+251-925963212OMO VALLEY
South Omo Valley
The Omo Valley, often more precisely called the Lower Omo Valley, is a place like no other. Home to a number of tribal communities, the variety and diversity of life – truly a melting pot of humanity – will blow you away. We think it’s a must-visit if you want to understand Ethiopia and Africa more broadly.
The Lower Omo Valley region has been as UNESCO World Heritage Site since the discovery of human remains dating back nearly 2.5 million years.
As you explore the region, you’ll discover fortified hilltop settlements, terraced fields, anthropomorphic grave-markers, and rock engravings dating back 5000 years.
The Omo also has some beautiful landscapes; Nech Sar National Park frames much of the region with mountains, lakes and forests, and harbours 70-plus mammal species, as well as prodigious crocodiles and the endemic Nechisar nightjar – the latter arguably the world’s rarest bird.
Numbers of tribes to be visited
We’d recommend taking your time. Lift the veil of these communities and you’ll discover so much more, beyond the first-encounter experiences.
That being said, if you’re short on time you can see as many as 3-5 diverse tribes in a day and still get a flavor for this wonderful region, as long as you don’t mind spending some time in a vehicle.
We recommend spending a minimum of 4 days in the Omo Valley. Any less than that and you spend a lot of time in a vehicle and don’t have the opportunity to get beyond surface level interactions. Most visits to the Omo don’t extend beyond a week or so.
How long do you spend with each village?
Up to you. Travellers who want to see more than the show put on for tourists would be encouraged to spend a bit longer, even stay the night in or near communities. Most visits last from an hour or two – depending on how long you have in the region.
The major constraint is the drive times – all of the travelling in the Omo is done by road, so how long you can spend with each community depends on the number of villages you want to visit, and how long you are spending in the Omo.
How do I get to the Omo Valley? How do I travel from place to place?
Arba Minch is your springboard into the Omo Valley. Most visits will start with a short domestic flight to Arba Minch, with an overnight at Paradise Lodge before beginning your exploration of the Omo in earnest the following morning. From Arba Minch, you’ll be heading into the Omo on road via Toyota Landcruiser.
Over the next few days, you’ll be driving to different regions of the Omo, with drive times typically 2-4 hours at a time, depending on your itinerary. The drives are comfortable enough, but the roads are often bumpy.
It’s also possible to access the Omo via a drive down from Addis across the Rift Valley, where you can spend a couple of nights at the various lakeside lodges and resorts. Or, combine an inbound flight with an outbound drive if you want to experience the best of what southern Ethiopia has to offer (you might want to consider spending a couple of nights in the Bale Mountains as well).
The ethics of photography in the Lower Omo Valley
With little more than their extraordinary ways, the sights and the figures you’ll meet, the people of the Omo will ask for money each time you take a photo, or a bulk fee for taking photos.
This varies from tribe to tribe and can be a little intimidating for inexperienced travellers.
Don’t worry, our guides will help you navigate this. As most tourists love to take photos, we believe that this is a fair transaction and helps ensure that money does end up in the hands of those who need it. The charge also ensures that visitors understand that there is a cost to the communities of being photographed regularly. Privacy is often less of a concern in much of Ethiopia, but it’s still worth trying to do as you would be done by.
The people of the Omo are used to tourists and photos, but just because you have paid, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be deeply respectful. Try to empathise with the idea that you, as a tourist, are a much-needed source of income, but that shouldn’t enable you to take liberties.