Dorze Village, Ethiopia: Beehive Houses, Weaving, Kocho

A visit to Dorze takes half a day from Arba Minch. The village is about 30 kilometres up a winding mountain road in the Gamo highlands, around an hour by car. A local guide takes you into a family's tall bamboo house, shows how enset is turned into bread, and introduces you to weavers at their looms. With a full day you can add the market at Chencha, about 8 kilometres further up, held on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The Dorze are one of the Gamo peoples of the southern highlands. They are known across Ethiopia for two things: their houses, woven from bamboo and shaped like a beehive, and their weaving.

Names you will hear

Several tall domed Dorze houses with pointed thatched roofs in a sunny garden of flowering shrubs, with enset plants and trees behind — Beehive houses in a Dorze village.

Name	What it is
Dorze	The people, and the cluster of highland villages above Arba Minch. They speak Dorze, an Omotic language
Gamo highlands	The mountains west of Lakes Abaya and Chamo. The Dorze are one of more than 40 Gamo communities
Beehive house	The tall, domed Dorze house, woven from bamboo and thatched
Enset	The "false banana", grown for its trunk and roots rather than its fruit
Kocho	Bread made from fermented enset
Bulla	A finer enset product, from the liquid squeezed out of the kocho mixture
Shamma and netela	Hand-woven cotton cloth and shawls, the Dorze speciality
Chencha	The highland market town about 8 kilometres beyond Dorze

The beehive houses

Inside a Dorze house: smoke-darkened woven bamboo walls hung with round gourds, wooden chairs with hide seats along the walls, and a cooking pot on stones in the foreground — Inside a Dorze house. Photograph by Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A Dorze house is woven from bamboo into a tall dome and then thatched, so the finished house rises to a point. Guides often describe the front as an elephant's face, with two small openings near the top for eyes.

The height has a practical reason that visitors are usually told about. Termites eat into the base of the house over the years. When the bottom rots, the family cuts away the damaged section, lifts the whole house and sets it down again, a little shorter than before. Most accounts put the tallest houses at around 12 metres. Wikipedia notes that a house can last up to 80 years.

Inside, the woven bamboo walls are darkened by smoke from the hearth, gourds hang along them, and there are low wooden stools and hide chairs. You will usually be invited in. Ask before taking photographs inside, because it is someone's home.

Enset and kocho

A flat round of pale kocho dough spread on dried enset leaves and weighted at the edges with stones — Kocho, made from fermented enset, on enset leaves.

Enset looks like a banana plant, but its fruit is inedible. It is grown for its trunk and roots, which are an important food across southern Ethiopia. Around 20 million people use it, and it survives drought better than most cereal crops, which is why it matters so much in the highlands. The Gamo grow more than 100 varieties.

Kocho is made by pulverising the trunk and the flower stalk and fermenting the pulp. The liquid squeezed from the mixture settles over several days into bulla, which is sometimes eaten as a porridge. On a Dorze visit you usually see the preparation laid out on enset leaves in the yard, and then taste the bread. Our Ethiopian food guide covers the wider cuisine.

Little of the plant is wasted: the Dorze also use enset fibre to make things for the household.

Weaving

Hand-woven striped cotton shawls hung on bamboo rails and knitted hats on sticks along a hillside road, with the Rift Valley lakes far below — Dorze weaving for sale on the hillside, with the lakes far below.

Weaving is a main livelihood for many Dorze families. Historically, Dorze weavers made shamma cloth for the royal court, and Dorze cotton is still valued across the country. Many Dorze weavers moved to Addis Ababa and other towns, but the highland villages remain at the heart of the craft.

On a visit you watch cotton being spun and woven on hand looms into shawls, scarves and cloth. Pieces are for sale in the village, and buying directly from the person who made it is the most useful thing you can do with your money here.

Chencha market

A crowded open-air market on red earth at Chencha, with hundreds of people trading among goods laid on the ground and tin-roofed buildings behind — Market day at Chencha. Photograph by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Chencha, about 8 kilometres beyond Dorze, holds its market on Tuesdays and Saturdays. People walk in from across the surrounding highlands to trade, and the busiest hours are from mid-morning into the afternoon. Some tour operators also list a smaller Dorze village market on Mondays and Thursdays. We could not confirm those days independently, so check locally.

If your dates allow, plan the visit for a Chencha market day. It turns a half-day village visit into a full day of highland life.

Getting there and how long to allow

Dorze is about 30 kilometres from Arba Minch, up a steep, winding mountain road, around an hour by car. The road can be rough, and a 4×4 is recommended. The views back down over Lakes Abaya and Chamo are part of the trip.

Half a day covers a Dorze village visit with a guide.
A full day adds Chencha market and some highland walking.
An overnight, in simple community lodging, lets you see the highlands at a slower pace.

The highlands are much cooler than Arba Minch, so bring a warm layer. The dry months from October to March bring clearer views and easier roads. Our Arba Minch guide covers the lakes and Nechisar below.

Visiting respectfully

Dorze is a living community that welcomes visitors, and a few things make the visit go well:

Go with a local guide from the community. They arrange the visit with the family and explain what you are seeing.
Agree with your guide beforehand what the visit includes and what you will pay, so nothing is negotiated on a family's doorstep.
Ask before you photograph anyone, and accept a no.
Buy weaving and food from the people who make it.

Our responsible guide to the Omo Valley covers the same questions further south.

FAQ

What does a Dorze village visit involve?

A local guide takes you into a family's bamboo beehive house, shows how enset is prepared and lets you taste the bread, and introduces you to weavers at their looms. Most visits take half a day from Arba Minch.

How far is Dorze from Arba Minch?

About 30 kilometres up a winding mountain road, around an hour by car. A 4×4 is recommended, because the road can be rough.

Why are Dorze houses so tall?

Visitors are usually told it is about termites. They eat the base over time, and when it rots the family cuts away the damaged section and lifts the house, which ends up a little shorter each time. A house can last up to 80 years.

What is kocho?

Bread made from fermented enset, the "false banana" grown across southern Ethiopia for its trunk and roots. The pulp is pulverised and fermented, then baked.

When is Chencha market?

Tuesdays and Saturdays. Chencha is about 8 kilometres beyond Dorze, and the market is busiest from mid-morning into the afternoon.

Do I need a guide to visit Dorze?

Yes. Go with a local guide from the community, who arranges the visit with a family and explains what you are seeing.

Plan it with us

Dorze fits neatly into a southern trip, as a half-day from Arba Minch before the drive south to Konso and the Omo Valley. Tell us your dates and whether you want to catch Chencha market, and we will build it into your itinerary. You will have a reply within two hours and a detailed itinerary with a quote within 24 hours.

See the seven-day Omo Valley tour, read the Dorze and Chencha guide, or continue south to Konso.