A police station is located some distance from Lake Stephanie in order to avoid its unwelcoming climate and mosquitoes. The station is very small (a few huts), and its main purpose is to check that people do not attempt to leave Ethiopia into Kenya using the dry lake bed that lies across the border between the two countries. Before venturing on the dry lake bed itself, we have to take with us an armed policeman whose duty is to make sure we remain in the country...........
This fossil lake, also called Chew Be'haar, covers an area roughly 60 km long and 40 km wide. Most of it lies within Ethiopia but its southernmost tip is in Kenya. The lake dries up entirely at this time of the year. Shortly after the rainy season it is temporarilly muddy and breeds an enormous quantity of mosquitoes. All kinds of wildlife enjoy the protection of the lake because it allows them to spot approaching predators. They must return to the surrounding savannah later in the day, however, because the temperature on the lake gets very high.
This police station lies roughly half way between Lake Stephanie and the Omo river crossing point. There are a few huts and a small market. Here, because of a mistake in our travel authorization, my passport was confiscated. It was returned on the way back.....................
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The wound was not very deep, but the girl's pain confirmed that infection has already set in.
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"We are people. We are born, live and die, and make the best of it. Just like you.""""""""""""""""
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ethiopia,galeb,women,men,clothing,hair,jewels
Sixty km north of the Omo river crossing point, there is a Swedish mission. The mission attempts to evangelize and settle the area. The pacification of pastoralists people is difficult, report the missionaries, and cattle feuds frequent. The Bume (or Bumi) people love to hunt the huge crocodiles of the Omo river. Because of its location near the river, the mission is a popular camp for growing a cereal crop. Only a few people (if any) permanently reside near the mission. At the time, the missionaries are nervous and fear harrassment from Ethiopian authorities given a recent clampdown on foreign churches.
This camp was located south of the Omo crossing point, a few miles from Lake Turkana, and very close to the Kenyan border. There are a number of dug wells here. When we visited the area, the Ethiopian government was going to stabilize these wells with cement tubes. It was unclear whether the water table would recharge fast enough to service larger wells. One of the Ethiopians working on the project could speak a few of words of Galeb and serve as an interpretor. We spent two nights there before taking the way back home. The night sky here was the prettiest I have ever seen......
On the way back we met a small group of pastoralists, mostly teenagers, I forgot from which tribe, it does not matter. They were young and high-spirited. They were beautiful. And yet. One of the girls had hurt her leg.....nfection had set in. We did what we could, which was very little. The nearest doctor was hundreds of miles away. Did she loose her leg? Did she die of gangrene? Did she recover? We shall never know.
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"Just like you."..
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We spent two days here. We observed the Galebs as much as they observed us. Nobody was doing much. It was most relaxing for everyone!
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This visitor just arrived. He must be on his way to a party, judging by his looks and demeanor. Perhaps he is simply honoring us..
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For those of you who think that a pastoralist lifestyle of constant wandering and wide open spaces is great, think again. The catch is that you've got to carry everything with you. Including children. These two young women do not seem to think that pastoralism is fantastic after all.
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ethiopia,galeb,women,children,clothing,jewels
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A female greater Kudu is making sure that we won't get any closer than this.
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In this semi-arid landscape, rivers are home to luxuriant vegetation. They are also the place were men and beasts can find drinking water.
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ethiopia,water,livestock,landscape,trees
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Beyong these marshes lies Lake Turkana, the outlet of the Omo river.iver.
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Here is a demonstration of how wooden head stands are used to protect one's expensive hairdo while napping. On the man's side is his rifle..
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ethiopia,women,clothing,turmi,jewels
The Argobe (or Harma) people have yet another fashion style, wonderfully displayed on this teenager.
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The life of pastoralists is tough. Old age comes quickly, particularly for women afflicted by repeated pregnancies....
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ethiopia,bume,clothing,women,health,jewels
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The Harma go for heavy metal!...............
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ethiopia,turmi,clothing,men,jewels
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Men prefer colored mud and fancy hairdos. They also love to integrate foreign items into their culture. The guy on the left has curtain-ring earings, the one on the right wears thumb tacks.
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A Topi is staring at us near a gigantic termite mound. The Omo river lies in the distance.
Galebs, like all pastoralists, love their livestock, and apparently are loved in return.
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ethiopia,galeb,men,health,jewelssh
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This old Galeb man wears a very interesting mouth decoration whereby a carved stone is fixed to his pierced lip. This man was actually going blind.
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Team work is required to water the livestock........................
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ethiopia,galeb,women,water,livestock,goat,
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Water is a big success with this girl's goats.
Gemu Gofa pastoralists are not one big group sharing a sense of community, but rather many different ethnic groups -- typically a few thousand individuals with a common language and culture. Cattle feuds among them are common. Some, like the Mursi, belong to the same Nilotic ethnic group as the Southern Sudanese; others, like the Borana and the Galeb, do not.
In general, the lifestyle and culture of all these pastoralists are threatened. You think they are odd. Well, most Africans think so too. Many Ethiopian youths, when shown these pictures, were ashamed or shocked, or flatly denied that such people actually existed in their country. Pastoralists are treated with a mix of paternalism and contempt by central authorities -- when they are not deliberately denied political rights and fought violently by army and militias, as in neighboring Sudan. In all of Africa, encroachments on their grazing land, either to develop farms or to set up wildlife reserves, increase their vulnerability to drought and keep them out of the development loop.
Together with a few thousand of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists are Africa's Amazon Indians. They are, truly, vanishing Africa..g Africa. vanishing Africa.the Galeb, do not. In general, the lifestyle and culture of all these pastoralists are threatened. Contempt for their "nomadic" way of life by central authorities and grazing land encroachment tend to keep them out of the development loop.
