ONLY 6 GUEST AND 2 LEADERS
OCTOBER 18-30, 2024
Deep in southern Ethiopia live some of the most beautiful tribes on the African continent. Inspired by their environment of wild trees, exotic flowers, and lush vegetation, these tribes use the clay soil of bright yellows, startling whites, and rich earth-reds to paint each other’s bodies. They make bold decisions about their outfits’ hand-crafted from animal skins and decorated with beads, feathers, and shells. Known as a living museum to anthropologists, they become a walking body of art; to photographers, they are visually breathtaking. However, more than the photograph is the epic journey of discovery in a place so uniquely different than any other in the world. These tribes live side by side, each with their own traditions and unique appearance, making the Omo Valley one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth.
Rarely offered in other trips is the intimate experience with the Kara, Daasanach, and Suri. We are sending special teams ahead to assemble proper mobile-tented camps – traditional walk-in canvas safari tents, each with a camp bed, mattress, linens, small table and light. You will not need to worry about keeping your batteries charge because there will be a generator in each camp! – to say nothing of the delicious meals and cold beverages! Staying near each of these villages and far from the tourist lodges will allow you to fully immerse yourself with the tribes and photograph them in the most beautiful light of sunrise and sunset.
Throughout this life-enriching journey, you will be given in-depth insight to the tribe’s lifestyle, beliefs, and ancient traditions to gain a deeper understanding of their world and embrace the true spirit of the people. While visiting the villages, you will not only have the opportunity to document their daily lives photographically, capture stunning portraits, and possibly witness some of their timeless ceremonies, but embrace the experience by spending time with them in their huts, join them in a cup of coffee, or try the local drink.
In true expedition style, Piper has left the program with some flexibility to ensure we will be able to take advantage of any photographic opportunities that may arise. The precise time spent in each village will depend on what activities are taking place and the goals of the group. It is likely we will also meet several other tribes in route.
This trip is limited to ONLY 6 GUEST to ensure that the photographers joining this expedition will have a higher quality experience with the best group dynamics.
Itinerary
Day 1, October 18, 2024
Upon your arrival at the Bole international airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, you are met by a member of our ground team and transferred to the Radisson Blu by private vehicle. After your long flight/s you will enjoy a relaxing evening in a modern, upper market hotel, which is the perfect way to rest up for the amazing journey that lies ahead.
Accommodation: Radisson Blu
Day 2, October 19, 2024
You will rise early in the morning to the smell of Ethiopia’s famous Coffee. Meet the group for breakfast and a briefing about your upcoming adventure. During the meeting Piper and Mark will share their philosophy and ideas on how to create stunning intimate images of the tribes. The group will then depart to the airport for a private charter flight directly in to the heart of the Omo.
We will be greeted by our incredible team and driven a short distance to our private mobile tent camp right on the banks of the Omo River
Cousins to the Turkana tribe in Northern Kenya, the Daasanach, are a semi-nomadic tribe numbering approximately 50,000. Their clans stretch across southern Ethiopia, Sudan, and down into Northern Kenya. They are very tall and slender, wearing red and yellow jewelry, leather headpieces lined with bottle caps, and are known for their unique and ornate hair buns.
Late afternoon we will enjoy our first village visit of the Daasanach. However, people from this beautiful tribe will most likely be in our camp as we are in the heart of their territory.
Accommodation: Private mobile tented camp BLD
Day 3&4, October 20 & 21, 2024
The next two days will be spent exploring the region of the Daasanach by vehicle, on foot, and by boat. We have the special permission to boat down into the delta’s of Lake Turkana, where life is as it has always been and few ever have the opportunity to go.
