Blog post part 1 of 2
Maji in South West Ethiopia doesn’t see many tourists anymore, but in the past it was a hub for tourists enroute to visiting the remote Suri tribe in the Upper Omo Valley, near Kibish. In recent years tourists mostly bypass Maji for the more direct route to their destination. This made it a great place to visit as it is no longer a “tourist spot”!
Maji is the home of the Dizi tribe
The Maji Woreda Zone in Southern Ethiopia is home to 98% of the Dizi tribe. They live in the relatively cool highlands where coffee farms thrive. To the south of them are the Suri Tribe.
coffee farms in Maji
The original plan was to visit Maji as my guide was born there and I wished to meet his mum and see where he was born and the family coffee farm. Due to deciding to stay longer at our previous location it meant one less night in Maji. However our time in Maji was an unforgettable one and I’m so glad I included it on the itinerary on our return from travelling from the Suri tribe on my Omo Valley photo tour.
Children running to see us as we explore the area where my guide grew up.
Maji, Ethiopia
I think you can obtain a greater understanding of someone when you hear their lifes challenges and hear some childhood memories. I was grateful to get an insight and am always honoured to be shown someones home. We explored the family coffee farm and learnt about coffee farming practises as well as meeting some of the super excited children.
Maji is in the Bench Maji Zone in Ethiopia and can get quite chilly at night due to it being 2430metres above sea level. This area is also where Gesha coffee is said to have been discovered. The coffee farms are beautiful and the beans often shaded by stunning forest canopy for healthy plants and beans. They are naturally grown without any chemicals or additives.
These men were creating a front door from a tree. I was told it was cheaper to pay these two men to create a door rather than buy one completed.
Great teamwork was needed and lots of muscles to create the planks of wood for the door.
After the coffee tour we return to our vehicle where this cool guy was next to our car.
we stayed in a remote building and used a donkey and cart to move our luggage
It is not ideal to camp in Maji due to the lower temperatures so we stayed in an old missionary building. Whilst there is a dirt track there, it is hardly a road for a car and whilst we have the best driver in the world the possibility of getting stuck (very sludgy mud due to recent rains) we left our car with the local police and walked to our accommodation.
We left our 4x4 with these friendly police officers in town overnight, while we walked to our accomodation.
The building we stayed in was old, but comfortable and had an outside toilet. In Australia we have to be careful of redback spiders in outside toilets, but the great thing about the Ethiopian toilets is that there is no seat for any spiders to hide!
This is the back door of the building which leads into the kitchen area with the outside toilet.
The landscape area was stunning…although I must admit I was so tired I can't even remember sunset. Although we did have a big campfire in the evening and we had another unforgettable night! Plenty of singing, games and laughter!
In the morning a donkey and cart helped with our bags to return to our car. Another experience unlike any other and the walk was beautiful.
This young boy was proud to show us his cattle that were secured in this shelter. His dad then came along and it was obvious how proud they both were.
Proud father and son with their cattle in Maji, Ethiopia
Follow on with my next blog post to read about my experience at the market in Maji and view more photos of the Dizi tribe…Part 2 of this 2 part blog post.
You can also see a video of my highlights in Maji on a previous blog post CLICK HERE.