The Omo Valley, better known as the Lower Omo Valley, is an ideal place for indigenous explorers. Home to numerous tribal communities, the diversity of life will amaze you. This place is an absolute must if you want to better understand East African pastoral life.
The concentration of experiences and the diversity, which often clash so sharply with everyday life, force you to reflect on what it means to be human in today's world.
The Lower Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia is home to some of the world's last remaining unaltered cultural groups. The region is a melting pot of diverse cultures and communities and boasts some of the greatest genetic diversity on the continent. Many refer to the Omo Valley as the birthplace of humanity.
This region has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the discovery of human remains dating back almost 2.5 million years.
In this surrounding place there are nearly 16 tribes live with uniqe life styles, some are similar with the very famous Maasai trib in east Africa.
Many unique styles are common among these tribes, such as the wearing of clay discs on the lower lip, called lip plates by Mursi women, stick-fighting competitions by the Donga, artistic body painting traditions (body scarification) using different colored clay, or the fattening ceremony called Kel, in which the men of a tribe are fed blood and milk for several months, and the fattest man of the year is chosen. Bull-leaping by Hamer Boy.
Bull jumping is a rite of passage that ushers Hamer boys into adulthood. It is the most important event in the lives of Hamer boys and was performed over three long days. On the final day, the relatives and women of the jumper family sing and dance and prepare to be beaten with a stick. This is a ritual part of the ceremony, showing their love and devotion to the boy. The women usually ask to be beaten on the back with a stick until a large bloody scar remains. Then the jumper boy emerges naked from the bush. All the families await the big moment. The boy must jump over a line of eight bulls to be considered a man. Failure to do so brings shame on the family.
The wildlife includes most typical East African animals and offers some of Ethiopia's wildest and most impressive natural spectacles.
Mago National Park is considered an important habitat for numerous animal species. Particularly common and conspicuous are buffalo, giraffes, elephants (approximately 150), oryx, , tiangs, Lewel's hartebeest, lesser kudu, greater kudu, duiker, Burchell's zebra, Swayne's hartebeest, , Grant's gazelle, giraffe gazelle, cheetah, wild dogs, lions, leopards, warthogs , vervet monkeys, baboons, and guerezas.
With a little luck, you might also see plains zebra, lesser kudu, defassa waterbuck, giraffe gazelle, and black-and-white colobus monkeys.
237 bird species have been recorded in Mago National Park. Six of them are endemic: the grassland bird, the white-winged warbler, the white-tailed starling, the banded barbet, the thick-billed raven, and the wattled ibis. The riparian forest along the Omo
River is important for various bird groups, including woodpeckers, kingfishers, barbets, pigeons, shrikes, song thrushes, warblers, Heron-egrets and flycatchers.
Most of our guests visit the park on their way to the Mursi villages (the park's highlight) along the Mago River.
The concentration of experiences and the diversity, which often clash so sharply with everyday life, force you to reflect on what it means to be human in today's world.
The Lower Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia is home to some of the world's last remaining unaltered cultural groups. The region is a melting pot of diverse cultures and communities and boasts some of the greatest genetic diversity on the continent. Many refer to the Omo Valley as the birthplace of humanity.
This region has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the discovery of human remains dating back almost 2.5 million years.
In this surrounding place there are nearly 16 tribes live with uniqe life styles, some are similar with the very famous Maasai trib in east Africa.
Many unique styles are common among these tribes, such as the wearing of clay discs on the lower lip, called lip plates by Mursi women, stick-fighting competitions by the Donga, artistic body painting traditions (body scarification) using different colored clay, or the fattening ceremony called Kel, in which the men of a tribe are fed blood and milk for several months, and the fattest man of the year is chosen. Bull-leaping by Hamer Boy.
Bull jumping is a rite of passage that ushers Hamer boys into adulthood. It is the most important event in the lives of Hamer boys and was performed over three long days. On the final day, the relatives and women of the jumper family sing and dance and prepare to be beaten with a stick. This is a ritual part of the ceremony, showing their love and devotion to the boy. The women usually ask to be beaten on the back with a stick until a large bloody scar remains. Then the jumper boy emerges naked from the bush. All the families await the big moment. The boy must jump over a line of eight bulls to be considered a man. Failure to do so brings shame on the family.
The Evangadi Night
The Evangadi night is also famous among one of the Omo Valley tribes. Young Hamer men and women perform a traditional dance called Evangandi on the moonlit night. It takes place every three days in the Hamer villages. Evangadi is a traditional dance for the entertainment of body and mind during the harvest season.Mago national Park
Mago National Park is located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, approximately 782 kilometers south of Addis Ababa and north of a major 90° bend in the Omo River. The landscape consists of floodplain forests and wetlands along the lower Mago River and around Lake Dipa. There are also mountainous regions with magnificent views of the bush savannah and wildlife. The 2,162-square-kilometer park lies on the eastern side of a small spur of the Eastern Rift Valley (Omo Depression) and borders the Omo National Park.The wildlife includes most typical East African animals and offers some of Ethiopia's wildest and most impressive natural spectacles.
Mago National Park is considered an important habitat for numerous animal species. Particularly common and conspicuous are buffalo, giraffes, elephants (approximately 150), oryx, , tiangs, Lewel's hartebeest, lesser kudu, greater kudu, duiker, Burchell's zebra, Swayne's hartebeest, , Grant's gazelle, giraffe gazelle, cheetah, wild dogs, lions, leopards, warthogs , vervet monkeys, baboons, and guerezas.
With a little luck, you might also see plains zebra, lesser kudu, defassa waterbuck, giraffe gazelle, and black-and-white colobus monkeys.
237 bird species have been recorded in Mago National Park. Six of them are endemic: the grassland bird, the white-winged warbler, the white-tailed starling, the banded barbet, the thick-billed raven, and the wattled ibis. The riparian forest along the Omo
River is important for various bird groups, including woodpeckers, kingfishers, barbets, pigeons, shrikes, song thrushes, warblers, Heron-egrets and flycatchers.
Most of our guests visit the park on their way to the Mursi villages (the park's highlight) along the Mago River.
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