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Published: October 10th 2007
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Simien Mountains
Two girls minding their cows by Gich camp Famous for the famine of 1984/85
Famous for barren land, desert and death
Famous for images of malnourished children with distended bellies
Famous as the inspiration for the world’s greatest charity effort,
Live Aid Famous for conflict and war with Eritrea
Forget everything you imagine Ethiopia to be and every preconception; it's nothing like the image you most likely have in your head! Ethiopia is full of surprises!
Did you know that it was one of only two African nations never colonised? Or that it’s known as the “Cradle of Humanity”, where fossils of the earliest hominids have been found? Or that 18 of Egypt’s pharaohs were Ethiopian?
Not only that, but it is home to the oldest written language in the world, Ge'ez, the first ever Christian country, the origin of the coffee bean, and the birthplace of Rastafarianism!
Ethiopia is stunningly beautiful, the people are incredibly friendly, the food is delicious (and the wine!), and I’m a teenager again there! Yes, that's right, although it’s July 2007 in most of the world, it's October 1999 in Ethiopia. That means I'm 19 again, woohoo! And not only is the date different, but the time of day too
Simien Mountains
The girls insisted on introducing us to their cows! They had one each, bless! as the day begins at dawn instead of midnight!
Steve, Tony, Jen and I arrived into Addis Ababa from Cameroon, our numbers reduced after the mass exodus to Cairo, though we would all be reunited in Kenya again in seven weeks time. In the meantime, a whole truck for 4 passengers - heaven!
The friendliness of the people in Addis was overwhelming. Walking through the Merkato, every second person welcomed us to their country. While trying to find the National Museum one day - to visit ‘Lucy’, our 3.2 million year old relative - a young student approached us. He not only insisted on accompanying us on the
matatu (local mini-bus transport), he also outright refused to let us pay for our fare, and walked us up to the door of the museum. He was just delighted to have the chance to speak to some tourists.
In Addis, we met up with our new crew, Grace and Jason and hit the road. Our plan was to cover the historical circuit of Ethiopia, taking in Bahar Dah, Gondar, Aksum, Lalibela and the Simien Mountains before heading south, through the Omo Valley and on to Kenya.
The most
Ethiopian Village
This proud woman was obsessed with getting us to photo her baby! I didn't mind obliging enjoyable aspect of the trip was not the towns and historical monuments, but the countryside in between. Ethiopia has a high central plateau, with several mountains of over 4000m. It’s dissected by numerous river valleys, including the Blue Nile, and also split by the Rift Valley, which crosses East Africa. The mountains fluctuate between extremes - lush evergreen forest and desert scrub, each as spectacular as the other. In fact, in the whole time in Ethiopia, I didn’t pick up a book once, but was content to stare out the window all day, never growing tired of the ever-changing landscape. We would actually run from one side of the truck to the other all day, it was impossible to sit still with so much to see. Even Jason, our driver, was stopping every few minutes so he could take photos! I remember Jen commenting one day that she smiled so much, her teeth dried out! I couldn’t stop laughing as I knew
exactly what she meant!
Watching the farmers plough their inhospitable land by hand was fascinating. It didn’t look possible to farm the land, yet hundreds of local families were out planting seeds and removing rocks from
Village kids in funny suits
The kids were so excited by our digital cameras! I don't think they'd ever tire of getting us to take photos and showing them on the screen - never-ending amusement! the steepest slopes and stoniest fields.
And there was life everywhere. Children surrounded us every time we stopped to make lunch, camp, or even for a toilet break. In the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles away from the nearest town, desolate, empty and suddenly … 50 curious, wide-eyed children appear from the bushes.
Our first stop was Bahar Dah, on the edge of Lake Tana, where we visited the better-than-expected Blue Nile Falls and took a boat trip on the lake to see some of the 29 island monasteries, dating from the 11th to 16th centuries.
On to Gondar, formerly the capital of Ethiopia. Interestingly (if you like stupid facts like me!), Gondar was made the capital by Emperor Fasilidas because of a superstition at the time that the capital should begin with the letter ‘G’! In Gondar, we were ‘adopted’ by a local kid, Dude, who made it his mission to look after us and show us around. A lovely kid, he even brought us to meet his mother in their tiny home for tea and
injera (traditional Ethiopian dish, a bit like a cross between a pancake and a sponge). That was one of
Blue Nile Falls
Pretty impressive. Though it was probably at its best, being the rainy season the advantages of being in a small group, getting to properly experience the country and interact with the locals.
Gondar to Aksum must rate as one of the best journeys in the whole world. The roads are terrible but the views more than made up for it. Aksum itself is monument overkill. The centre of the old Aksumite kingdom is dotted with ruins of palaces, underground tombs, stelae, the Queen of Sheba’s bath and much more. Probably my favourite part was wandering through the side streets and into the residential areas, where donkeys, cattle and even camels block the laneways, and you get called into houses to drink
tej (disgusting home-brew) with the locals!
Eventually (despite a truck break-down), we arrived in Lalibela. The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are Ethiopia’s main tourist attraction, and they are truly amazing. All 11 of Lalibela’s rock churches are cut straight from the bedrock, so that their roofs are at ground level! Most are monolithic and all were built within one century (12th century) for King Lalibela. The churches are full of treasures including, they claim, the Ark of the Covenant.
Next up was an amazing 4-day trek in the Simien
Blue Nile Falls
"Portugese Bridge" at the Blue Nile Falls Mountains. The weather was far from ideal, with heavy downpours daily, but that somehow made it more fun! Wading through swollen rivers and slipping on mud slides. Good, messy, kids’ fun! Unfortunately, we missed what we were told was ‘the best viewpoint in Ethiopia’. From
Imet Gogo, at almost 4000m, the view is meant to be breath taking. We sat out heavy showers for 3 hours waiting for the clouds to clear, but only snatched small glimpses through the thick clouds.
On to Harar, the fourth-most city of Islam, to join in on the cities millennium celebrations and feed hyenas at the city walls, before visiting the tribes of the Omo Valley at Jinka.
Ethiopia is unique, interesting and decidedly odd at times! But never boring. So, happy millennium Ethiopia and welcome to the 21st century!
Oh and one more thing - Steve, you promised we could do it all again, this time on foot - and with donkeys! I’m ready when you are!
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