Odds and ends from south Ethiopia

Here are some miscellaneous items, mostly photos, from south Ethiopia that I missed in my earlier posts.
Even with the crudest architecture, one can sometimes see creativity, as in this house/shop in the south:

This is the traditional type of dress found in the area of Konso, also in the south:

The area around Arba Minch (in the south) is famous for its bananas. They’re small, but very tasty, and they’re exported to many places.

Baboons also like the bananas, which is a problem for the locals. These girls are selling us bananas through the window of our car:

Moringa is a leaf that’s eaten in the south of Ethiopia. In fact, it’s a staple there, and it has medicinal properties. People can be seen carrying it, in large bundles, all over (the girl in front is carrying a bottle of local beer):

School kids carry small bundles of moringa over their shoulders, presumably for lunch. I’m sure that, prepared properly, it’s quite tasty. But Hiromi, Shun (my Japanese co-tourists in the south) and I tried some at a restaurant in Jinka, and it was so strong none of us could eat more than two or three spoonfulls. It almost tastes like spinach on steroids.
 

 
Honey is an important product all over Ethiopia. Here we see how it’s gathered in the trees:
 

Earlier, I mentioned the Dorze vendors selling their wares by the side of the road. Here’s a photo I neglected to include in that post:
 

 
According to my driver, it’s illegal to sell charcoal in the Rift Valley. The authorities don’t want people chopping down too many trees. Yet it’s sold openly all over, as we can see here:
 

 
Subsistence agriculture, using animal labor, is common all over Ethiopia. My guess is that the same is true over much of Africa.
 

 
Flooding must be a problem during the rainy season, so many roads have deep drains on either side of them, as we see here:
 

 
I couldn’t help but wonder how many people, and animals, have broken legs falling into those ditches, or how many vehicle tires have gotten stuck in them.
Common in the south are huge termite mounds. I’ve seen larger ones in Australia, but not as tall as these:
 

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the tallest termite mounds in the world.