Indigenous weather and climate forecasting knowledge among Afar pastoralists of north eastern Ethiopia: Role in adaptation to weather and climate variability

Balehegn, Mulubrhan; Balehey, Selam; Fu, Chao; Liang, Wu

doi:10.1186/s13570-019-0143-y

Pastoralism

Research, Policy and Practice

Table 3 Season-specific bio-physical indicators of indigenous weather prediction by Afar pastoralists

From: Indigenous weather and climate forecasting knowledge among Afar pastoralists of north eastern Ethiopia: Role in adaptation to weather and climate variability

Seasons	Bio-physical indicators	Type of change observed	Period of observation	Prediction
Datrob	Animals	The insect locally called ka’a in Afar starts stinging animals and human beings	Last week of September	Datrob rains will start within a week or two.
Datrob	Animals	Camels continuously and repeatedly kicking their chest during browsing	Mid to end of September	Datrob rains will start soon. It is said that the camels kick their chest repeatedly in an effort to fend off the qarma insects, which are the most important indicators of the coming of datrob rains.
Konaytu	Stars	Five groups of stars called Malhino emerge in the east during early morning	Mid-October	Konaytu rains come after a week time or two.
Dababa	Sky	Misty sky observed	Early November	It will rain in Dababa.
Dababa	Tree	Acacia melifera (Merkaeto) trees blooms	Late October	There will be rains mid-November.
Deda’e	Sky	Misty sky	Mid to late November	There will be Deda’e rains early December.
Deda’e	Winds	The blowing of the woreru winds which blow from north to south	November	These very weak winds bring clouds and mist and cause showers during the Deda’e season.
Segum	Trees	Normal level of flowering of Dobera glabra (Gasraito)	February	Early starting and good rain in Segum
		Dobera glabra (Gasraito) with too much flowers and very deep green leaves	February	Dry Segum or Segum rains will fail.
		Flowering or blooming of Acacia senegal (Tikibleyta)	February	Good rains during Segum
		Flowering of Acacia melifera (Merkaeto)	February to early March	Good rains during Segum
		Flowering and deep greening of (Salvadora persica) Adayto	Feburary	Good rains during Segum
	Animals	The Kala nahra or the playing on the dirt and singing of foxes near settlements on early mornings	February	Good Segum rains
		The feather of the bird wadartailoli turns in to glossy deep blue colour	February to early March	Good rains during Segum
		The feather of the bird wadartailoli becomes pale and greyish	February to early March	Segume rains will fail or it will be to little rain
		Flowering of Ureyta or alloy species	February to early March	Good rains during Segum
		The Guma or the black male ostrich produced a deep mu-mu-mu sound throughout the day	February to early March	Good Segum rains coming
		‘Red ants’ going out of their nest in very large numbers	Early March	Good Segum rains coming
	Stars and sky	Emergence of triplicate hotali stars early morning in the East	Early March	There will be good Segum rains
		If the hotali stars appear as a single star or if not, all of them show up or shows up only in pairs	Early March	There will be drought during Segum
		A big lone star, called Kahima, observed in the east at around 4:00 AM early morning	Early March	Good Segum rains
		Dohora, a big ‘handsome’ star shows up in the west in the evening around 10:00 PM	March to April	Good Segum rains
		Dohora shows up in the east in the evening around 10:00 PM	March to April	Segum rains will fail
		A man milking a camel, with the camel standing east head and west tail, observes the lone kahima star over the shoulders of the camel, during camel milking early in the evening at around 7:30 AM	February and March	Good Segum rains
		Malhino stars, a group of seven stars showing up all at once	February and March	Good Segum rains
		When Malhino stars appear consecutively in pairs	February and March	Segum rains will fail or will be too little.
		Red coloured sky in the west early	Late January and February	Good Segum rains
		Coloured rings around the sun or moon	February	Good Segum rains
		Symmetrically full moon	February	Good Segum rains
		The crescent with its convex side looking towards east appearing around 10–11 PM in the evening	January or March	Limited rains in the Segume season
