What do you believe Ethiopia is like ?

I expected poverty, drought and  famine, a landscape somewhat like the Greek Islands, barren and empty. No way ! The Omo Valley in the south west of Ethiopia took me by surprise. It has mountains like Switzerland, is lush and green like the Caribbean, colourful like India and friendly as only Africa can be.

To the Suri Tribe, but getting there takes some effort !

It takes us 3 days to get to our first photo destination. The first day we fly from Addis to Jimma. I’ve decided that I like this place. Horses stand smack in the middle of the street, we must drive around them, there are goats and cows, donkey wagons, people walk along the road, not just one, no dozens.  It is poor but absolutely  exiting, colourful, green and  exotic !

It’s Africa and I love it.

The second day we drive for 9 hours till we reach Mezan Teferi. First stop after 2 hours (of very slow driving) at the home of a family which welcomes us in their hut. Unbelievable, they live here with 10 people, plus at night all the cattle comes in as well. The hut is maybe 20m2. Second stop at another family, they pose just as happily, but even better, they make us coffee, and I mean coffee straight from the beans. First they roast, then they grind, then pour water. It is awful strong, the spoon almost stands straight up, but  I rather like it.

Small shops line the road, one more colourful than the other. I love watching the people at the roadside, many are just sitting drinking their coffee in one of the numerous coffee shops, some are walking, carrying big bundles of wood on their backs, or enormous parcels or jerrycans with water on their heads. Then there are the swarms of little blue tuk-tuks like you see in Bangkok. There are the school kids walking home, and everybody is smiling, they wave at us as we pass by. This is so real, so peaceful, so unique !

Day 3 we start another driving day, Jonni tells us we did 220km yesterday, I mean that took us 9 hours….. and today we’re in for another 180km more, oh boy ! Afe has to get the officials out of bed at 08:00 in the morning, they drive with us to their office and get us the necessary permits, after which, at 09:00, we can finally get going.

After another 5 hours we reach the town of Dimma, where we stop for lunch, one that Afe organised in Mizan. We sit at a bar or hotel-like place, they serve the cold beers, we eat our own lunch which today consists of extremely tasty pancakes with syrup. After that there even is time for a game of pool. Imagine here we are, 20 km from the South Sudan border, the only white people for miles around, playing pool as if it is the most normal thing on earth.

We drive on, music from Ethiopian hero Teddy Afro blasts full force from our radio’s speakers, the remains of a cold St. George beer in my hand, the windows open and a warm breeze in my face. Life can’t get much better at the moment. We cross the Akobo River. From here we get a police escort, that sort of wasn’t on the itinerary, but seems necessary. Two guys with AK47 rifles join in our jeeps. From here on  it is no man’s land, no stopping, for nothing, not photo’s, no pee stop, nothing, just step on it and keep going. It gets more mountainous again, the road gets worse and worse as we climb, we are down to 20km/h and still climbing. Boy these mountains are big ! Down the other side and suddenly we are there, our campsite for the next three nights in the middle of Surma land on the land of chief Arbula. This is cool !

Soon after we arrive we set up our studio, one tent with a black cloth in the back which makes for a splendid background, the other group will be outside on the road. Me and Rosalie start in the tent, it is bloody hot but freaking cool !

Time’s up, we go outside, the other two get the tent. At the roadside the kids are lined up, one decorated fancier than the other, it is so hard to choose ! They look at you, begging you, take me, take me, knowing they will earn some money if the get photographed. Today was the coolest photo experience ever !

Now don’t think photographing people in Ethiopia is easy ! As soon as they see a camera they come for you with with outstreched hands, Birr, Birr (which is the local currency), they want money. At every photoshoot the rules were: no photo is taken till we’ve made the deal. This ment a lot of hassle, argueing, dealing and bargaining by Afe, our super fantastic Ethiopian tour guide. Without his help we would never have been able to get all these great photo’s ! So please when you are there, don’t just fire away, ask first, be prepared to pay, and if people say no, no it is !

Suri Photoshoot: the river and the school

We leave early so that we are ready to shoot at first light. We get photo’s of kids bodypainting themselves at the riverside, then as the light gets too harsh we change to portraits. Again there are dozens of overly cute kids to choose from. Life is hard ! One tiny kiddy with enormous amounts of colourful flowers all around his head is everybodies favourite, he is just an overdose of cuteness !

On the way back we check out the school, good for us it is Sunday today. Jeremy and I open one door after the other, and are delighted at the possibilities, can’t wait to get started. This is the coolest school ever. Well, that is if you are a photographer, or an Ethiopian kid… some posh rich European kid might not find it so cool. After lunch we head straight for the school. We can start at about 15:00, so that’s 3 hours of photography today ! Jeremy and I start in the first classroom, it has green walls, with paint coming off, but lion, leopard and hyena painted on the walls and beside that loads more of seriously funky stuff.

This is my favourite shoot so far, though the “black room” is solidly cool too, and that’s where we are headed next. One model after the other comes in, they wait at the camp site entrance, we just have to go and pick a new one as we please. Today they seem to have decorated themselves even more elaborate than yesterday !

