- Try your hand at weaving a shawl
- Visit bamboo craftsmen and learn how they make Dorze's unique beehive-shaped huts
- Take a guided cultural walk to experience pottery making, beer brewing, enset (false-banana) bread production and apple-picking
- Admire the spectacular views of Lake Abaya, more than 1,700 m below the village
The people of Dorze are Ethiopia's most admired weavers. They craft colourful gabbis (robes) and netelas (shawls) as well as fine baskets, pottery and leatherwork. Here, the staple food is enset (false-banana) bread, although they also grow cabbage, spices and tobacco.
The Dorze are also famed for their unique wajja (beehive-shaped huts), which they make from woven bamboo, with enset leaves providing the roof thatching. These huts can be up to 10 m tall, yet are light and can be easily picked up and moved if termites invade the area. Incredibly, these wajja last 40-60 years and their spacious interiors are partitioned into separate living rooms, bedrooms, and areas for cattle.
Today, there are around 6,000 Dorze people, who speak a language from the Omotic family. They are believed to have emigrated to their highland area at least 500 years ago. Most now practice Orthodox Christianity.