What is the future of these kids? For how long can they keep living the same life as their fathers? And should they????????????
First we visit Konso, a regional market town located in the middle of isolated hills south of Arba Minch, the capital of Gemu Gofa. Cotton growing and weaving are major activities in the Konso hills. Delicious honey and excellent incense can also be found here. The Konso people have their own language and culture. They remain largely peripheral to the rest of Ethiopian highlands....
Jinka is an important market town. It lies on another set of isolated hills, west of Konso. Rainfall around Jinka is abundant and the vegetation luxuriant. Rainfall drops dramatically as one leaves the relatively small highland. To the large diversity of climates around Jinka correspond a diversity of lifestyles. The men with fancy hairdos that we meet at the Jinka market are all pastoralists from surrounding lowlands. The girls with bark and banana leaf skirts come from surrounding farming areas on the highland...
Mago Park covers an extensive area of savannah bushland west of Jinka. The Mago river, which gave it its name, cuts it in half before flowing into the Omo river. The wildlife density in the Park appeared very low - except for birds. It is not clear why. It could have been due to the season (animals migrate) or to the fact that the Park sometimes serves as hunting reserve for government officials and their guests. Pastoralists also use part of the Park as seasonal grazing area.................
The slides that follow were taken during a two week trip in Gemu Gofa, a remote province of southern Ethiopia. The pictures portray a flamboyant but rare and rapidly disappearing life style, that of nomadic herders. Among some five hundred million Africans, only a few million people ever were and currently are nomadic herder or pastoralists. What you'll see here is thus the exception rather than the rule.
The trip took place around Christmas 1983, at a time when Ethiopia was under the iron rule of Menguisty Haile Mariam, a ruthless military dictator with a Marxist-Leninist rhetoric. The trip had to be organized through a government-owned tour operator with a monopoly on all travel to sensitive areas of Ethiopia. We concentrated our visit on the southern-most lowlands where pastoralists live, although some time was also spent in the hills of Konso and Jinka, home to communities of settled farmers. Places are described by their phonetic name. Other authors sometimes use different spellings to denote the southern Ethiopia people. Do not let that bother you.them are common. Some, like the Mursi, belong to the same group of Nilotic people as the Southern Sudanese; others, like the Borana and the Galeb, do not. In general, the lifestyle and culture of all these pastoralists are threatened. Contempt for their "nomadic" way of life by central authorities and grazing land encroachment tend to keep them out of the development loop.
This is, truly, vanishing Africa!
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ethiopia,mago,women,jewels,body decoration
Pierced lips are stretched gently by inserting bigger and bigger clay plates.
Obviously, wearing a mouth plate does not prevent one from smiling at funny looking strangers.
Within the confines of Mago Park, we found a Mursi camp along the Omo river. The Mursi are mostly nomadic pastoralists, but they also cultivate sorghum fields wherever possible among the scorched lowlands they inhabit with their livestock. Families then split, young male adults following the cattle while wives and children remain with an adult male in the camp.
The Mursi are Nilotic people like the Nuer and Dinka of Southern Sudan. Their fashion style emphasizes tatoos, scarifications, as well as pierced lips and earlobes. In fact, they are one of the last groups of people who still wear mouth plates. This very unusual form of bodily decoration requires the two front lower teeth to be removed and the lower lip to be gradually enlarged to accommodate increasingly larger clay plates. The plates are not worn all the time, only for display.
Where the practice comes from is unclear. Some argue that it makes Mursi women less marketable as slaves. I tend to think that its purpose is to limit women raiding by other nomadic tribes. Ethiopian authorities find the practice demeaning and have taken upon themselves to combat lip piercing, even if it means stitching lips back together..........
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ethiopia,lake stephaine,zebra,desert,wildlife
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A Grevy's zebra making a sharp turn to escape our annoying presence.f the Omo river.
We did what we could, which was very little. The nearest doctor was hundreds of miles away. Did she recover? Did she loose her leg? Did she die of gangrene? We shall never know. But we shall allways remember the expression on their faces:in. We did what we could, which was very little. The nearest doctor was hundreds of miles away. Did she loose her leg? Did she die of gangrene? Did she recover? We shall never know.
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ethiopia,lake stephanie,landscape,desert
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The dry lake bed is very flat. There are a few "islands" too..............
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ethiopia,lake stephanie,weapon,transport
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Here is our little group at the border with Kenya, accompanied by our armed policeman......................
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ethiopia,lake stephanie,desert,flower
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This cactus flower is called a Desert Rose.
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ethiopia,lake stephanie,gazelle,desert,wildlife
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Following a Soemmering's gazelle on the dry lake bed.
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ethiopia,mago,men,clothing,sorghum,farming,water
A Mursi man standing in front of his sorghum field along the banks of the Omo river.
These two kids are Borana. Their fashion style is very different from that of the Mursi.
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A trip to Gemu Gofa
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ethiopia,clothing,calabash,women,transport
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Interestingly, these ladies put on their blue sweaters just before entering Konso market - possibly following a local dress code edict inspired by (more prudish) central authorities.
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Care for a quiet roommate at the Jinka Majestic Hotel????????
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A concern for appearances, a humorous touch and an interest in fashion experiments are a key feature of all Gemu Gofa people.
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This girl is selling grain and maize cobs on the market. Notice her beautiful bark skirt.
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ethiopia.jinka,clothing,women,market,trade,jewels
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These young people also sell grain. There is a beautifully decorated calabash in the girl's hand......................
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