Travel
Omo Bend and the Omotic Tribal People
1-2 February 2018
Termite mound
Playing Ethiopian dodgeball with the goats, ruts, rocks, swales and riverbeds of the road, for two hours we bounce our way to the village of Gorcho. This is a new landscape of flat land, huge dry washes, red soil and towering red ‘chimneys’ of termite mounds. I definitely would not want to be in this area when the rains fall. There is much evidence of massive flooding and fast, dangerous rivers of water. Today it is hot and bone dry.
As Bette Davis warned in All About Eve –
Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
It is a morning of rutted roads and clouds of dust. It reminds me of childhood when faced with that long Thanksgiving drive to a meal with obnoxious relatives. You dread being around the bully cousin or the picky grandmother. I have heard so many horror stories about the Mursi tribe that I wonder “why go?” We have been given clear instructions about our visit, just like mama used to warn the kids to “behave, or else!”