Hamar Bivouac

specifically to visit the Hamar tribe

Set in a remote position on the eastern banks of the Omo River, Hamar Bivouac is an extremely simple satellite of the superb Lale’s Camp to the north.

The bivouac is used, usually for just one night, to enhance the quality of the interaction with the local Hamar tribespeople.

Activities

Based around the town of Turmi, the Hamar tribe is an Omotic community that numbers around 50,000 people. They are largely pastoralists, with a culture that attaches a very high value to their cattle.

The Hamar are renowned for their body decoration, moonlight dancing and bull jumping ceremonies.

The bull jumping is an extraordinary rite of passage in which young men leap over a line of 10 to 30 bulls, four times, completely nude. If they complete the task without falling, they are deemed to have become warriors.

A worthwhile visit to the Southern Omo Valley is expensive. Not only are the flights up and back costly, but the Lale’s Camp itself is only available for exclusive use.

It also requires a good deal of time. The bare minimum stay is 3 nights, but if you want to combine with the bivouac camps and really get the most out of the experience, then you need to think about 5-7 nights.

In other words, it’s quite a commitment.

Seasonality

The best time to visit the Southern Omo Valley is generally considered to be the Nov-Mar dry season.

The area has a subtropical highland climate, with pleasantly warm to hot days and warm to mild nights.

Peak daytime temperatures tend to be around 26C/80F, although can rise to 30C/86F, with Jan-Feb having the potential to be particularly hot and humid. Nighttime temperatures usually drop to a comfortable 12C/54F.

The main rains fall during Apr-Sep, peaking in May-Jul when precipitation can reach 200mm/8″ per month, which is pretty high.

Cultural celebrations (such as the Hamar bull-jumping ceremony) can happen any time of year and are very difficult to predict far enough in advance to arrange trips around.

Getting there

The best way to reach the Southern Omo Valley is to charter a flight into one of the dirt airstrips close to the river, which gets you right into the heart of the area without any hassle, but which is inherently expensive.

It is possible to fly on scheduled air services into the village of Jinka, from where it is about 2-3 hours drive down into the core areas along the river.

The vast majority of budget trips drive down from Addis Ababa to the Eastern Omo Valley, taking a couple or more days travelling down the Abyssinian Rift Valley, through Arba Minch and Konso, before arriving into the area via Turmi. Unfortunately coming in this way exposes you to the worst abuses of cultural tourism and is not something we recommend at all.

We do occasionally drive all the way down to the Southern Omo Valley, taking the remote back routes via the little-visited reserves of Chebera-Churchura and Maze, although these do tend to be rather long and specialist trips.

mainly features in longer explorations of southern Ethiopia