SHAPPE AND LAGA HARRO ROCK PAINTINGS

Shappe is the most impressive of the prehistoric rock carving sites in Dila, but nearby Laga Harro is also worth a combined visit. Located in an unmarked wilderness area, a guide is essential to get there. You'll find one at the Oromia District Office, 7 km from Dilla near the village of Guangua on the Shappe road. It's also here that you must pay an entrance fee per car. Negotiate a guide for two or three sites while you're at it, as the stones don't speak for themselves and the road to Shappe is complicated. The centerpiece of this site of prehistoric engravings is a fresco depicting seventy cows in motion at the edge of a cliff and a river. Partially destroyed, it is thought to be between three and five thousand years old; it's hard to say, as it hasn't revealed all its mysteries and, to tell the truth, no one has looked into it until now. It is, however, unique in that the drawings have a singular style, with small heads, large horns and large udders full of milk. In 2000, local archaeologist Gizachew Abegaz discovered two new, equally mysterious engraving sites nearby. These include Laga Harro, which features six engraved cows and two human figures, one with a penis cover and the other jumping above the cows as during the Oukouli ceremony among the Hamer in the Omo Valley.