Blogs from Bahir Dar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 2

ETHIOPIA...The Fountain of Youth. Travelling in exotic locations...I get thirsty. Thirsty for adventure...for raw experience of life...on paths less travelled...that captures my imagination...inspires my soul. But will I have enough years left in me to visit the many places on my "Wish List"..? You hear about crackpots extoling the quest for eternity...any attempt to beat the aging process...using scam tea remedies, special anti-wrinkling cream, herbal potions...even face lifts. But I...not being a crackpot...well...I try to be more scientific. Accordingly, now I am in Ethiopia heading for Enlightenment at the Timket Festival in Lalibela...I might as well take the opportunity to address my age limitations in the process..! I thus begin my search for "The Fountain of Youth"...and I reckon ...some of these Ethiopian Saints...might well help me..! ... read more

Arriving in Bahir Dar, after a perhaps too eventful minibus ride from Gonder (complete with a little fender-bender), I felt like I had arrived in a tropical paradise. Although still the Ethiopian highlands, Bahir Dar is a bit lower (less than 2000m!) and there is a greater lushness to this lakeside town. There were even palm trees to complete the picture. So different from the brown landscapes of the dry season in the other parts of Ethiopia that I had visited! Bahir Dar is on the southern shore of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia and generally considered to be the source of the Blue Nile (though there are those who would argue that there are springs that pour into the lake – so it is not really THE source). I took a certain smug ... read more

My tour leader says I need to arrive 2 hours before a domestic flight which seems crazy to me, but luckily he arranged my pick up for 5am as the airport is chaos. Before being allowed near the building, I need my ticket and passport checked. Before entrance to the check in area, all bags need scanning, shoes and belts off etc. That is a complete bundle and the usual routine is for Ethiopians to wheel their trolley up to the door, unload their bags inside and continue to scanning. When I get there, there are 4 trolleys blocking the door and no-one can get in, ridiculous!! After scanning, the queue system doesn't work any better for check in. I think I'm queuing as normal, but then I see many people ahead of me that were ... read more

Poor Susi didn't even talk to me for a day, well, - as I only woke up in the afternoon after a pretty drunk night out- for half a day, as I cancelled our trip to Debre Libanos at 6 in the morning in a text message. But, as always, not planning and going with the flow works out very well at the end :) We met Teddy and Teddy some weeks earlier at Bailamos. Typical Zsuzsi situation: I was bagging for one more last song from the DJ, and Teddy, his friend was just laughing at me...hope it was only because I asked for Beyoncé.... :D Anyways they drove us home, 13 people squeezed in a Land Cruiser... By coincidence we met again at the Goethe Institute at a very exciting photo exhibition. Young local ... read more

Lake Tana, the Blue Nile and Hippos Stuck Stuck Tuk Tuk We are near the end of our tour now. We should be flying to Addis Ababa this morning but our flight is cancelled and we choose to stay in Bahir Dar and try to reschedule things. Myself, Clarry and Jane are scheduled to go on from Addis Ababa to Harar tomorrow and we are not looking forward to the 13 hour drive after the flight to Addis! Jane has come up with the idea of getting an internal flight to the nearby city of Dire Dawa and then taking public transport to Harar and Baty has been looking into flights for us and trying to organise things with the tour co... read more