		The crescent with its convex side looking towards west appearing around 10–11 PM in the evening	January or March	Limited rains in the Segume season
	Winds	The Gilalta winds or the winds that blow during the Gilal, or hottest period, blowing from northern highlands to south into the Afar hinterland	November to February	There will be good Segum rains, according to the strength of the Gilalta rains. The stronger the wind, the better and the earlier the Segum rains. Stronger Gilalta winds may also cause earlier and steady Segum rains
	Winds	Burahtu, the wind of greyness or drought that blows from east to west	February	This wind is said to be able to disperse whatever moisture or cloud that is available and causes rains to fail during Segum
Karma	Tree	Flowering of Acacis tortillis (Eepto)	Late May and early June	Sure sign of good rain in the Karma season
		Flowering of Commiphora erythraea (Ado-Hadit) trees	End of June	Karma rains will continue beyond the point or time on which the tree flowers.
		Flowering of Commiphora spp. (Kurbita)	End of June	Karma rains will continue beyond the point or time on which the tree flowers
		Flowering of Adansonia digitata (Gabita)	End of June	Karma rains will continue beyond the point or time on which the tree flowers
	Animals	Camels standing and gazing for a long time towards the Afar hinterland and insisting on travelling towards the Afar hinterland and refusing to go towards the west or the highlands	Late May	Karma rains will come soon. The Afar justify that the camels want to go to the Afar hinterland, as they naturally detect that there will be lush browse soon after days, because of the rain they can smell
		Camels insisting on walking or travelling towards western highlands, even if they are led towards the eastern Afar hinterland	Late May to early June	The Karma rains will fail and this is said to make the camels to look for browse in the highlands, as they detect that there will not be rain in the lowlands
		Excessive foam production by camel, cattle and goats	Late May to early June	Karma rains will come soon. The excessive foaming is said to be caused by animals browse on the flowers of Acacia tortillis (Eepto), which cause a lot of foaming during regurgitation.
		Excessive singing of melodious song early morning by a bird called dadohoyta	Late May to early June	This will indicate that the Karma rains will come soon and they will be good.
		The feathers of Wadartailoli bird turn into glossy deep blue	Late May to early June	The Karma rains will be good.
		The feathers of Wadartailoli bird become greyish	Late May to early June	The Karma rains will fail.
		A bird species called Sae’tailoli starts following goats when they brow and go to rivers for drinking	Early to mid-June	Karma rains will come, or if it is already raining, it will continue to rain.
		The Kukueta bird start singing the koda or the milk churning song with a very smoothly flowing tone	Early June	The Karma rains will come and it will be good, with plenty of milk and milk-based food such as butter
		The kukueta bird either fails to sing the koda song, or when it sings it will be in a half hazard and very broken tone	Early June	Karma rains will fail.
		The coming out of ‘black ants’ from their nest and going in half hazard way and not in straight line	Early June	Drought or limited rains during Karma
		During the ant-rout experiment, the black ‘jump about’ ants avoid running or passing through artificial ditches	May and June	Good rains in Karma
		During the ant-rout experiment, the black jump about ants run or pass though the artificial ditches	May and June	Drought or failure of rains in the Krama
		Too many black beetles (dung beetles) collecting dung rolls	Early to mid-June	There will be good rains during the Karma season.
	Wind	Kuya, a wind that blows from west (highlands) to east in the Afar hinterland	Late May to early June	Karma rains will soon start.
	Wind	Strong silayto winds blowing, with a whizzing sound from the western highlands to the Afar hinterland Weak Silayto winds	May and June	Stronger winds indicate the coming of good Karma rains and weaker or no winds indicate no karma rains
	Stars, the sky and moon	Coloured rings around the sun and moon	May and June	Good Karma rains will start soon
	Stars, the sky and moon	Emergence of a symmetrically full moon	May	Good Karma rains will start soon

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