History of Dorze Lodge
When owner Tsehai Bogale (born in 1970 in Jinka and raised in Arba Minch) was a youngster he visited the Dorze community many times. He kept coming back, made good friends, contributions and became one of them. He knew about the existence of the land for a long time and always dreamed of making a lodge on top of the cliff. This was an excellent way to help the local community and bring travelers in contact with the great traditions of the Dorze community.
Tsehai at the beginning of his career worked for an Irish NGO on several water projects in the Omo valley and around Arba Minch. After this he was a transporter for coffee from the other side of the lakes. By coincidence he met tourists who were stuck in Nechi Sar Park. This planted the first seed to start in tourism. Tsehai has travelled many times with guests to Omo valley. This is a great experience as Tsehai has great knowledge of their culture. He also speaks fluently their language, what makes visit with him an unforgettable experience.
Our site manager Getu was born in 1993 in the local Dorze community. He went to a local school and learned there English. After school, he was selling scarfs and other local handicrafts to visitors. Tsehai realized that there is more potential in Getu, so he offered him a job in 2011. Getu proofed to be very loyal, smart and hardworking employee, so after some time he was hired as the site manager for Dorze Lodge. Have we already said that we are a truly community-based-tourism lodge?
The construction on Dorze Lodge started in 2007. There were very limited resources available. All the money that Tsehai earned with providing touring services was spent for the lodge. And step by step Dorze Lodge was being built. The first tourists arrived in 2010.
At this time, there were only 6 traditional huts available. The beautiful spot on the cliff was kept free for the future when possibly more funds would available. After some time, we built one traditional family hut on the cliff with the beautiful view.
In end of 2012 the restaurant was struck by a big fire and it was burned almost completely. It was very hard to recover from this. With limited resources the building was renovated. But, the place deserved more than this temporary solution.
In 2016, there came some funds available to renovate the lodge and build new huts. In October 2016, the rebuilding started. Many people (mostly local) worked so hard to establish what you see now. On our website, you can find pictures of this project. You cannot believe how much effort was put into that by mostly the local community.