3500 Meters (11500ft) in Ethiopia!?!

Wow... being in Ethiopia is a real eye-opener. This is my first time in a true third world country, and it really makes you realize the different circumstances that people live in. Flying into Addis I got a great view of the surounding area - green and beautiful, but the streets are a different story. It is really hard to describe, poverty is everywhere - but it is just everyday life for the residents of this country. I met a friend in the airport, she is a PhD student working in the Bale Mountains National Park 450km southeast of Addis - we split a vehicle and she took me with her to the National Park to see the Ethiopian Wolf, an endimic wolf that only numbers 400. Rural Ethiopia is beautiful, villages and cities are eye opening. To our standards Ethiopians are poor, yet there is electricity, TV and running water in most cities (the rural villages are a different story). Though I have seen some great poverty, I have not experianced the true poverty of the north- where starvation and serious illness are common. This is still a great culture shock from what I have grown up with considering "normal". Yet I am strangly attracted to it. To say I draw attention to myself is an understatement. As a white - a farengii - everyone looks at you. It is very interesting, children will say Hello, come up and hold your hand - some of them have never seen a white person before. They are very timid and cant stop looking at you. There is a negitive though, it is more common to be approached by a person with their hand out asking for money... "give money" is a common phrase all children know in english. But you cant take them too seriously, they only know three or four words in english, there is no real seriousness to it.I was only in Addis for two days, I wanted to explore it more but time was limited. The little exploring I did with my new found friend Freya was overwhelming. Again, exploring the major city of a true third world country is hard to explain, but it was a great experiance. I did visit the Ethiopian National Museam, this was quite a good time - tons of natural and cultrual history. I even got to see Lucy - the link to evolution, the peice of the puzzle that creates the whole. Getting to Bale National Park was interesting. It started with Freya and I renting a Jeep - which comes with a driver - and making the 450km treck in 10 hours... 270 miles in 10 hours... six of those hours were spent on the the most awful, unmaintained dirt road I have ever been on; and this was the MAIN road!! The treck did finally come to and end in Dinsho, the small village that houses the entrance to Bale National Park. After a good meal and a good nights sleep we were up and ready for the next leg of our trip- a four and a half hour horse ride... There is no better way to see the country than on the back of a horse, the views were amazing, passing small villages (basically two or three huts gathered together) was more of a look into a very different way of life... and did I mention that I was on a horse for 4.5 hours!?! Not as soar as I thought I would be... but if you have not been on a horse for that long than I challenge you to do it! So again... the treck finally came to an end - and the cabin that we were staying in was beautiful. Very basic, but the view, again, was amazing. Sitting in a small valley, there were hills on three sides with the front of the cabin facing a meadow. In the morning we hiked up the side of the hills and were off in search for the Ethiopian Wolf. We were right on time as we came over the first hill onto the open meadow, there were three wolves greeting eachother - jumping, growling, niping, all in an attempt to reconnect. The day went really well, we saw five of the wolves- a great day when you consider the fact that fifty or so live in the region we were in. I had a great time with Freya and the people she lives and works with, but only spending a week total in a country is not enough time to experiance everything and get to know the area very well. The next day was the beginning of the long trip back to Addis Ababa - 4.5 hours on a horse and 10 hours in a car... On the drive back I swear I should have been hurt - the drivers in Ethiopia are unbelievable. I feel fortunate though, the only issue we had was hitting a cow... well actually it was a bull - with giant horns... but we didnt kill it or fatally injur it and the jeep was in good enough condition to continue, so thats what we did. We made it to Addis late at night, exhusted... then the hostel I was staying at before I went to Dinsho was booked. Great... now to find a place to stay. As I was sitting looking at the trusty guide book for a hostel close to where I was two I met two locals who were working at the backpackers - they took me to another hostel that was really close. Alright - Settled! I met up with the two again and we went out for a night on the town, it was the last day of Ethiopias month long festival celebrating their millinium... yep, ethiopia is seven hours ahead of other local time and is seven years behind... good luck trying to figure out even what day it is! Well, again with all good adventures they all must come to a close - an early flight from Ethiopia to JoBurg, South Africa - more adventure is in store!

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