The Banna Tribe- Omo Valley, Ethiopia

You saw the pictures from the market at Key Afar the previous day (posted last month) and here is who we picked up on the way back. From left to right we have Meekay (spelled as sounds), Emany, and Bure. We are headed to their village.

With a goat to celebrate their recent success at Bull Jumping (to be discussed later).

A neighbor stops by

A single mom who’s husband passed away prepares tea. She has the youngest boys in these photos and one daughter

I hand the camera to Bure and he is kind of a natural

I get tea that is made from the chaff shaken from coffee beans as in the Hamar village

Ha, look at her face.  She’s not smiling once I look at her.  She was like a cat when I came near, just checking me out and keeping a safe distance.  She jumped when she first arrived and unexpectedly found ferengi’s (foreigners) at the neighbors hut.

The view looking east. The small dark spots in the tree to the right are man made bee hives made of dung,wood, and grass. The honey is delicious.

Fast forwarding a few hours to the cooking of the goat.  The two older boys patiently show the young boys how to clean and prepare a goat for cooking and then they cook it until it is warm.  I like it rare but this was like body temp at the start. We kept at it until we were stuffed with goat and grain alcohol. The boys, as young as maybe 9, were splitting about 1.5 liters of hooch. I had a few sips but its a bit too much for me.

My hammock in front of the hut.  The stuff hanging from the trees are weaver nests, a very cool species of bird.

In the morning drinking tea with the family.

One of the younger boys shot this.  I love it. Actually this boy kind of imprinted on me and followed me everywhere.  He would imitate my words and smile ear to ear each time I looked at him.  He quickly determined that “OK” and “ishi” were the same.  He would stare at me and listen to me talk saying ” ishi, ishi” over and over.

I hope you enjoyed this small glimpse. Please feel free to checkout the other tribes of Omo Valley by clicking on “Omo Valley” to the right.

Note: I am writing this post trip

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