Alison M. Jones: Tours: Waters of Africa, Part 2

(Back to Part 1: Mt. Kilimanjaro & Kenya Wildlife)

The Waters of Africa, Part Two

Cultures on Ethiopia’s Rift Valley Lakes and Omo River,
and Kenya’s Lake Turkana, Chalbi Desert and Indian Ocean
A Photographic Investigation led by Alison M. Jones

Dassanech initiation ceremony in the Turkana Desert

THE centerpiece of this safari I led investigating The Waters of Africa was a 14-day trip for eight of us down the Omo River from southern Ethiopia to Kenya’s Lake Turkana. The Omo Valley had been populated by hominids for over 2.5 million years. For the last millenia, cultures here were unaffected by modernization as the Omo was isolated by inhospitable deserts. By boat and by land we visited the remote tribes of the Mursi, Hamar Koke, Nyagatom and Dassanech. We studied their ancient traditions such as bull-jumping and ceremonial dancing, their current lifestyles, and their future needs on the Omo, one of Africa’s longest rivers.

Plastic water bottles for sale

Some friends joined me before going to the Omo to visit the walled town of Harar in Ethiopia’s coffee country, Bale NP and Rift Valley lakes. Others joined me post-Omo in Kenya to visit a Chalbi Desert oasis and coastal Lamu Island.

Prior to departure, trip participants received a customized journal I created, titled “No Water – No Life.” It had maps, a reading list, questions to ponder and some of my continuing research on water’s life-giving value, its scarcity, and the current worrisome trends of privatization of water.

On the trip we probed for new insights and discussed issues of droughts and floods, desertification and water rights, and indigenous environmentalism. With wiser voices, hopefully we can positively contribute to the world’s debates on water.

Ethiopian shawls

Editors: if you’re interested in photo essays from this amazing trip!

Photo Collectors: I have great images from this trip – as I did in 2004 when I co-led “Waters of Africa – Part One”, flying a Cessna 210 from Nairobi to Cape Town over sub-Saharan Africa’s great rivers, lakes and deltas.

Visit my web gallery of Eyes of Ethiopia! to see aerial, cultural, wildlife and scenic images of Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana, S. Africa, Namibia.