The Flightplan
Ali, Nora, and their infant, Zane all from the UK joined Lia (Canadian) and I for the trip. I convinced Ali & Nora to join, without telling them about the bombings this year or the yellow-fever outbreaks in the rural areas. It was going to be neat for Zane to go to Africa and neat for Lia and I to test our ability to handle traveling with an infant. I had observed the creature previously and found it to be unique amongst its species: this child did not ever cry or scream or do any of that, just pointed at things and smiled. Also, it fast-tracked us through the airport security, check-in, waits at the Ethiopia Bank and customs.
It apparently had rained in Dubai, so there was a bit of traffic getting to the airport. Check-in was fine and we had a little extra space on the airplane, which was fortunate. I took my once-a-week Malaria pill which makes your blood inhospitable to Malaria. It also allegedly gives you funky, crazy dreams according to everyone who has ever taken them. You know what also makes your blood inhospitable to malaria? Alcohol. I'm just saying.
On the plane, the infant was silent (thank God) but this did not deter other creatures of the same species from making their screeching noises. Anyway, they were playing Christmas music while we waited for everyone to board. Ethiopian flights do not depart until everyone is on board, so takeoff was about an hour late. One funny thing that happened was a man that spilled his entire dinner all over the floor; then when he got up to throw away some of the stuff he'd picked up from the floor, he forgot to take off his headphones so he clothselined himself hahaha.
When we arrived, the weather was perfect (24°C/74°F) so we went shopping at the Mercato - the world's largest market just a stone's throw from our hotel in Addis Ababa. There was a whole lot of crap to buy, so I got a lot of really great stuff, including an interesting cross made of Ethiopian silver, which comes into the story later. We arranged our week of tours with NTO Tours which I highly, highly, highly recommend. Finally, we escaped the hectic, dusty capital city of Addis Abbaba into the park-like setting of Ghion hotel. Too bad we weren't staying there!
As Ethiopia is high in the mountains at the cusp of the great Rift Valley, the weather cooled off in the evening to a chilly 18°C/65°F. We decided it would be best to return to our hotel, the Adot Tina (a bit pricy for what you get and where you are). The Ethiopian calendar is seven years off of our Gregorian calendar. They also have thirteen months, hence the '13 months of perfect weather!' slogan. Therefore, since yesterday (Dec 3) was my birthday, Ali Nora and Lia threw me a makeshift twenty-first birthday party instead of a twenty-eighth!
EVERYONE is crazy about Obama. Obama signs everywhere. I don't care whether you believe in his message of hope; the people of Africa do, and it is meaningful. One man said that 'now America might be friends with us'. Over beers our driver was trying to articulate to me that with Obama there might be 'no fighting' and I filled in for him: 'World Peace'? And he said, 'I believe it is possible now'. Everyone was excited to talk to an American, and they feel like we now are their partners on this planet. In a country like Ethiopia, where Christians and Muslims, over 80 tribes, somehow live in a very peaceful environment, it is easy to believe the message that some kind of unprecedented harmony - 'it is possible now'.
Drive to Awash
On the second day, we departed for Awash National Park. NTO tours set us up with an incredible guide, T.T. who knew all about the Addis Ababa, and the cities that we would see en route to the park. He also knew everything about birds & birdwatching by which Ethiopia is considered a number one hot-spot for the activity. Leaving the core of Addis Abbaba required some off-roading, but improvements are underway. This was also an opportunity to see the sub-urban/sub-rural landscape around the city.
From Addis Ababa to Awash, we traveled through Akakee - Duconm - Jebal Zeyet - Mojo - Nazareth - Ookachiti - Metahara - Awash. We passed a lot of cylindrical typical huts, which are called 'Tukool'. As this is the rift land, we stopped at crater lakes such as Lake Mesaka.
We also stopped in Nazareth for tea and Lia and I sampled one of the many local beers, St George Beer. Nazareth, at 1800m, was renamed along with a bunch of other towns by King Haile Lasse to be Christian names.
Flora and fauna; land und leute all begin to diversify as you journey out and away from Addis Ababa towards Awash Naitional Park.
Awash National Park
At Awash, we stayed at a really cool compound. It was empty when we arrived, but two guys who were not French even though I decided they were, moved in next to us and downstairs a group came in. That night Lia and I went out and it was a bit shady, but of course perfectly safe - kind of a trucker's stop meets huts with little fires in front of them.
The first day at Awash we drove out to some amazing water falls. They were beautiful. The whole river system is really amazing - it's very short, from the Gugu Mountains to a dead end in a lake on the Djibouti River, the whole system is in eastern Ethiopia. We also saw a little bit of the wildlife including a Jackal that I thought was an Ethiopian Red Wolf. We saw some Oryx and a family of warthogs that we kept seeing everywhere.
