NATIONAL PARKS SAFARIS ETHIOPIA

HIGHLIGHTS, WHERE THEY ARE AND HOW TO VISIT

ANIMALS OMO NATIONAL PARK, 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, all taken by ourselves. Our pictures not only show you the beauty of Ethiopia, but they also show that we have been everywhere when we researched all parks for the Ethiopian Wildlife Autharity, photographing wildlife, plants, people and culture. Read our PDF report to the Government on Parks an Culture! So why consider booking our our Ethiopia Culture & National Parks modules? Because only we combine the culture of Ethiopia with its nature. 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 Volcano? We let you know. Just drop us a mail info@nationalparks-worldwide.com  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 20 large parks accompanied by a conservation professional, not a mere guide. There is nothing similar on the market. Check out our tours in modules like: 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! Also: Ethiopia can be combined with other East African countries, we organize.

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

Read all about Omo National Park, inhabited by tribes: Surma, Mogudge, Dizi, Bume and Mursi, while home to lots of large mammals and hundreds of birds.

The tribal peoples are pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, who impact wildlife populations of the park. The park has no overnight facilities, but there is a hunting camp along the high banks of the Omo, in Murle, which 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:

ANIMALS & WILDLIFE ON OMO NATIONAL PARK TOUR, ETHIOPIA