The Mursi, Ethopia

To Go or not to Go?

Tourism Concern’s Tricia Barnett travelled to the Omo valley and gives her take on the situation there.

For more than 20 years the uncomfortable situation between a remote tribe in southern Ethiopia, perceived as one of the last ‘wildernesses’ in the world, and the tourists who come to see the tribe has been recorded as being highly problematic.

There aren’t too many people who will want or be able to visit the Mursi in the South Omo area of Ethiopia, but for those who manage to, they’re in for an uncomfortable shock.

The Mursi women are known for the way some have had their lower lip pierced and stretched so that a clay plate can be inserted. Their lower teeth are removed as part of the process. As with the refugee Burmese Kayan women, whose necks are given an elongated appearance by the wearing of brass coils, this culturally unique form of body modification attracts tourists to see, stare and photograph.

The Mursi are pastoralists who herd cattle and grow grain. They live in a remote area of the Margo National Park and are in dispute with the park authorities over the ownership of the land and hunting rights over the few wild animals that continue to inhabit it.

Although traditionally the money economy and possessions were of little importance to Mursi culture, money from tourism can fend off starvation in times of drought when the women need to buy grain. However, the men use the money to buy the sub-machine guns that each of them carries. The remainder is often used to buy alcohol.

Tourists come from all over the world to visit the Mursi, encouraged by documentaries presented by hardy adventurers living with the tribe. Whilst I was there, so too were Mexicans, Taiwanese, Chinese and Europeans.

The Mursi whom visitors meet are dressed differently and behave differently than those Mursi who are unaffected by tourism. As the four-wheel drive parks in the shade in a village, dozens of Mursi of all ages dressed in eye catching adornments cluster around the vehicle and, without welcome or greeting, press tourists for money to take their photos. The price goes up to $1 for each picture and every visitor is hemmed in by pinching, poking, tugging people competing with each other as they demand that we take photos money.

Having travelled more than five hours from the nearest town, visitors stay for about half an hour and leave, fraught and distressed and, sometimes, scared by the intimidating sub-machine guns brandished by the men. There is no opportunity to have any reasonable human interaction.

Recently the Mursi have begun to charge $20 for each vehicle to park. The money I handed over to an elder for the community was snatched away before me by a Mursi militaman.

Clearly there needs to be a better way of managing the situation and there are many factors involved. But until it’s resolved, should we go? And should adventure documentaries be made that bring remote tribes and their lives into our homes?

 

Identikit

The Mursi people live in the lower Omo valley of south-western Ethiopia, 100 kilometres north of the Kenyan border. They number less than 10,000 and live within and between the Omo and Mago National Parks, which include most of their best agricultural and grazing land.
The boundaries of the parks were not agreed with local people and, to this day, have not been legally established. Hunting concessions in the national parks, the establishment of a mechanised cotton farm and increased competition for agricultural and grazing land have all led to inter-group conflict and growing threats to Mursi livelihoods. Drought has also made it difficult for many families to feed themselves by means of their traditional mix of subsistence activities – cultivation and cattle.

 
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