Altitude: 530 m. Population: 430,000. Distance from Addis Ababa: 790 km. This city - and this is not so common in Ethiopia - has its own charm and atmosphere. Although the prosperity that earned it its place as a commercial crossroads is a distant memory, and Gambela has long since returned to its isolation, there remains something moving in its faded architecture, and a kind of languor seems to have settled on the banks of the Baro River, awaiting better days.History. The birth of the town, at the end of the 19th century, was the result of a meeting of minds between two complementary interests. Settled in Sudan, which they were administering at the time, the British proposed to Menelik that a river link be established between western Ethiopia and Khartoum. Although the British project was ultimately aimed at developing trade routes to the heart of Ethiopia, and perhaps exploiting the region's resources, which were then thought to be abundant, it nonetheless met with a favorable response from the emperor. Anxious that his country's trade should not depend solely on the French-ruled port of Djibouti, and to rebalance trade towards the west of the continent, the sovereign finally granted a territorial concession to the British crown, which turned Gambela into a busy trading and customs post from the opening of the river line in 1907.From then on, the town lived to the rhythm of the steamboats that transported hides, wax and coffee to Sudan and from there to Egypt, bringing back salt, cotton and foodstuffs in their holds. The town grew to the rhythm of the cargoes, and attracted international merchants, including a majority of Greeks, who had their houses built alongside those of the British administrators. But the boom only lasted half a century. In 1955, unrest in Sudan led to the closure of the shipping line. The following year, the British withdrew from the region following the country's independence, and the enclave was handed back to Ethiopia. After this brief period of commercial prosperity, Gambela sank into an irreversible decline which, half a century later, still has no alternative. Today, the easing of the multiple conflicts that are tearing neighboring Sudan apart and the creation of South Sudan have enabled Gambela to become one of the gateways to the young state. The reopening of links with Khartoum is not on the agenda, and Gambela is still waiting to regain some of its former lustre.Today. The town can be explored on foot. The stroll takes in some of the old colonial buildings and the Anuak markets in the northern suburbs and the Nuer markets to the east. The tour ends in the muggy, soft evening light along the banks of the Baro River, where bathers, fishermen, washerwomen and simple strollers mingle near the decaying old port facilities. It's worth remembering that here, as everywhere else in the country, photos from (or over) the bridge are forbidden, just as it's advisable to be diplomatic with the local population, still unaccustomed to the solicitude of photographers. Gambela's only major tourist attraction is its large national park, teeming with wildlife but requiring a great deal of effort and patience to visit.Safety warning. The area around Gambela is not recommended for travel except for imperative reasons (orange zone) by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is formally inadvisable (red zone) all along the border with Sudan and South Sudan. This part of the country suffers from incursions by armed groups and high crime rates. Tourism is directly affected by this situation. Before travelling, it is essential to check the situation on the diplomatie.gouv.fr website, in the "Conseils aux voyageurs" section. The other constant and very real threat is malaria, which wreaks havoc during the rainy season in this marshy region, where the climate is conducive to the proliferation of mosquitoes. It is therefore essential to take the appropriate precautions for a stay in such an environment.Anuak and Nuer territory. Although many have settled in the cities, where they rub shoulders with the inhabitants of the highlands, the Anuak and Nuer, members of the dominant local ethnic groups, maintain a traditional way of life in isolated villages, which means you have to move away from the urban area if you want to get close to them. These purely Nilotic tribes, affiliated to the Nile peoples spread across Sudan, live in a sometimes tense coexistence in very close proximity. Their dark skin and slender stature are typical of the Nilotes of southern Sudan. In Ethiopia, they share with other ethnic groups of the same family a system of age classes and a strange ritual of removing incisors and canines from children's lower jaws. Considered an initiation rite, this practice may have originated in an attempt to prevent tetanus, which causes paralysis of the jaw and prevents the patient from eating properly.The Anuak. Primarily fishermen, the Anuak also practice rudimentary agriculture, providing them with corn, sorghum with which they prepare bordé, a traditional beer, and tobacco which men and women smoke indifferently in long water pipes called akoyo.Clans and lineages come together in villages of a few hundred souls, each an autonomous entity under the authority of a council of elders and a chief. The mud huts, grouped together in small family concessions, are decorated with animal motifs or esoteric symbols, and topped with thick roofs that go down very low to withstand torrential rains and keep the dwellings cool. Men and women adorn themselves with necklaces and bracelets of ivory and wood, and all display scarification marks as a sign of beauty and courage.The Nuer. Traditionally pastoralists, the Nuer maintain close ties with their livestock, to whom they dedicate poems and songs. Although the introduction of maize cultivation has somewhat altered the lives of these semi-nomads, the Nuer continue to move their villages with the swelling of the rivers which, in the rainy season, literally flood the pastures. For boys, the rite of passage to the adult caste consists, around the age of fourteen, of five to six horizontal lines of scarification on the forehead, cut right down to the cranial bone and indelibly marking membership of the clan. Women, who traditionally go bare-chested, sport decorative scarifications made up of multiple small blisters on the upper body. The importance of owning large herds can be seen at every stage of social life. In addition to constituting the main part of the dowry, the exchange of animals between the families of the suitors for union marks the various preliminary stages before the final acceptance of the marriage. Cows and zebus are also sacrificed to commemorate the deceased. Except in this exceptional case, the animals are not slaughtered for their meat, but it is not uncommon for the Nuer to take the blood from the jugular vein of the animal, which, mixed with the milk, is a common source of nutrition in times of famine. Spiritually, the Nuer believe in an invisible divine power whose intercession is channeled through an intermediary within the community, a sort of diviner-healer who is also "master of the spears", responsible for carrying out the sacrificial rites. This monotheistic conception facilitated the task of Christian missionaries (notably Protestants), who found "obvious" biblical correspondences in Nuer myths. As the new religion took root, nudity and scarification rituals were outlawed, gradually shaking the social foundations of this ethnic group. Divided between Sudan and Ethiopia, the Nuer are mainly concentrated between the border and the village of Itang, 50 km west of Gambela.

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