Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
gin overnight boat trips on the river. For now they have no office, but guides will find you
when you arrive.
Most people visit villages across the river, since it's fun to ride the dugout
canoes
(per
person Birr50)
or the more reassuring
motorboat
(per person Birr60)
, but the villages on
the east are just as traditional. The Daasanach are the only people willing to consider flat-
fee photography, either for a single family or the whole village, so discuss this with your
guide and they'll take you to the market to buy something to give in exchange (paying
cash is not popular since the chief keeps the money) for unlimited photo access.
Omorate's Tuesday and Saturday markets aren't very big, but differ from others in that
there are many products, like bed sheets and beads, imported from Kenya. As this is con-
sidered a border area, travellers need to register their passport at Immigration upon arrival.
There's hardly a difference between the three hotels in town and the supposedly better
(but still with external facilities) hotel just out of town had been appropriated for oil work-
ers.
Getting There & Away
One bus connects Omorate to Jinka (Birr100, 3½ hours) via Turmi (Birr30, one hour)
heading south on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and back north the following days.
The road north to Jinka through Mago National Park has been closed, and likely won't
reopen any time soon. For details about crossing into Kenya,
Click here
.
SCAR TISSUE
For many tribes of the Lower Omo Valley, scarification serves as a distinction for brave warriors; the men were
once not allowed to scarify themselves until they'd killed at least one foe. For women, the raised texture of the
skin is considered highly desirable, and is said to hold sensual value for men.
Scarification is achieved using a stone, knife, hook or razor blade. Then ash is applied to the wound, creating an
infection and promoting scar-tissue growth. As the wound heals, the scar creates the desired knobbly effect on the
skin's surface.
ARBORE
Arbore rests 50km south of Weyto on the Turmi road and remains a traditional village
with only a few scattered modern buildings. The Arbore people are a mixed bunch, with
ancestry linking back to both the Omo Valley and Konso highlands. With their beads and
