Blogs from Axum, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, Africa

5th Nov ’12 Debark to Axum Today was the mega long road journey to Axum. The road that runs up and down and winds through the Simien Mountains (and was featured in the TV series The World’s Most Dangerous Roads) is being widened and re-surfaces which means that it was rough, bumpy and with lots of roadworks and the 250 km drive could take up to 12 hours to do! In fact we made it in 11 hours – a long haul but in spectacular scenery, towering jagged brown peaks, forested lower slopes, lush green valleys, a winding river, sheer drops and hair pin bends all added a bit of spice! There were hold ups while bulldozers moved towering piles of stones or flattened sections of road before waving us on and the speculations as to ... read more

We got to the bus station in Debark for 8.30 a.m. to make sure we got a spot on the bus going from Gonder to Axum. After a bit of a scramble once the bus arrived, I managed to get us two tickets. The bus set off around 9.30 a.m. and as soon as we left Debark we began a slow, winding descent down the mountains. The views were incredible, but it wasn't the most comforting sight when you looked out the window and saw the bus wheel inches from the edge of a sheer cliff face. Any mistake from the driver and we would have been rolling down a couple of thousand feet! The driver negotiated all of the hairpin bends all the way down, but then we had to do the same in reverse ... read more

Since I quickly learned that Ethiopia’s state-run internet service is – in a particularly memorable phrase from one of my guidebooks – “slow as a decomposing tortoise”, I was not able to post blog entries as I went along. What follows is something I wrote when I first arrived in Ethiopia, nearly a month ago. I will post a few other brief entries about my other major stops in the upcoming days. I. Obelisks and Churches As a history teacher/buff (buff teacher?), I figured I might as well start at the beginning, if I were going to tackle Ethiopia’s “historical circuit”. But this meant that I would actually have to start almost midway in the geographic arch of that circuit, at least as it is usually followed by tourists setting forth from Addis Ababa. So, after ... read more

Well iphones have gone even lower in my opinion, not only can it get no reception in the whole of Ethiopia, now the alarm has broken! So I overslept by 45mins and had a mad rush to the airport without breakfast. The streets are filled again with women in shawls off to church, not sure what the men do. Another day, another saint, I later find out that it is Saint Tekla Haimanot day. He is the man that stood praying on one leg for 7 years until the other one fell off, urgh! He was made a saint and given 3 pairs of wings. Luckily, as I'm very late, the airport is as relaxed as Bahir Dar so we aren't even allowed through security until 10mins before the plane arrives, Security is slightly less strict, ... read more

Axum Today we move on to Axum, the old centre of Ethiopia and the Axumite civilisation, home of the Queen of Sheba and The Arc of the Covenant. We have to leave the hotel at the far more reasonable time of 8a.m. to get our flight. I seem to be part of a comedy routine without realising it when I go looking for Bryan and other people are sent, in turn, to look for each other. Our short drive to the airport has one brief stop to buy some "Sandrea Sauce", a particularly hot sauce that Sandrea has discovered and which is now fermenting away in her bag and will probably explode somewhere in Southern Ethiopia. At the airport all our bags are x-rayed twice and we are all given a blank boarding pass - no ... read more