Blogs from Sof Omar, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Africa
December 23rd 2007
On Thursday evening, Elizabeth and her daughter Alex arrived for a few days in Robe as part of their holiday, bringing Steven, strawberries and white wine with them. On Friday, the four of us went up to Sanetti Plateau with Tamaru, their driver. We saw a total of 5 wolves and ate strawberries at the top of Tullu Demtu (the highest point in the Bale Mountains at 4377 metres) before driving to a viewpoint overlooking the Herenna Forest. On Saturday evening, Clare, Julian and two of Clare’s friends from the UK (Anna and Gordon) arrived, so we all went to the Harar Beer restaurant for dinner. Anna and Gordon slept on mattresses in my lounge, while Clare and Julian joined Elizabeth and Alex in Hannah’s house. Luckily, the water had come back on during the day! ... read more
April 8th 2007
David and Nadia, friends from Addis, made the journey on The Road, with their Daughter (Nina, over from the UK on holiday) to visit Robe. On Friday, we went up to the Sanetti Plateau. We were up in the clouds and visibility was very poor, but it was amazing - driving in thick fog one minute and then it would suddenly lift. It did mean that, for the first time, we did not see wolves. Luckily, they had seen one on the way through Dinsho on the drive here. In the end, we decided that the visibility was too bad, and that it wasn’t fair on Elias the driver to keep on going, so we returned to Goba for lunch and then back to Robe for a relaxing afternoon. On Saturday, we headed off to Sof ... read more
January 15th 2007
Liza and Rupert again took pity on me and took me out for the day to Sof Omar caves - a three hour drive from Robe. The drive itself was spectacular and took us through huge wheat fields before becoming more like you would imagine Africa to be, complete with acacia trees. Rupert used to be a farmer, so it was also educational for me … hopefully I will remember what he told us about grain production. There were a mix of small fields, presumably harvested by hand, and huge expanse with up to 6 combine harvesters. We stopped for breakfast (eggs, bread and tea) in Goro and eventually wove our way down to the small village at the entrance to the caves. We negotiated a price (150 birr each - very expensive on a VSO ... read more
