We are picked up by a Kibo Slopes representative and transferred to the airport for a 7.40am flight to Jinka via Arba Minch.  We arrive at 10.00am and are transferred to Eco Omo lodge. We have time to visit the local market before lunch and take a stroll through the town. For photos our guide will negotiate with the local people. In the afternoon we visit the museum, where we see the lifestyles, cultures, traditions, rituals and belief systems of each tribe. There is a fine collection of everyday objects: clothing, jewelry and crafts. Dinner and overnight will be at the Eco Omo Lodge.

Accommodation:  Eco Omo Lodge

Driving: 10 km local

Activities:  Muesum

Mealplan: B L  D

This day is dedicated to visit the Mursi an ethnic group who count not more than 4000 members. We shall be accompanied by a local English Speaking Guide. The Mursi are basically herdsmen but farm after the rains along the river banks. The unusual jewelry for the women are huge clay plates in the split lower lips. With the help of the local guide we are able to negotiate for photographs. Olive baboon and Guenther’s dik-dik are common. Other wildlife you might spot includes defassa waterbuck, gerenuk, bushbuck, Jackson’s hartebeest, lesser kudu and patas monkey. For lunch we return to Jinka town and drive in the afternoon to Turmi, the Tourist Hub in the southern Omo Valley.

Accommodation:  Buska Lodge / Paradise Hotel

Driving: 220 Km

Activities: Mago National Park / Mursi cultural experience

After breakfast we venture out to visit to the Hamer people and the Karo tribe. A local English speaking guide takes us on a walk through the villages and the market. With some luck we can watch their rituals like a traditional wedding or the passage from boyhood to adulthood where the young man has to run across the backs of 30 heads of cattle lined up next to one another. At the market we try to mix with the locals to get a few photographs from this colorful tribe. It is clear that we have to negotiate for permission and pay for the shots. Our guide will assist us in this. After lunch we drive to the banks of the Omo River to visit another ethnic group – the Karo people. They are a Nilotic group which is famous for their body painting. They are a very small tribe of about 1000peole and are closely related to their neighbors, the Hamer and Banna people.

Accommodation:  Buska Lodge / Paradise Hotel

Driving: 50 Km

Activities:  Hamer & Karo Cultural encounters and photo shoots

Mealplan: B L D

Today we drive down south to the Omo delta. This area is home to the Dassanech people who were initially primarily pastoralist, but have adopted agricultural activities on the banks of the Omo river and the shores of lake Turkana to supplement their livelihood.  We have to cross the Omo river to get to one of their villages. The Dassanech are the largest Omo Valley tribe that the vast majority of its people still live in traditional villages and retain their culture.  There are a total of 14 of the Dassanech tribal villages in Southern Ethiopias Omo Valley. Our local guide from Omorate acts as an intermediator with the Village elders as we negotiate for photos. We return to Turmi and use the afternoon to visit any tribal ceremony which may be taking place in the area.  Our guide will advise on this. Dinner and overnight will be again at our lodge

Accommodation:  Buska Lodge / Paradise Hotel

Driving: 150 Km

Activities:  Dassanech photo shoots

Mealplan: B L D.

After breakfast we drive up to the Konso Highlands. On the way we pass by a Banna village. We arrive in Konso for lunch and pay the Konso King and the village a visit to get to learn about their rich culture and their agrarian lifestyle. There are plenty photo opportunities which we can arrange with our local guide guide.  The Konso Cultural Landscape which is a designated world heritage site since 2011, It is an arid area of stone walled terraces and fortified settlements which constitutes a spectacular example of a living cultural tradition stretching back centuries.  Dinner and overnight will be at the Kanta Lodge.

Accommodation:  Kanta Lodge

Driving: 190 Km

Activities: Konso King & Village

Mealplan: B L D

After an early breakfast.  We drive down south to Yabello, the capital of the Borana community. They are pastoralist and are mainly engaged in livestock farming. In their lands, water is a very scarce commodity, and to obtain it, they dig wells in the earth to which they descend forming human chains with which they extract the water. When they carry out this task, they sing and form the so-called “singing wells”.  We visit a Borana Village on the way and stop a Yabelo for lunch. Another long 250 km drive takes us the scenic Agregash Lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation:  Agregash Lodge

Driving: 365 Km

Activities: Borana Homestead, photo shoot

Mealplan: B L D

Today we drive to Arbar Minch and climb up the mountains to visit the Dorze people. They are always a delighted to be visited, as the children display their unique Dorze dance. Their houses are tall structures, resembling a beehive. Inside the hut, a section is partitioned off for the family’s animals (cows and goats) to sleep inside during the cold rainy season. The Dorze people are very skilled weavers, providing a vast majority of the country’s traditional cottons and other uniquely Ethiopian clothing. We return to Arba Minch for dinner and Overnight at the Paradise Hotel

Accommodation:  Paradise Lodge

Driving: 290 Km

Activities: Dorze Village, Mealplan: B L D

After breakfast we undertake a boat ride on lake Chamo. Lake Chamo is a lake in the Southern Nations, located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, at an elevation of 1,110 meters. We will have opportunities to photograph crocodiles, hippos and fish eagles catching their prey.  We return for lunch to Paradise Hotel and transfer to the airport for the 15.45h flight to connect with our international flight. If time allows we can have a traditional dinner with song and dance by a cross section of Ethiopian ethnic groups.

Flight:  Arba Minch – Addis 1.5 hours

Driving:  local (50km)

Activities: Traditional dinner

Mealplan: B L