Coffee is favored drink around the world. However, it is especially loved in its place of origin. The coffee plant has played a major role in Ethiopian life for hundreds of years. During the celebration of Ethiopian Millennium, the national Millennium celebration committee, led by late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi emanated the idea to commemorate the Ethiopian Millennium with laying some concrete evidence that to be traced for the upcoming generation.

It is the first natural, coffee specialized museum in the country found in Kaffa Zone, Bonga town, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region. Then following the decision by the Council, the then president of Ethiopia, Girma Woldegiorgis, placed a cornerstone on an event that marked the celebration of the Millennium on June 29, 2007 in Bonga.

The museum building that has rested on 2,826sqm is the third specialized museum in the country after the Ethiopian Postal Museum and the Martyrs Museum and it is the biggest in Africa in terms of the area it covers. It is also claimed to be the first to specialize on natural entity. This museum is used as a center for research on coffee Arabica and other plants associated with coffee. It also serves as a guide for the visitors.

It was established in 2002 E.C, in Karat town, Konso Zone, with the aim of preserving waaka and as research center. According to the information obtained from the Zone Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport, the museum preserves waaka, which constitute the main body of the collection. In 1996, some 200 Waakas were recovered from the black market while they were being taken out of Konso. Nevertheless, their original owners refused to take them back because waaka may not be re- erected. For ten years these Waakas were kept in the Konso cultural Office until it was decided to create a museum so that they could be exhibited.

Besides waaka, in the museum, there are ethnographic objects, traditional farming tools and photographs that are associated with konso people way of life. The museum is open for visitors from Monday to Friday during working hours.

It is found in the diversified South Omo Zone, which is home to 16 ethnic groups. The center is found in the zonal capital Jinka 705 kms away from Addis Ababa, situate in more than12, 650 hectares 2500 meters above sea level at a panoramic site that shows the town. The compound of the center is decorated with fresh air, attractive flowers and indigenous plants.

South Omo Research Center is working on collecting and developing the clothing, tools and other properties of the South Omo Zone as heritages. It is playing its own role in further research works on the culture development and makes these heritages and culture possible to be visited by domestic and foreign tourists.

The museum has three sections. The first is the reception room and the place in which materials for sale are available. The other is audiovisual room, the place in which documentary films and photographs about the ethnic groups in the zone. The museum is always open for you at public holidays and from Sunday to Sunday. The entrance fee is fair.

 

An interesting site to visit is the Open Air Museum. Perched on a hill with a wonderful view over the valley and the town of Bonga, it takes visitors on a journey to the past, when the kingdom of Kafa was at the peak of its power. The reconstructed palace of the last Kafa King, Gaaki Sherecho, forms the heart of the museum. It is built according to the drawings of the   testimonies of old Kafa people. In addition to the reconstructed palace, the Open Air Museum also shows typical houses of each of the woredas that are part of the Kafa Biosphere Reserve.

Where to find the Open Air Museum: From the information center uphill, past the roundabout. First junction behind the school to the right, all the way up to the mountain top (ca. 1.5 km).