We flew out of Addis Ababa just after noon (on Monday), on a 70 minute flight to Jinka in the South Omo region, tucked down toward the border with Kenya and South Sudan. If we were driving, this trip would take 2 days and 20+ hours of driving. (Our team leader, Harold, made the drive in 2015.)
Our Canadian team is now 4 people (instead of 7) and we have been joined by Tamene who lives in Jinka and will travel with us as interpreter and guide.
The Jinka airport is a single runway with a small terminal building – flights go back and forth to Addis Ababa. We had lunch at the nice restaurant in town – and it seemed that all of the other non- African folks on the plane ended up there for lunch.
After lunch, it was in the vehicle and on the road. There seem to be few types of vehicles in Jinka – white Toyota Land Cruisers sponsored by an NGO or gov’t agency or tiny little putt-putt vehicles that are even smaller than a smart car. And the odd transport-type truck, usually carrying 2-10 people on top of the cargo. There are some motorcycles around town, but they behave nothing like the boda-boda’s in Uganda.
Our destination today is the region of the Hamar tribe. The first 50 kilometres of highway was a mixture of quite nice pavement and rough rocky sections where the 6-year old highway had already broken. The last 50+ kilometres was relatively stable gravel road. We drove about 80 km an hour on both sections but slowed or stopped very frequently for the parts of broken pavement, or more often, dozens and dozens of herds of goats or cattle. This area is primarily made up of remote and traditional herding people.
We drove for two to three hours from Jinka which was at the bottom of the nearby mountainous area. By the time we reached Turmi, a town of 21 000 including surrounding rural villages, we were on the top of a high, very dry, hot plateau. Daily temperatures will often be in the high 30s.
Driving through the region was quite like driving through a version of National Geographic. Children and boys/men in wrap-around fabric garments herd their goats or cows, often carrying an axe, machete or rifle. (When I asked about the rifles, I was told they were used to kill lions or men from rival tribes – both/either would bring a man great stature in the tribe.)
Woman walk along the highway often carrying bundles to/from market or babies tied to their backs. Once we were in these rural areas, traditional garments, head- pieces and tools/weapons were the norm. Villages are constructed of wooden and thatched huts and fences, the kind you would imagine in your most stereotypical version of Africa or National Geo magazine.
When we arrived and were taken to the guest house where we would be staying, we were informed by our hosts (which turned out to be the Mayor and some of his Cabinet) that we would be visiting a nearby village in the bush before it got dark and then to dinner.
The village turned out to be a very significant place for Harold and Jesse. Years ago, their dear Ethiopian-Canadian friend from Lethbridge, Paulos, sought refuge in one of the huts as he was fleeing persecution in a neigbouring tribe; one of the villagers later guided him through to Kenya by one of the tribesmen. Paulos was fleeing government persecution because he stood for change. He was from the Maale tribe to the North, and like many others in recent decades, was trying to make his way to Kenya to seek political refugee status and hopefully get to a North America.
There is way more to this story, but Harold and Jesse got to see the hut where Paulos hid and meet the wife of the man who led him to Kenya across the literal wilderness.
We ended the night as guests at a feast with the Mayor and City Caninet members – ice cold Coca Colas, inderbe, and fire roasted goat.
This is finally being posted on Wednesday morning- internet is scarce.
Kann Klan Adventures 
I’m enjoying your posts! Your trip is so interesting. Maybe we need to find some connections to my class so you can come and talk to my students.
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