Travelling from Arbaminch to Turmi

We are at Arbaminch in Ethiopia, this morning we wake up early enough, we close our bags and give them to the man, who is already outside our door waiting for them.

We go have breakfast and wow, what a sight to see: the restaurant's terrace directly overlooks Lake Abaya, Lake Chamo and the mountain that separates them, that is called God's Bridge; last night at dinner it was already dark and we could not see this wonder, but today we have breakfast on the terrace admiring the two lakes.

We only made a technical stop at Arba Minch, our journey must continue Southwards; we will stop to visit this area when we return from the Omo Valley.

After breakfast we leave but we do not take the direct route to Key Afer, we go up the slope of a mountain and we reach up to 2,400 m.a.s.l.

From here you can enjoy an amazing panoramic view of Lake Chamo and Lake Abaya, too bad that there is a bit of mist, but it is wonderful anyway.

We are in the land of the Konso and we understand it from how many cows and goats are in the street; especially in the morning and in the evening when they bring the cattle to the pastures or they take them back to the village.

Along the way, we find many herds, some smaller, others more numerous; it's fun to take pictures of them, but sometimes there's no way to make them move off the road.

The road winds among the mountains, some of which have been entirely terraced by the Konso to be able to cultivate them, they are very scenic; the views are also spectacular.

We also see several traditional Konso villages, we will visit them when we return to Arbaminch, after visiting the South; today we just observe them from the street.

Some villages are very small, others are larger, the huts have a very pointed thatched roof and are surmounted by a terracotta skin; some wineskins are very simple, others have some decorative elements, such as, for example, handles or other, others instead are painted.

We would like to stop and learn more about this population, but we have to wait when we return here, and today we have to cover a lot of kilometers.

The road continues, in some places it is unpaved in others it is paved, sometimes it is in good condition but sometimes it is full of holes, that should be avoided together with goats, cows, donkeys and humans who often do not seem to care about cars passing in the street.

At one point, almost suddenly, we are faced with the spectacle of the bottom of the Rift Valley: wow what a treat!

The opposite escarpment can be glimpsed; here it is less extensive than where we have already seen it, both in Kenya and in Tanzania.

We go down along the escarpment and arrive at the bottom of the Rift Valley, here we are at 500 m.a.s.l.; well not bad as a drop today!

The road crosses the bottom of the Rift Valley and we, before following the road that winds through the rocks and continue our journey, leave the land of the Konso; see you when we come back.

Even today the road to take is not short but the landscape is very varied and therefore it does not weigh on us, even if our speed hardly exceeds 70 km / h.

At about 1.00 pm we arrive at Key Afar and go where there is a small bar; we have a lunch box, we sit at a table in the shade, we order a drink and have lunch.

Jimmy, our guide, brought us a delicious papaya, but when did he buy it? It's a mistery.
 

After having lunch and being relaxed a little, we get back in the car and leave, we will come back tomorrow to visit the weekly Key Afar tribal market.

We are heading to Turmi and, to get there, we have to cover a track of about 80 km; the bottom is beautiful, but it takes us about an hour and a half.

Along the way we meet several Hamer; these are their lands; both men and women walk by the roadside or, in the case of women, they bring wood, straw or other things, we also see some kids who lead cows and goats.

When we arrive we make a brief tour of the local Turmi market, it is small and there is not much in fact but it is always nice to see the markets; there are many women who still wear the traditional dress, as well as wearing the typical Hamer hairstyles.

The market of Turmi, compared to that of Key Afar one that we will see tomorrow, happens every day and usually tourists do not visit it because there are fewer people and it is less important; but we like it because of this, people come here just to do their shopping and it's nice to take a walk among the stalls and, while we're here, we buy some lemon for our tea, since they never have it at breakfast.

Our hotel is 1 km away from the town of Turmi, we arrive around 5:00pm; today was a busy day, we can't wait to take a shower and relax a bit.