NATIONAL PARKS SAFARIS ETHIOPIA

HIGHLIGHTS, WHERE THEY ARE AND HOW TO VISIT

ANIMALS & WILDLIFE ON OMO NATIONAL PARK TOUR, ETHIOPIA

THE BEST ETHIOPIA NATIONAL PARKS TOUR to Omo for seeing wildlife and animals is lead by our National Parks biologist who knows all the mammals and birds.

Omo National Park Tour

The Omo River divides the National Park from Mago National Park, being on the west and east bank respectively in the lower Omo valley. The 406,800 ha park is about 140 X 60 km with major landscape elements being the Omo River, the Maji Mountains and the Sharum, Lilibai  and Sai plains, as well as three hot springs.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Most of our hundreds of pictures are favored in Google! Why? Because no other website has so many beautiful high resolution pictures, taken by ourselves. Our pictures not only show you the beauty of Ethiopia, but they also show that we go everywhere, photographing wildlife, plants, people and culture. They show our professionalism, our keen eye for detail and our passion for the culture and nature of Ethiopia. So why consider booking our our Ethiopia Culture & National Parks modules? Because we don't mislead you like many tour operators do. When the Blue Nile falls are dry.... we tell you. When fog clouds the lava lake of Erte Ale? We let you know. Just drop us a mail and we will check it out for you.

Our tours take you to ALL famous cultural places of Ethiopia, and on top of that, you get to see up to 12 large nature reserves accompanied by a conservation forester. There is nothing similar on the market.

As Ethiopia can be combined with other East African countries, we organize tours in modules. Destinations Overview: Historical Circuit; Danakil Depression; Eastern Route; Simien Mountains; Bale Mountains; Southern Parks Safari; Gambella; Addis Ababa. BUT WAIT: if you buy your international ticket with Ethiopia Airlines, they will sell the internal flights at a price that you can't even ride the bus for. But you MUST plan it all in one package and making changes may be very costly. So let us help you plan your entire trip and book your local flights for an incredibly low price after you booked your international flight with Ethiopian Airlines!

As the park is crossed by a number of rivers lacking bridges, access is rather difficult and therefore little visited. While much of the park lies at about 800m, at the southern border it drops off to 450m, while the highest peak in the Maji Mountains is 1,541 m. The Omo River is bordered by thick stands of riverine forests and dense shrubs vegetation. The rivers are bordered with gallery forests, while away from the rivers, the plains vary from extensive open grasslands interspersed with woody savannahs and shrubland vegetation.

The park has well over 300 species of birds belonging to the savannah ecosystem as well as riverine birds along the rivers, such as herons and egrets, kingfishers, barbets, chats and thrushes, woodpeckers, pigeons, shrikes, warblers and flycatchers.

Inhabitants of Omo National Park

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. There are hardly any overnight facilities, but a hunting camp along the high banks of the Omo, in Murle, now serves as a basic safari Lodge. Even though the park's wildlife is depleted, it remains one of the more interesting national parks of Ethiopia for the combination of traditional peoples, basic wildlife and good birding.

Hardly accessible tracks provide the only access to the National Park.

As there is more water along the rivers, they are lined with gallery forests.

On more moist locations, the plains are covered with wooded savannahs.

Where water is less abundant, grassland savannahs cover the plains of the park.

The desert Rose, Adenium obesum, is a wonderful little tree whose trunc looks like a very small Baobab tree.

The beautiful flowers of the Desert Rose vary from dark to light pink. They bloom in September.

The succulent milkweed from the Dogbane family, Caralluma acutangula, is the darkest flower you will see in your life, being almost the tulip breeders ideal, a black flower. It occurs south of the Sahara from Senegal to Eritrea.

Another great flower is this bright red thistle, which also blooms in September

Burchell's Zebras in Omo National Park.

Giraffes are no longer present in Omo.

Lions, Leopards and Spotted hyenas are still present in the park.

African Buffelos 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 in Omo National Park.

Noisy Helmed Guinea Fowl (left) always run ahead of your vehicle. Vultures (right) are common everywhere in Ethiopia.

Not easily seen, Pythons (left above) are common predators on small hoofed animals and rodents.

The king of the river is the Hippopotamus.

One often sees African Spurred Tortoises crossing the grassland or roads.

A base camp facility for Omo and Mago National Parks provides basic amenities.

Resting at the base camp.

An Omo National Park Wildlife safari:

Ethiopia modernizes and changes more rapidly than any other country in Africa. Many features may not be there anymore in the near future. If you want to see it the way it was for thousands of years, see it now before it has changed forever! Compose your own once-in-a-lifetime Ethiopia-Africa-Adventure from our affordable modules:

Famous Ethiopia Historical Circuit

Simien Mountains trek or car visit

Danakil Depression and Erte Ale Volcano Expedition

Awash Babile Harar Safari Tour

Ethiopia Central and Southern Parks & Tribes Safari Tour

Bale Mountains National Park and Sof Omar Caves Tour

Gambella National Park Safari

Addis Ababa City Tour & Airport Transfer

All Ethiopia modules and prices together

We designed our itineraries in such a way that you can compose a 1 to 4 weeks journey from different modules that can show you the entire country or just the parts that interest you, all depending on your personal preferences, available time and budget. Email us on your interests and we can discuss a custom program with you by phone (we have phone lines from the USA and Europe) or skype. So, weather you have a great ethnic affinity, are a birdwatcher or want to go on safari, contact us and we work out a customized program that focuses on YOUR interests.

Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is home of Ethiopian Airlines, featuring Africa's youngest fleet of the latest intercontinental jet airplanes - including 2 Dreamliners - as well as short-distance Bombardier turboprops for affordable and reliable in-country flights servicing all major cities of Ethiopia. The best airline of Africa, will fly you non-stop from the USA and Europe to Addis Ababa. Take our 1-week Ethiopia Cultural Monuments Tour and then continue for your Kenya or Tanzania safari - or any other East African capital - thus completing your journey. IF YOU BUY YOUR INTERNATIONAL TICKET FROM ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, YOU WILL GET MOST INTERNAL FLIGHTS FOR $40 - $70 PER LEG! BUT CHANGING AFTERWARDS IS EXPENSIVE, SO WORK OUT A SCHEDULE WITH US TO GET A FABULOUS DEAL FOR FLYING THROUGH THE COUNTRY IN STEAD OF SPENDING ENDLESS TIME ON THE ROAD!!!

ANIMALS & WILDLIFE ON OMO NATIONAL PARK TOUR, ETHIOPIA