On this first day, the conversation went something like:
- Me: Oh this rock has little black stripes with -
- One: Oh look a Lion just looking at us!
- Me: What? Where?! Where?
- One: Right there with the sun on his face, he just shook his mane! Look!
- Me: What? I don't see it where in the heck is --
- One: Oh he just went below into the grass you missed it!
- Me: ... Why does wildlife hate me?
The next morning was safari and hiking. It was a glorious morning in the Awash Valley and breakfast was wonderful in our little compound.
Safari Time! We saw Lion; Baboon; Oryx; Gazelle; Human; the Jackal (or Wolf maybe?); Monster Ant Hills (or maybe Dinosaur droppings?); the warthog family - and I don't mean our downstairs hotel guests, ooooh SNAP!; a million bird species; Wild Camels; giant Hare (not like me in the morning); and others.
Further along in the Awash National Park is a bar on the edge of a great vista of the Awash River. Way far down, we could see wild (?) camels walking around doing their thing. The breeze was great. At this point a group of Germans came and their guide had a high-power automatic rifle. Why didn't our guides have one? Also they had fat-tail sheep, like the ones from Tunisia. Remind me to tell you the story about the fat-tail sheep in Tunisia.
Bahir Dar
The next morning we flew to Bahir Dar, where we met our next, excellent guide, Adunya, who would spend the next two full days with us. We stopped for some breakfast at a cafe. It is typical to see this elephant grass spread on the entryways to cafes and also on the tables to make people feel more relaxed (maybe it is for good luck?).
We then got onto Lake Tana, which is basically the source of the Nile River. I did not see Livingston, but that's okay. We were in search of islands with monasteries on them. The lake was beautiful.
On the islands were monasteries, little museums, very old and oft restored paintings, full-time Christian monks, stone bells, and of course a feral cat or two for me to pet and play with and almost take home to Abu Dhabi with me.
On the way back from seeing four of these islands, each with a monestary, we saw some Hippopotumuses (Hippi?)!!!!! They were very shy, but a little curious. I wanted to swim with them, but that's how many people meet their death. Maybe I'll just watch from the boat. Plus the water is very murky, so who knows what kind of fish life is in it. Anyway, what a pleasant surprise to see these guys!
We went through town and had a blast. I got dehydrated and vomited everywhere for half the day, but I was not going to let that slow me down. We went to Obama Cafe.
That night, the power was turned off for electricity saving. Walking the streets at night was an amazing experience, with all the shanty huts everywhere with little fires or candles. We stopped into a traditional dance place and the singers and dancers were amazing. We sat there with only a lot of candles everywhere for light and watched. One of the songs the singers would sing a refrain then do a quick joke about someone in the audience or each other. The woman said (in Amharic) something about the other singer not quitting his day job, etc. Then they came round to us and she sang something which Adunya translated for us, about 'the white people have come to bring us their morals'.
Blue Nile Falls
The next day was spent hiking around Blue Nile Falls. For some reason my camera deleted all of these images (don't ask me) As soon as I get some pictures from Ali's camera, I'll add those. It was just STUNNING. But you'll have to take my word for it for now..
UNESCO 7th Century Churches
The family was a bit tired, so Lia and I shot out to see some old churches. The drive out to this UNESCO World Heritage site is scenic and passes nearby Kava where the first coffee was cultivated in the world only about 400 years ago (if you can belive that!) We also passed by where they were setting up some market for the next day. In one of the towns (probably Agere Hiwet) we stopped to have some Honey Wine. It was a tiny town, so we were quickly the largest attraction in town and surrounded by about a hundred people just watching Lia and me drink Honey Wine. Children imitated our actions, etc etc.
Carved in granite, the legend is that these monolithic and semilithic churches were constructed in about a quarter of a century in the 600s. The purpose was to have a permanent structure that couldn't be destroyed by razing. There are some amazing ones out at Lalibella, but we only had time to visit one of them at the first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pretty cool. This is the Church of St Mary, and there's a tree here somewhere that was planted when the church was built. The site is surrounded by huts for people visiting, though the church is used by regular attendees.
I made a lot of really funny jokes, such as 'Oh yeah, I definitely won't take all this hard work for granite.' Get it? Granite = Granted! HA HA HA HA HA okay.
Return Home
The return was fairly un-eventful; EXCEPT at customs they almost didn't let me through. It turns out that the cross that I bought is real Ethiopian silver and it belongs in a museum. I went back and forth with them, telling them that there's no way, because I didn't pay a lot for it, but they wouldn't listen. In the end, the customs guy said that he couldn't take it from me, but he asked that I turn it in to the proper authorities. I will research where it belongs and send it that direction. After I show it off a bit.
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