The Hamar Tribe

 

After spending the morning with the Suri face painting by the river we packed up camp and left for our next location - an arduous hot long 2-day drive south east of the Omo river. It had rained in the night and the forecast was for more rain so Fitsum wanted to get out of the mountain area since the trails become impassable in the mud. He mentioned having a vehicle stuck in the mud for three days with clients once. The drive started out on bumpy mountain dirt roads that included a fairly precarious river crossing. Our driver, Israel, was an absolute expert at navigating any difficult backcountry road or river and the scenery was beautiful.

We stopped for a late lunch in the tiny town of Tum - which consisted of one paved road for about a mile and dirt roads either side continuing on through the mountains. Fitsum said we would stay the night as there wasn't anywhere safe to camp between Tum and the next stop. We had a very basic hotel room with a bucket of water outside to wash in and some squat toilets at the end of the building. Sara was able to wash off her face paint, preventing further questions to Israel who had been asked if her face was actually that color.

October 26th is a religious holiday for the orthodox christian church and there was a big celebration in the afternoon finishing with a bonfire and fireworks. The Meskal celebration commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by the Roman Empress Helena (Saint Helena) in the fourth century after following smoke from a bonfire. We walked around in the late afternoon and were swamped by kids who were fascinated to see the strangers. Everyone was very friendly, and after the kids were reprimanded by Israel for pushing us we enjoyed talking to the adults about our trip and experiences in Ethiopia. It was definitely an interesting event.

Tuesday 27th was a long, hot demanding day. We started at 6am and after a quick breakfast were on the mountain roads again. The temperatures weren't bad initially since we climbed up to 7,000 feet, but then we dropped down to 1,500 feet and had to cross the long hot savannah of Omo National Park. The temperature was close to 100 degrees and the air-conditioner in the Toyota land cruiser didn't work. So for 6-7 hours we drove with the windows down in extreme heat that felt like a blow torch. Sara who does not tolerate heat well was suffering. A migraine headache usually follows extreme heat exposure and of course it did, so Sara who didn't feel well at the start of the day was suffering. We stopped in a small town mid afternoon for a quick break and someone after hearing we had come from the Suri asked "How was the crossing"? From that point on we nicknamed the drive the "death crossing". Turns out it is the second hottest place in Ethiopia and if you breakdown it can be weeks before someone else comes down the road. Later we found out Fitsum would call people he knew to let them know where we would be out of cell signal and they were to send a car to find us if he didn't call them back in a few hours.

We finally reached the town of Turmi and checked into the Buska lodge. Turmi is the central point to visit all the tribes on the east side of the river. We were happy to have a room with a shower and bathroom and electricity, even if it was only twice a day for a few hours.

Wednesday 26th was an early start for John, leaving at 5:30am to visit a Hamer village. The Hamer are the largest tribe n the Omo valley. They are known for their distinctive hair style where they curl and treat their hair with a mixture of butter and red Ochre clay. Sara was dealing with a nasty intestinal issue and decided to rest for a few hours. John returned for lunch and Fitsum said he had heard about a bull jumping ceremony we should attend in the afternoon. We set out in the full heat of the afternoon and started walking through the bush, up and down and along a dried river bed. What hadn't been mentioned was the village was quite a way from the road. After walking for about 40 minutes we asked again how far, and on receiving the same answer of 20 minutes stopped to reassess the situation. Given the vagueness of how long to the village, and the fact we would likely be there close to sunset and need to return stumbling in the dark without lights we turned around before becoming a cautionary story to travelers!

Thursday was similar to the previous day, John left early for photography and Sara rested still not feeling well. In the afternoon we were able to visit a Hamer village this time without the long hike. A number of the tribes have customs that introduce young men into adulthood. Bull jumping is one of these. The family of the bull jumper hosts the event, which is a big deal with relatives and friends from other villages walking up to 100 kilometers to attend.

Another custom that is very strange and repugnant is whipping of the women who are relatives. This is something they do to honor the young bull jumper and the family. They actually ask to be whipped and show no displeasure from it despite the long bloody gash it leaves on their back. Our guide took us to a large gathering of people where the whipping was taking place. We didn't know that was occurring until we got there. We immediately told our guide we did not want to be around this ceremony. He said it's part of the culture and we said we don't care we're moving on now. So we moved on to another area where there was a lot of people gathered. Mostly the women were dancing and they were serving everybody coffee. This went on all afternoon. One of the young men came up to Sara and asked if she wanted to be whipped. With help from our guide translating Sara suggested maybe he give her the stick and she whipped him, which resulted in the young man quickly disappearing.

Everything was delayed because they didn't have the sacred bull who had to be rounded up and joined up with the other six bulls. All this process took so long that when the young bull jumper got his chance it was dark. They lined up the bulls side to side and the jumper has to run across their backs two times each way. The goal of course is to not fall and face ridicule. Although it was dark and only lit by car lights and our cell phones the young man did very well. He did fall a few times but was given some extra tries since he was doing it in the dark. We're sure the young man was glad the whole event was over and he had successfully completed the challenge!

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