Ethiopia and the Omo Valley

We left Kenya and entered Ethiopia and headed towards the Omo Valley. The country is surprisingly green and as it is densely populated, a lot off the land is cultivated.

 Terraced fields along the road side.

 Grazing land.

 A traditional meal for four people with injure, a type of soar bread fermented and made from maize.

 We visited a market, this is the livestock section.

 The Omo Valley is home to more than a dozen distinct tribes, each with their own language, culture, beliefs, clothing and hair styles. We visited a Morsi village, whose women wear lip plates in their bottom lip but I didn't get any photos. But I did get this one of a Tsemay woman.

 The open market.

 Everything was colourful.

 This is an unmarried Hamer woman.

 We stayed the night in a Hmaer village. One of the huts.

 They brand their animals so everyone knows which animal belongs to which family.

 This is Starbucks Hamer style.

 The cup is half a pumpkin.

 Goats inside a compound. They are herded into a compound to protect them from predators.

 This is the entrance to Adadi Mariam rock hewn church. This is the only rock church outside Lalibela and the last one to be built by King Lakibela in the 11th century.

 Steps down to the church which is carved from the rock.

 Another set of stairs leading down.

 Inside the church, one of the walkways on the outside of the church.

 The first area for the congregation.

 Entrance to the inner sanctum where communion is taken.

 Another general view.

 And on our way into Addis Ababa, I caught this piece of history at a junction.

Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.

Over the Uganda border is Rwanda and more beautiful scenery, deep valleys and towering mountains.

 First stop was the Kigali Genocide Memorial to remember the hundreds of thousands wh were massacred in just three months. A very moving experience.

 The eternal flame.

We didn't stay long on Rwanda before crossing back to Uganda and we stopped for a few days at Jija where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria. A view from the campsite over the Nile.

 I took a water taxi to get to the other side where there are some stables. A view from the river of one of the many hotels overlooking the Nile.

 Me on a horse.

 Some of the scenery that we rode through.

Another one of me with the Nile in the background.

We crossed back into Kenya and had a safari in Lake Nakuru National Park. We had only just driven in and we found a rhinoceros but it photo shy and kept walking away from us, hence the odd angle.

 In 2025 there had been some tectonic activity and the level of the lake rose and flooded the shoreline by more than an extra two metres.

 Hence some of the buildings have been abandoned.

 But it doesn't bother much of the wildlife.

 Another flooded building.

 A crane.

 A pelican.

 A baboon. We stopped the car and they just played around us for half an hour before we moved off again.

 A hippo out of the water. They suffer from sunburn hence they spend a lot of time in the water during the day so it is unusual to see them grazing during the day. This particular day was overcast so less sunburn potential.

 A malibu stork.

 Pelicans.

 Flamingoes.

 Warthogs.

 Eland.

 Giraffe.

 Cape buffalo.

 Mahalia Falls inside the park.

 After Naguru, we reached lookout over the rift valley with the valley behind me.

Greetings from Africa

After seeing the gorillas, I crossed the border into Rwanda but since then I have not had adequate wifi so have been unable to post. Back in Uganda, they have introduced a social media tax and you need a local phone and an Airtel Money account to pat the tax so no posting from Uganda.

I crossed back into Kenya but unlike the southern part of the country, it is mainly a wilderness and sparsely populated and no internet, Even phone reception was poor in places and not cheap.

Crossing the border into Ethiopia didn't improve things. There is only one telecom provider which is run by the government and guess what? band width is thin and slow...and you have to pay so I am still not able to post a photo but at least I can say that I am still here!

I spent some time in the Omo valley, home to more than a dozen tribes and whilst you may not recognise the names of the tribes such as the Morsi, you will recognise them as they wear lip plates in their bottom lip.

It is my last full day in Addis Ababa and tomorrow I will be going north to Laibela to see the rock down churches and on to Gondar and the Simian Mountains. I will post some photos as soon as I get some bandwidth.