Omo National Park Ethiopia

One of Ethiopia’s largest and richest nature sanctuary and yet one of the least visited areas in East and Central Africa. Located on the west bank of the Omo River, the park covers approximately 4,068 square kilometers, about 870 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa. The Mago National Park is located on the eastern bank of the Omo River. Although an airstrip was recently built near the park headquarters on the Mui River, this park is not easily reachable.Both parks can offer incredible spectacles of Big game. Both have the merit, also, of being far from the beaten track and virtually unexplored, and thus are places in which game can be seen in a truly natural state.

Most easily accessed from the town of Jinka, Mago National Park is mainly savannah, with some forested areas around the rivers It was set up to conserve the large numbers of plains animals in the area, particularly buffalo, giraffe, and elephant. Also seen here are topi and lelwel hartebeest, as well as lion, leopard, Burchell’s zebra, gerenuk, and greater and lesser kudu. The birds are also typical of the dry grassland habitat, featuring bustards, hornbills, weavers, and starlings. Kingfishers and herons feed in and around the Neri River, which provides an alternative habitat.

Although adjoining Mago, the large and beautiful Omo National Park has been hardly visited in the last two decades, as getting there has been so difficult. The only access to the park is via Omo Rate, by ferry to the west bank of the Omo River, and north to the border settlement of Kibish, where an unmaintained seventy-five-kilometer (46-mile) track leads to the Omo Park headquarters. However, the long-neglected route from Mui River up to Maji, tenuously linked to the town of Jimma, is being worked on. When this road is passable, a drive from Jimma – besides being extremely interesting in itself – will bestow the reward of visiting this truly wild and untamed area. There is virtually no tourist infrastructure within the park and little support for travelers.

The Omo and Mago parks are extensive wilderness areas and wildlife can be prolific: large herds of eland and buffalo, elephant, giraffe, cheetah, lion, leopard, and Burchell’s zebra. Lesser kudu, lelwel hartebeest, topi, and Oryx are all resident species, as well as deBrazza’s and colobus monkeys and Anubis baboon. The 306 bird species recorded include many that will be familiar to East African visitors.

The lower reaches of the Omo River were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, after the discovery (in the Omo Kibish Formation) of the earliest known fossil fragments of Homo sapiens, which have been dated circa 195,000 years old.

Size of Omo national park Ethiopia

The park covers approximately 4,068 square kilometers, about 870 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa; across the Omo is the Mago National Park.

Location of Omo national park Ethiopia

Omo National Park is a national park in Ethiopia founded in 1980. Located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region on the west bank of the Omo River

How to get to Omo national park Ethiopia

The Lower Omo Valley lies some 800km from Ethiopia’s modern capital Addis Ababa. Tours to this region will usually see you taking an hour’s flight to the nearby towns of Arbaminch or Jinka, from where the tribal villages are a few hours’ drives. Alternatively, you can reach the valley overland from Addis via the beautiful Bale Mountains.

Things to do in Omo national park Ethiopia

Wildlife encounters

Lions, Leopards, and Spotted hyenas are still present in the park. African Buffalos in Omo National Park African Elephants still pass through the park. Being one of the most common hoofed animals in the parks, the Wart Hog can be seen frequently. The Nile Lechwe Gazelle can still be seen in Omo National Park large variety of wild animals including Eland, Oryx, Burchell’s zebra, Lelwel Hartebeest, buffalo, giraffe, elephant, waterbuck, kudu, lions, leopards, and cheetah.

Birding safaris

Noisy Helmed Guinea Fowl (left) always run ahead of your vehicle. Vultures (right) are common everywhere in Ethiopia but a lot of raptors like vultures, eagles are attracted during the dry season and it can be a great place to see birds

Cultural encounters

The park is inhabited by quite a few tribal people: Surma, Mogudge, Dizi, Bume peoples, and the Mursi crossing the Omo River from the east. Being pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, these people have a severe impact on the wildlife populations of the park and in general, the wildlife populations are severely depleted.

The Omo River

The Omo River tumbles its 350-kilometer way through a steep inaccessible valley before slowing its pace as it nears the lowlands and then meanders through a flat, semi-desert bush, eventually running into Lake Turkana.

Since 1973, the river has proved a major attraction for white-water rafters. The season for rafting is between September and October when the river is still high from the June to September rains even though the weather is drier.

When to visit Omo national park Ethiopia

The best time to visit Omo Valley is at the end of June through September or from November until early March. October tends to have slight rains that may at times hinder accessibility. Temperatures in the Omo Valley range between 14°C and 41°C over the course of the year, with the hottest months of the year being June, July, and August.

Where to stay in Omo national park Ethiopia

Lela’s camp and the fly camps nearby. Lela’s camp is a luxury tented camp set up near the Omo River. The camp gives exclusive access to otherwise inaccessible regions of the Omo, and the accommodation is better and more exciting than the usual lodges. Only a few operators can access the camp, so staying here costs significantly more than staying at the standard lodges.

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