Suri Photoshoot: the kraal and the river

Who needs an alarm when the diesel generator starts at 05:20, everybody is up and ready by 05:45 and after a coffee we head for a nearby family, where the chief is called Bakobo. We watch as they sit at the fire till first light comes. We take photos of them at the fire and as you take a step back, you suddenly sink in ankle deep, in something warm and soft…shit ! Literally, there is cow dung all over the place, watch where you set your foot.

Two guys hold the cow and one shoots an arrow into its neck from about half a metre distance, boy the blood spurts out like a jet stream. They collect and drink it, we are very grateful they don’t share it with us ! After that they want to take the cows out, and we don’t want to overstay our welcome. Outside the kraal there are already 30-40 people lined up, all decorated and flowery like yesterday, here we go again.

The afternoon we go to the Kibish River where we were yesterday morning, all the kids right behind us, you, you, you, pick me, me, me ! This time we walk a little further to where there is shade. We’ve got about 200 kids following us. This is so cool once again, and as always it is hard to pick, but we are a good team and get along fine, decide together which is our next model. The last one is a very pretty, very shy girl. She is so sweet, I call her the little princess. After that it’s back to camp for a hot shower and a cool beer.

Drive: Kibish to Arba Minch

We drive and drive and drive, the roadside scenes are cool to watch, just as cool as they were coming here, like a never ending show of colourful photo motives, and I have a smile on my face all day long.

After 11 hrs we finally reach Jimma. The next morning we leave at first light. Shit, I am so tired, dirty and dusty, who cares it is so fucking cool, we can sleep in the car. We leave Jimma behind us and descend down into the Rift Valley, the cradle of mankind ! It is not so lush and exotic anymore, the green jungle is behind us. As always you can’t go 1km without seeing people, there are big towns, but in between there are always some huts or little villages.

We stop at a roadside stand to buy some banana and a papaya and one more stop to photograph a very old, very bent down and wrinkled lady, at one of the dome like huts you see around here. They are distinctive of the Guragi Tribe.

After that just pee stops, which is quite a challenge with the area so densely populated. You really have to be quick and even then, by the time you get back to the car there are 20 or more  kids standing there, smiling at you like you are something very exotic. At one place school is just finished as we drive by, we slow down and at least 100 kids, on both sides of the road cheer us, as if we are some rockstars ! Well it is kind of cool and makes you feel like a hero. I mean here the kids just wave at you and give a big smile when you drive by, but a crowd cheering is just something else !

Hammar Bull Jumping ceremony

We are lucky, there is a bull-jumping on for today. It only starts in the afternoon so we don’t have to rush it.  The scenery is once again different, we drive through banana plantations and maize fields. In the fields are small platforms on which we see boys standing and lashing their whips. It is their job to scare the birds away.

We stop at the market in the town of Kayenta, it is so crowded and for the first time we actually see tourists walking around between the locals. We find a building with a perfectly funky pink wall and get some Tsamai and Banna girls to pose in front of it. This is fun !

We continue to the Hammar village of Dimakka, where the bull jumping will take place. Every young man has to do this before he can get married. By the way, the price for a wife is 40 cows, honey and/or coffee and a Kalashnikov ! We watch as the festivities start, the girls are singing and dancing, the warriors paint each others faces, the young girls get whipped, which to them is an honour, the more scars the better !

We try to mingle with the locals and get unposed shots, well sort of.

At last the cows are driven together, it takes a while to get them in position, not all so willing to stand in line. The warrior goes, stark naked, over the 6 bulls. How many bulls you get depends on the family, the richer the more cows, can be up to 13 ! On the way back on the 3^rd run the poor guy slips and falls down. He does get up again to do the obligatory 4 runs but this is a shame for the family. He will get whipped, will be the laughing stock of the village and will have to try again after some time. This also means he can forget about the good and pretty girls, they don’t want a looser, poor guy don’t want to be in his skin tonight !

The Karo and Hammar Tribes

Today we leave early for the town of Korcho where we will photograph the Karo Tribe. We get there by 07:00, still a sleepy little village, just the way we like it, and before all the other tourists get there. In no time we are surrounded by a bunch of kids and youngsters, the older ones follow shortly after. We set up at the river bank, a warrior with gun, a girlie with her goat, two ladies painting their faces. Then a group shot of 12 kids packed closely together,  boy in a tree, another girl with a goat, three girls at a storage hut. The possibilities are endless. We leave as the first tourist arrive.

The afternoon we go to the Hammar village, I am curious, must be a lot of cool motives there ! As we drive there it starts to rain, rain harder and harder. No matter what, as soon as we get there, there are 4-5 kids standing beside our car, in the pouring rain, shivering like mad. They won’t leave. So we try to do panning of little kids running in the rain. It doesn’t really work either because they don’t run, and are much too close to the car.

