Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia [ጅማ አባ ጅፋር]

 [@ Djibouti Port]

Jimma is one of the zones of the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. Jimma is named for the former Kingdom of Jimma, which was absorbed into the former province of Kaffa in 1932. Jimma is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, the northwest by Illubabor, on the north by Misraq Welega, and on the northeast by Mirab Shewa; part of the boundary with Misraq Shewa is defined by the Gibe River. The highest point in this zone is Mount Maigudo (2,386 m). Towns and cities in Jimma include Agaro, Genet and Saqqa [Reference : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimma_Zone]

Abba Jifar Palace June 2011

Picture taken from Jimma Museum

Moti Abba Jifar II was King of the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma (1878–1932)

Abba Jifar II a member of the Oromo people, the son of Abba Gomol and Queen Gumiti. He had several wives: Queen Limmiti, who was the daughter of the King of Limmu-Ennarea; Queen Minjo, the daughter of the King of Kaffa; and Queen Sapertiti, also from Limmu-Ennarea

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abba_Jifar_II]

        Mostly I plan my visits so it could be economical and today I will share how I manage to go to different places with least cost possible. As I said previously my objective is to inspire those of you who think that money is a barrier to travel. Of course you need money to travel but you can travel if you save for a year or two depending on your income. The only problem we have is that we don’t have the culture of planning at all. Hence, when you want to do anything its seems impossible. So please just  try a little and you will see what you can do, how about you do some reading about the area you leave  in and  things to do or see in the vicinity? Believe me there is a lot we don’t know about the things to do in the city you leave.

I like meeting people and maintain contact with all my friends, colleagues and any one I met along. So while checking on friends or colleagues I will get the information that some of them have traveled out of Addis for work or for business so I will ask if they are going to stay for a while, whether they are going back to the place again, then I will do my research on the exact place they said they have traveled or moved and squeeze my plan towards them. Hence I planned my trip for June 2011 G.C.

My trip to Jimma is a good example of for the point I mentioned above. A good friend of mine joined Jimma University as an instructor, as I told you I mostly keep on checking on friends and if there is anything new. So one day I called him we talked and I learnt that he was on semester break.  So I bought my ‘Salam Bus’ Ticket  and I went to Jimma.

Gibe bereha'[ጊቤ በረሃ] June 2011

I had an amazing view starting from the morning sunrise as the bus leaves Addis Ababa; we stopped by at welkite for branch. After couple of hours we headed in to the ‘Gibe bereha’ after we passed several villages and cities we arrived at Jimma safe and sound.

June 2011

City view from Abba Jifar Palace [Yifru]

Jimma Cinema

I met my friend and we walked around for a while and we had our dinner then we called it a day. The next morning after we had our breakfast we went to piazza, there is this famous café at the corner and their macchiato is a killer! So we had this amazing macchiato then we head to the museum which is about 10 min walk from the café.  We leant that some of the souvenir and equipments of the Aba Jifar have been moved from the Palace to the museum for convinces. And there are also souvenir and cultural equipments’ which describe the cultural heritages of the region in general. In the afternoon we stopped by the cinema hall and we visited the Jimma University as well.

City Square

Jimma museum 

 The next morning we went to one of the restaurant around the campus and ordered some food to go. After we carried our food and water we started walking to the great palace of Aba Jifar, which is about 5 Km from the gate of Juma University. We walked through the villages around and feeling the fresh breeze. After we visited the compound and the palace of Abba Jifar we took our lunch, we sat for a while wondering the view and the calmness of the area. Finally we started walking back to the university.

Wooden case used to carry clothes
 kept in the Palace[June 2011]

Bed of Abba Jifar found in the Palace
kept in the palace[June 2011]

It was quite a great time I had on my stay at Jimma. Centeral Hotel,’ ዝናሽ ጠጅ ቤት’ are quite a nice place I saw on my stay.   One of  the things  I love most about traveling is that you get to see and interact with the people leaving there, and they will show you places to see, eat , and go to as an outsider to their town and if you are wise enough you will get very useful information by going to the places they like most. Eat with them, drink and play with them then you will learn a lot. It’s not how fancy they are or not but when you give credit to them, and to the things they do, they will feel at ease and tell you many things before you even ask them.

Thank you for your time. I hope you had some insight, please send me your feed back, comment or any question and share it if you find it helpful.