The atmosphere in Lalibela was incredible, with the population of the sleepy village swelled by an estimated 20,000 pilgrims, who were visiting one of the major Christian sites in Ethiopia for Christmas. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve I went for a walk to the market and ended up walking past the major church of Bet Maryam, where people were securing a sleeping space for the night. As darkness fell, I went back to the church for a few minutes to soak in the atmosphere - a sea of white-clothed pigrims. I asked one person how many people he thought were [View Full Entry]

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I travelled to Axum in the north of Ethiopia as part of my final travels before leaving Ethiopia. I was met at Axum airport by a VSO volunteer friend and spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool at a local hotel. The following day, we started being tourists - side-stepping round the camels, we headed for the stelae fields. We decided not to buy a ticket (which turned out to be a mistake later when we walked uphill to Kaleb's Tomb, but couldn't go in without a ticket from the office two km back) as the stelae are easily visible from [View Full Entry]

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Day 1 - 23 December - Gonder to Sankober (6km) Gelada Baboons Before Lunch Having breakfasted at our hotel, Julian, Hailye, Judy and I piled into the car to head to Debark to sign into the Simien Mountains National Park and to collect Abera (our guide) and Jemberu (our scout). Park rules require an armed scout but, strangely, not a guide. Just past the Simien Mountain Lodge, we got out of the car to walk the 6km to Sankober camp … and straight away found ourselves almost in the midst of a troop of Gelada Baboons which are endemic to Ethiopia [View Full Entry]

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One of the many nice things about living in Addis Ababa is how easy it is to get out to the surrounding countryside, which is especially easy when invited to go camping for the weekend by someone with access to a car. Two hours after leaving home, having circumnavigated Addis on the ring road and driven out through Sebeta, we were driving up a rough track into Menagesha Forest. The first bit of the forest is plantation, reminiscent of parts of Northumberland in the UK, but soon gives way to indigenous trees. We arrived at the first campsite, a stunning clearing [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 16th November 2008 Although I had suggested that we organise a first Ethiopian Remembrance Day as part of my VSO placement in the National Road Safety Coordination Office in Addis Ababa, I had had no involvement in its organisation after a first working group meeting. I wasn’t sure what would happen on the day but I was very impressed by the whole event. The event had started 30 minutes later than planned, but showing a drama about a road crash filled the time. Then came several speeches by dignitaries such as the Minister of Transport, the Commissioner of the Federal [View Full Entry]

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Having swallowed bitter disappointment at the cancellation of a planned trip to Ankobar at the last minute, I returned home to formulate ‘Plan B’ over a cup of coffee. I had stayed overnight with a couple of VSO volunteers in preparation for a 6.30am departure. By 7.30, I was at home deciding whether to spend the day moping, or whether to do something, anything, more constructive. The latter easily won and so by 8.30 I was on my way for a day as a tourist in Addis. First stop was the Misrach Centre, an NGO that supports blind and partially sighted [View Full Entry]

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The sun shone, ants bit and the lone hyena, out in the daylight, skulked in undergrowth. The first stop on the Wildlife Society trip to Weliso was the ‘National Fishery and Other Aquatic Life Research Centre’ at Sebeta. Apparently the half-empty pool covered with green algae is where Emperor Haile Selassie used to come to bathe. The fishery tanks didn’t seem particularly cared for, but we did see a few Tiger Fish (at least, I was told that was what they were). This spot was probably best remembered by the group for the hyena (seen by some) and the large ants [View Full Entry]

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This was my second trip to the north of Ethiopia with the National Road Safety Coordination Office - we went last summer to see what was happening with a pedestrian campaign in Amhara Region. The main purpose this time was to observe a children’s pedestrian training scheme that is being trialled by a local NGO, called JeCCDO. We had to be there for the session on Thursday morning so we decided to the trip over two days - it is possible in one day, but being a road safety organisation, we would take our time so that the driver did not [View Full Entry]

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I have always been a little ambivalent about tourism that involves going to see local people in traditional dress, but the trip to the Omo Valley in the south of Ethiopia was amazing. The expectation, on both sides, that tourists pay for photos made the whole experience seem less voyeuristic and less stressful too. The downside was that it was difficult to take un-posed photos and sometimes individuals were almost aggressive in insisting that you take their photo; I found the Mursi tribe especially aggressive. The fact that we saw many people wearing traditional dress as they walked along r [View Full Entry]

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The bureaucracy at the College is quite amazing! I had to undergo ‘internal clearance’ before theywould write the clearance letters that I need for when I leave Ethiopia. This involves 32 different people each signing (seven times) to say that I have nothing belonging to the College and am free to leave. Most of the 32 have had nothing to do with my work here! Luckily, one of the office workers, Ture, was given the task of collecting the signatures for me. There have only been two slight problems … When I handed over the running of the Higher Diploma Programme [View Full Entry]

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