Blogs from Ethiopia, Africa - page 3

We are now in the busines class Lounge in the Ethiopian Airport in Addis Ababa. It crowded even though it’s 10pm. We take off at 1:30am for London where I’m hoping to take a shower at their lounge. There is a buffet here with a lot of Ethiopian dishes and I might sample them later if I get brave. Our flight here was on a new Dreamliner and was very comfortable. I hope the next one is the same so I can sleep. Until London.... read more

Next morning onwards towards the Kenya/Ethiopian Border. We entered Ethiopia with some trepidation. Stories about stone throwing put a bit of a damper on travelling through this beautiful country. But I have also seen and learned that it’s better to look at the situation first hand before jumping to conclusions, and making assumptions. We entered Ethiopia at Moyale. The Border crossing went quite smooth. First time on the trip where our luggage gets checked properly but it all gets done in a professional way. Even the engine and chassis numbers get properly checked. On entering the border we only realised then that in Ethiopia everybody travels on the left hand side of the road. Moyale is quite a big border town. People are friendly but not really a place where I will walk around alone at ... read more

I thought nothing in Ethiopia would surprise me any more but this morning managed to do just that on two occasions. We were advised that our next tribe visit to see the Dassanech village near Omerate, just over the Omo River, was a similar distance from Turmi to that of the Karo tribe the previous day, a journey which had taken around 2 hours along a windy, dirt road with its share of potholes, so we assumed much the same for this trip. To our total surprise, by the time we were just a few kilometres out of Turmi, we suddenly hit an almost straight, level bitumen road, marked on both sides and the centre, and with virtually not a single blemish the whole 80 kilometres to the village. Thus a potential two hour trip was ... read more

Our first tour of the day was a brief 90 minute ‘cruise’ in a local fast boat on the nearby Lake Chamo to check out the local wildlife. That wildlife comprised half a dozen fresh water crocodiles (that we have often seen in Oz) and a few heads of hippos sticking out of the water (a poor relation of our sightings in Kenya), so I guess overall I would have to say it was pretty underwhelming, but this was all included in our travel package. Our second tribe visit was to the Konso village to learn about a tribe best known for its unique social life structure. It is built heavily on communities of which we were advised ... read more

25-26-27 mars "L'hyène pour la frapper, derrière l'âne tu dois te cacher" Proverbe Éthiopien (Enfin à Harar) Je me réveille dans un bel hôtel déniché à la va-vite dans mon Lonely Planet, tout juste avant mon parachutage sur Harar hier en fin d'après-midi: 30$ la nuit, et ce sera sans aucun doute le plus bel endroit où j'aurai dormi en Éthiopie. À Dire Dawa, les chauffeurs de mini-bus ont été particulièrement voraces. Le peu de touristes ici a visiblement affamé la cohorte de charognards. L'heure de transport séparant Dire Dawa (256 800 habitants) à Harar (196 000 habitants) a été particulièrement intérressante alors, qu'entassé à 20 dans la boîte mobile à moins de 50 Birr (moins de 2.50$ canadien chacun), une discussion envenimée a éclatée en amharique entre un regard fâché sous une burqa parfumée de ... read more