Marius is concerned, the way it is raining he is worried the river will rise, and we will not be able to cross, so let’s get out of here. The river still seems okay, we are now headed for another Hammar village which is closer to Turmi. It still rains, no good for photography, but somehow we get permission to stay, and can shoot in their hut. We barely fit in, but as soon as we are in it really starts to pour and one Hammar after the other decides to join in. Everybody wants to be in with the “Ferengi”. It is the greatest experience of this trip for me, sitting in the almost dark hut full of smoke from the fire, with 20 or so Hammar (and more would have come if there had been room). Grandma gets us a goatskin from under the kids bums, to put over the heads as the roof starts to leak, grandpa smiles at us, the guys laugh at us, we laugh at them, this is so special !

And as the rain stops, and we crawl out of the hut one at a time, we are rewarded with the most beautiful evening light. Let’s do some more photography !

Dassenech Tribe and Omo Child

Easy day today, we leave at 06:00 which can be considered sleeping late, we’re headed for the Ethiopia – Kenya border. We drive for about 2 hours through the veld till we reach the town of Omorate at the banks of the Omo river. Here we go to visit the Dassenech Tribe, one of the poorest tribes in the country.

As usual, soon as we reach the village there is a bunch of kids at our heels. One guy decides he’s my keeper and doesn’t let me out of sight, each of us gets a “private guide”. It is such good fun to photograph here, every time you put the camera down they come and want to see, 10 kids around you and the camera screen and they can’t get enough of seeing themselves. They point at themselves and proudly state: me, me ! They are so cute. They even decide to dance for us, and old and young join in.

We reach Jinka around 16:00 and go to visit the Omo Child Foundation. A place where they raise the Mingi children. It is belief here that children which are born as a bastard, as twins, before or after 9 months and those that grow their upper teeth before the lower are a sign of bad luck. They are taken to the bush, abandoned and left to die. There are about 50 rescued children at Omo Child and they seem relatively happy and well taken care of. This is definitely a chance at life for them.

The Mursi Tribe

Shit, should have taken the ear plugs ! We are supposed to leave at first light, which is 06:00 sharp, for the Mago N.P. where we will visit the Mursi Tribe. No problem, everybody is wide awake since from 04:30 on the ritual chantings are on every speaker in the area, like a Muezzin calling, dreadful wailing, and so loud ! All are happy to leave and go see the Mursi. They are closely related to our beloved Surma Tribe, we are now maybe 100km away from our first camp in Kibish, but had to drive for 3 full days to get here. That is one good thing if the road is built, we can save two days of driving. But honestly, the driving is long, but so interesting it really isn’t a problem to me.

The road is very bad and to make things worse it rained last night, our Bluetooth device is giving us trouble as always on bumpy roads, and this one is super bumpy. The terrible Chinese voice  keeps saying: the Bluetooth dewice is noooow wedy too paaaiw, followed by: the dewice has cooonetted suuucsesfuwwy, honest the most dreadful voice in bad bad English.

The Mursi are not as co-operative as we would have liked, and even worse, we only get there by 08:30, the light is already too harsh. With them it is not as easy as before, suddenly they say finish and you have to stop, so better get it right as fast as possible. Good planning by the tour leader to do these people last, we are getting better and better but still, we keep having to change exposure, light compensation and keep looking for better backgrounds.  Must admit the decorations are cool and in better light this would have been good, would have loved to get some of them in the dark room !

They do try to get our attention and are not just standing there and pleading with their eyes, they pinch you, pull at your sleeve, Marius even got poked with an AK47 by the old lady holding it. Well, that did turn out to be the photo of the day, old mama, with lip plate and a gun on her shoulders.

The Dorzi Tribe

On our last day we get to sleep late again, we stop shortly after we leave the lodge at the roadside. A guy with a big wooden sign shows up and takes it to Marius. It is a beautifully hand carved sign saying “ORYX – Surma Photo Camp” and the oryx head as in the oryx logo on it. Afe ordered it before we left to Turmi and the guy worked day and night for 4 days to have it ready. Marius and Afe glow with pride and get their picture taken with the sign.

We drive from Arba Minch which is at 1300m, up the mountain to Chencha at 2900m, as you can imagine that ment a lot of bends and turns. We go to visit the Dorze Tribe, which is not really a tribe like the ones before, more of an ethnic group. It is very touristy but still fun to see. Finally we get to the central part, they dance for us and we can buy scarves, there are so many, and so colourful, it is hard to choose, so I end up buying 4.

We are invited to eat the bread they make out of the false banana leaves and with it we get a home brewed schnapps, “Hurricane” they call it, shit it is strong. As Jeremy said: this is just short of rocket fuel ! So we have another one, because you can’t walk on one leg….

Back to the lodge, then to the airport. Trip over. Bye bye Ethiopia, I must return to see more of this beautiful country. I have been pleasantly surprised by the beauty and diversity of this unbelievable country and the spectacularly beautiful and freindly people. I will return, I have to, you see I beat Marius at paper, scissors, stone and he now has to do a private tour with me and Jürg, Lailabela, Danakil and Kibish.

But I need 4 others to come along, anybody in …?

For my favourite photo’s go to gallery

 

Trip organised by: Oryx Photographic Expeditions : www.oryxphotography.com

Copyright photo & text: Astrid Bluemel for bluemelphoto: www.bluemelphoto.ch