Welcome to Ethiopia

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Why Ethiopia

The reason why we are in Ethiopia starts with a visit to a Colombia shop a few years back. In this store I stumbled over the bored husbands section where the shop provides a few seats, a coffee table and a coffee table book. Not being a bored husband but curious I picked up the book and you guess right it was about Ethiopia. It looked like a great country (as all countries do in those kind of books) full of old stuff to look at. Just what I like and I decided then that I will go to Ethiopia one day… Talk about quick a decision processes…

The one thing to do before going to Ethiopia is to ignore the warnings on the government websites and hope for the best.

Ethiopia seems to be one of the lesser developed and less touristy countries in Africa and to quote Lonely Planet

Ethiopia … is not like anywhere you’ve been before

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Most will remember Ethiopia from the horrid drought in the 80s together with the pictures of starving children and some news about the various wars it has with all its neighbors. What most don’t know is that it’s full of cultural heritage, great food, coffee shops, bizarre tribes and horrific roads.

Going to…

I’m normally a fan of crossing between countries in the good old fashioned way which is overland. Reading in the Lonely Planet about the 5 to 6 days it takes to travel from Nairobi to Addis change my mind quickly and we booked a couple of tickets with Ethiopian Airlines.

Addis

The first day in Addis was spent looking for a tour to southern Ethiopia but you can read more about that in the next blog.
We timed the return of the trip to the south with one of the most important Christian ceremony in Ethiopia. Meskal celebrates the finding of the true cross (the one Jesus apparently was crucified on) in the 4th century (AD obviously). The cross was then brought to Ethiopia if you believe the legend. That’s not the only very important Christian relict which is supposed to be in Ethiopia. The original Arc of Covenant (Remember Indiana Jones) is said to be in a Church in Ethiopia.
Anyway we came back to see Meskal which was sold to us (by LP, tourist brochures and our driver/guide) as very colorful and not to miss event. Colorful it was but also blindingly boring. We sat for 4 hours to see people standing (ok in colorful dresses), chanting in ancient languages and parading around in a huge square. The highlight was when they set fire to a huge pile of wood. Next time I show up three hours late.

We spend the other two days wandering around Addis, drinking heaps of Macchiato, checking out some of the churches, the very good Ethnological Museum and the National Museum. The latter contains two cast of Lucy which is one of the oldest human like skeletons found in (you guess it) in Ethiopia. This allowed Ethiopia to lay claim on the fame of being the cradle of humanity.

Random stuff

I know it sounds weird to write about food when talking about Ethiopia but believe it or not the food here is better than anything I encountered in the southern parts of Africa. The Ethiopian National dish is Injera with stuff on it. Injera is a bread which looks like pancake and is made from tef (a local grain), yeast water and 3 days fermentation. Tastes a bit bitter but once you get used to it…
It is not only bread but also a eating utensil. Just break of a piece of Injera grab a piece of meat/vegetable and put it in your mouth.
There are various toppings to put and eat with Injera ranging from minced meat to yummy Lamp goulash.

Coffee is the national drink of Ethiopia and is available everywhere and I mean everywhere. I imagine it would be hard to think of another country with more café shops than Ethiopia. Even the smallest town will have a coffee shop including a full size Italian made coffee machine. If you do not get a coffee addiction here than you will never get one.

Religion plays a major role in Ethiopia and there is the Orthodox Ethiopian Christian flavor, Islam, Judaism and local flavors of various believes. Strangely enough they live happily with and besides each other and haven’t tried to kill each other in quite a few centuries. Orthodox Ethiopian Christianity is like Catholicism on steroids. Seems to be a lot stricter and in some ways more ancient. They also have their special way of singing and most of the church ceremonies are rather unfamiliar to me.

Next stop Southern Ethiopia with weird and wonderful tribes…

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Photos

Ethiopia uses the Ethiopian Calendar …
We just missed the change from 200 to 2001 by a couple of days.. An I’m also seven years younger!

Coffee culture taken to the extreme
Ethiopia is hailed (especially by itself) as the birthplace of Coffee. The main export is Coffee and the main drink is coffee. There are literally hundreds of small cafés in Addis and every town has at least one coffee including an Italian made professional espresso machine

Injera, wat and tsebhi
The stable diet of all travelers in Ethiopia. The bread also doubles as eating utensil. No forks or spoons needed…
Tastes a bit fermented and quite strange in the beginning but once you’re used to it…

Meskal celebration in Addis
One of the most important Christian festivals in the year. It celebrates the finding of the “true” cross in 400 AD. An as everything that’s important it was brought to Ethiopia… so they say

Lada Taxi
Most of the Taxis are old Lada’s. Most likely leftovers from the socialist experience in the 70s

Holy trinity church
The second most important church in Ethiopia

Kellie and Lucy
Lucy one of the most complete and oldest human like skeletons was discovered in Ethiopia a while back