Accommodation: Private mobile tent camp BLD
Day 5 & 6, October 22 & 23 , 2024
After one last sunrise village visit and breakfast along the Omo River we will we will continue on our journey to the land of the Hamar tribe. The Hamar women are striking, wearing beautiful colorful beaded skins, ornate necklaces, and metal bangles around their wrists and ankles. Famous for their hairstyle — a crown of long dread-lock braids covered in ocher — the Hamer women are the most decorated of the Omo people. During the next two days, if we are lucky, we hope to get word of a bull jumping ceremony, a rite-of-passage tradition whereby a young Hamer man passes from boyhood to adulthood. This is a real ceremony, so there is no guarantee we will be able to see one, but our trip is timed during the season for these ceremonies and parties.
Should the road access be good and time allows, we will visit the Abore tribe.
Accommodation: Buska Lodge BLD
Day 7 & 8, October 24 & 25, 2024
We will have one last beautiful sunrise visit with the Hammer before we head into the territory of the Kara tribe. We have set up another mobile tent camp in the forested area along the Omo River near the main village that I have been visiting for more a decade. This will allow you to connect with the people on a deeper level, where you will feel more like a friend and a guest than merely a visitor.
The Kara excel in face and body painting; this is practiced daily in preparation for their dances and ceremonies. They pulverize locally found white chalk, yellow mineral rock, red iron ore, and black charcoal in order to decorate their bodies, often mimicking the spotted plumage of a guinea fowl. The men create highly decorated clay hair buns, which can take up to three days to complete. Their ornate body scarring, where a cut is made with a knife and ash is rubbed into the wound to produce a raised welt, is also a known characteristic of the Kara.
Over the next two days, you will spend quality time in the Kara villages; documenting their daily lives, creating beautiful portraits, joining them in song and dance, watching them herd the livestock across the dusty plains, join them for morning coffee, learning about their ancient traditions, and learn about how their world is changing with the pressures of the modern world.
Accommodation: Private Mobile Safari Camp BLD
Day 9 – 12, October 26 -29 2024
Today we continue our adventurous expedition, crossing over the Omo River and through the bush, to the remote homeland of the extremely beautiful and exotic Suri tribe. In the early morning, we will stop en route to visit a Nyangatom village.The women have layers and layers of beads around their neck, and wear the most strikingly-designed leather skirts. Although they have their own language, they also speak the Daasanech language. As we near the town of Kibish, excitement builds when you discover the Suri throughout the landscape in their traditional clothing, going about their daily lives. We will arrive in our private mobile-tented camp along the Kibish river in the late afternoon. As word gets out about our arrival, they will come down to the river and near our camp for a wonderful first introduction and afternoon shoot along the river. We will have four incredible days at this location.
The Suri tribe is known to be one of the most beautiful and ornate tribes in the world, and is thus one of the most desired to photograph. The elaborate body painting and unique flamboyant headpieces, made from natural materials, truly make them a walking body of art. The women still practice one of the most extreme forms of body adornment in the world- wearing large lip plates. The tribe still practices the art of body scarification, created via acacia thorns and razor blades.
The Suri are pastoralist. The men still go off to live in the cattle camps, which are under constant threat as cattle raids are a relentless part of Suri life. The men live their traditional lifestyles drinking the blood and milk of the cow, covering their naked bodies with ash, and giving thanks for their good fortune in song and dance. We will have an opportunity to visit these traditional cattle camps, and it is always the highlight of the trip for participants.
Accommodations: Private mobile tent camp BLD
Day 13 October 30, 2024
If time allows, we will have one last early morning visit with the Suri before driving to Mizan to catch our private chartered flight back to Addis. This flight is from deep in the southern region where there are no commercial flights available. This will save us from two very long days of driving over some rough roads, and a one-night stay in very local accommodations. Once in Addis, you will be met by our ground team and transported to the Radisson Blu, where you will have a dayroom to rest up and clean up before being transferred to the international airport for your late flights home. Should you prefer to stay overnight in Addis to rest up from your incredible expedition, we will be happy to make these arrangements. Flights should be booked after 10:00 PM. Most international flights depart after 10:00 PM.
Accommodations: Day rooms at the Radisson Blu BL