07/09/2009 Day 8, 147km: Lake Stephanie, Ethiopia to the town of Omorate, Ethiopia

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version.
If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:.
I awoke early in the middle of a dry lake surround by mountains cast in a golden mantel from the rising sun. After breakfast we head to the town of Hamer
town Turmi and visited the famous Hamer market where all the different Hammer tribes come together to barter. The hamer people still live the traditional pastoral lifestyle and where traditional clothing. Afterwards we headed to the small southerly town of Omorate where we got our first glimpse of the Omo river where we had a good chat with the locals and then set up camp in the grounds of the Immigration officers. In the evening I took a shower in one of the local "hotels" where we ate. I also got to visit the local mosque and was offered supper at one of the brothers houses.


Long Version:

With the sun rising rather early I was up at 6:15am after having a little lie in. Getting out of my tent I cast my eyes towards the sunrise and noticed a distant figure in the distance moving quickly. It was Simon C who had slept out in the open and was taking himself for his first jog. He was very excited when he got back as I had found some of his ciagrettes that had fallen underneath seat...he had thought he had had his last one the night before and with no shops around that would have been the last one for sometime...I was less happy :P.

In the process of preparing coffee Simon found our milk cartons were all inflated, with one of them having blown out and the rest looking like they were reading. Amazingly inside the broken one was cheese. A combination of temperature and all the shaking, rattle and role had literally turn the milk into cottage cheese. Initially I had thought to throw it out but on tasting it , I found it to be really nice and so everyone quickly got stuck in finishing it off.

While this was happening breakfast was created and prepared by Simon C (who really enjoys cooking) and was DIVINE, consisting of thin packages (Crepes) with a filling of fresh pineapple that had been pan cooked, Rwandan honey and cinnamon!

At 9am, having packed up camp and the temperature already 30'c we left, retracing out tracks via gps until we got back to the main dirt road. As we drove towards the town of Turmi we noticed Chacma baboons, a ground squirrel and more lone trees fighting against the desertification of this arid land.
Around 12pm we noticed men from the hamer tribe in their traditional short and tight skirts, often holding hands with each other and walking in a rather femine
manner. In Cape Town these warrior woulds have instantly been labelled as gay but here and in Africa physical contact between men and things like holding
hands in considered a normal part of friendship

Around 2pm we entered the Hamer town of Turmi, dropping off our guard who would make his own way back. Turmi is famous for its weekly Hamer market, for which
we would be lucky enough to experience. The pastoral Hamer tribe of the Omo valley still live much the way the used, and we were really lucky and privileged
to have this opportunity to interact with them. We pulled into the nearest “hotel” and had a super sour version of injera, the Ethiopian traditional dish.

Once we had finished eating and making plans we walked across to the Hamer market where large groups of men and women sat, the women at first all seeming
with their hairstyle exactly the same shape and colour.

To recap what the women look like. Their hair is made up of lots of small braids coated with red clay, with adornments of silver, brass and copper bangles;
red and yellow plastic beads (in the past it was made with other materials), leather to cover their private regions (some also had this as a bra) and various
decoration to the skirts. Those that were married wore something that can be best described as a neck chain with a metal protrusion coming from the neck.

At second glance though it could be seen that each woman has her own personal style and dress. The market facilitates trading between the different villages
and on display were adornments, coffee husks (which they use to make cofee), tobacco, sleeping stools (multipurpose for resting your head or sitting your
bottom on top of), gourds for holding water, etc.

For drinking the women were using gourds although they are very keen to have your waterbottle for which they constantly beg. Begging from Faranji (europeans)
is a huge problem in Ethiopia, the kids coming up to us at every opportunity demanding something or other

The market was very busy and it was fascinating just watching all the interactions and activity...even those begging for money in exchange for a
photo...which just might be the most well known english word in Ethiopia!

After spending sometime in the market we continued are journey heading south to the the town of Omorate, the dirt roads being quite unpredictable although I
was able to make a reasonable speed in the Landy which I was driving. Around 4pm we entered the outskirts of the town and drove into the immigration
compound (the town being very close to the border of Kenya). Although there were about 8 buildings that must have been really nice when they were built, it
looked like they have never been used and simply fallen into dis-repair. The pavements were a combination of brown dirt, yellowed grass and scrub and thorn
trees.

Immigration was a formality and afterwards we headed into town, a warren of dusty roads and timber and mud dwellings, containing two hotels/bars. We had a
look at the rough looking hotels and then decided to rather camp at the immigration offices as it would be too noisy in town. After making the decision Deon
went back to immigration to setup and do his thing while the rest of us walked down to the Omo River. It is about 100m wide, fast flying with 3 meter, near
vertical, eroded banks of hard soil. Moored on the very narrow beach were the dugout canoes of Fisherman and water taxi's who take people to the the vilage
on the other side. We were told that an 8 year old had recently been eaten by a crocodile but others assured us this was not the case and that it was safe
to swim.

The local people are similar to the Hamer, very dark in complexion, with the women only wearing various ornaments and a skirt. They were very friendly and
some spoke a little English and with the help of our guide Chu Chu we were able to have a nice conversation. I befriended a teenager who let me ride his
bicycle and who was nice enough to show me the local mosque without asking for anything; a refreshing change.

Afterwards I went back to the compound where I found Taryn chatting with some of the locals who stay there. She was engaged in a coffee ceremony which
families have once week on a day of their choice. The family also had a baby pet baboon which was very friendly climbing on all of us and running around and
up and down the trees just like a very naughty child.

At around 6:15pm we head back to town to watch a glorious sunset across the Omo River, with fisherman polling their dugout canoes silhouetted across the back
drop of the many trees lining the river. Tomorrow we would go across to the other side to visit the local villages there. After the sunset I rushed to the
mosque to pray, The mosque reflected the financial state of the people, with a homemade sign the only indication it was a mosque. I was glad I had the GPS to
track back otherwise I would never have found it again! The mosque was a simple dwelling made in the modern-traditional way; walls of weaved sticks packed
with mud, a couple of small windows and a corrugated roof.

After mosque I was asked to have supper with one of the men there which I would have loved to do. However after we agreed to meet (I just needed to tell the
others first) he did not show up :(. I returned to river where Taryn and Simon C had been swimming and chatting with the locals. Later I went for a shower at
one of the hotels (there was none in camp). The shower was and interesting setup but my first in a long time so I was very excited. Basically it was just a
big tank that drained so in the dim light of my torch I washed myself clean.

I stayed there afterwards for supper with Simon and Taryn joining me and Deon a little later. We were having a problem with Deon in that being a bit of a
loner he was is off doing things himself and was quite pendantic if we did not see things his way. There was also a lot of tension between him and Taryn but

I had expected this kind of challenge before coming along so I know we will all grow from it.

Supper consisted of a spahgetti with a spice Tomato sauce for me, and I think some sort of meat dish for Taryn and Simon with Deon finishing off mine. The
standard drinks for team(excluding me) are coke or beer. Since I dont drink that fizzy stuff and fruit juice is the price of Gold and not pure I tend to only
drink water with the occasional lime syrup added. Halfway through supper I went back to mosque again and found out the guy who had offered me supper had had
some sort of problem that had required his urgent attention and thus he had not been able to make it.

After our late supper we headed back to camp and crawled into our tents where I did some more blogging. Due to a lack of tent for Chu-Chu he had decided to
stay in town. Personally I think he has a female friend he likes ;).