Tsemay society, the bride and groom eat together only during their honeymoon, and for the rest of their lives they do not eat together. If the day is Thursday, there is a colorful market at Key Afer for the Tsemay and Benna people.

Overnight camping.

In the morning, drive to Mago National Park to visit the Mursi people in their village. The Mursi are well known for the large clay discs that women wear inserted in their slit lower lips. Mursi women start cutting their lips between the ages of 12 and 16 years, and after that they put in small wooden plugs, changing them every night for bigger ones to stretch the lips until they can hold a 6-inch round clay disc. The Mursi men wear very little, although a cotton wrap is becoming more and more common.

After lunch, drive to Turmi via Dimeka. If the day is Saturday or Tuesday, you will have a chance to see the colorful weekly market at Dimeka.

Overnight camping.

In the morning, drive to Korocho village to visit the Karo tribe. They are famous for body decoration during ceremonies. In the old days, men were known for body scars, and by counting the scars, you could identify how many people he had killed.

In the afternoon, visit the Hamer village, where you will see children playing in the compound and women decorating their hair using red soil, water, and cow butter. The Hamer people have a bull-jumping ceremony, which marks the transformation of young boys into adulthood. During the ceremony, you will see the real Hamer traditional dance called Eveangadi, and the women from the jumper's families are whipped by his friends to show their love for the jumper.

Overnight at the same campsite.

• Drive to Omorate to visit the Dassenech people, who live across the Omo River. Then drive back to Turmi. If the day is Monday, there is a weekly market at Turmi for the Hamer people.

Overnight at the same campsite.

• Drive to Arba Minch via Arbore. On the way, stop at the Arbore tribe, who practice circumcision for girls before marriage.
• After the circumcision program, she will stay for two months in her husband's family house.

Overnight at the hotel.

• Drive to Lake Langano, the only lake in Ethiopia free from water diseases, via the town of Shashemene, where Rasta people live (Jamaicans who worship Emperor Haile Selassie).
• On the way, visit one of the Welayata people in their village.

Overnight at the hotel.

• In the morning, enjoy time at the lake until 10:30, then drive back to Addis Ababa. On the way, visit Lake Ziway, where you will see colorful water birds. It is the largest lake among the Northern Rift Valley Lakes.
• In the evening, after the dinner program at one of the traditional restaurants, transfer to the airport for departure. End of the tour.