Into Ethiopia

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After more than 8 weeks in the Islamic world it was time to say goodbye to 5.30 a.m prayer calls followed by 4 more throughout the day. No more waking up to Allah Akhbar. We got up at 6.30 a.m. to get the bus out of Kassala to give ourselves the best chance of getting over the border with Ethiopia that day. We found the bus going to Gedaref, bought tickets and then got some breakfast. At 8.30 a.m. we got on the bus, hoping it would be moving shortly. It was 10.20 before it did move and this was only to the entrance of the bus station. At 10.40 we were on the road.

It was about 3 hours to Gedaref on really good road. We then found a minibus going to Gallabat, the border town. This minibus was the worst I had been on so far. The road was also terrible. To make matters worse I was in the worst seat on the bus, right over the wheel, with pretty much no leg room. This journey took another 3 hours.

At the border, we had to get stamped out of Sudan, which of course involved more forms to be filled out and going in and out of different offices. Over the border on the Ethiopian side, it was much more straightforward. They even took our fingerprints on a machine. It was after 6 by the time we had everything finished and we decided it was too late to head on to Gonder, so we found a room in Metema, the border town on the Ethiopian side.

Metema has to be the seediest places I have ever been, with every bar seeming to double as a brothel. We went to get some well earned beers after leaving Sudan in one of the quieter bars. The owner came down and sat with us and was very friendly. He then casually dropped into conversation that the 3 girls working in the bar were all prostitutes and that pretty much every girl in Metema was. With this nugget of information, we went to bed early enough as we wanted to get out of Metema as early as possible the next day.

The next morning we got a bus out of Metema to Gonder. This bus took 3 hours and brought us up through the winding roads of the North Ethiopian Highlands. The scenery was breathtaking. All rolling green hills, almost like the Wicklow Mountains on steroids! Any preconceptions of Ethiopia being a drought plagued, desert of a country would be quickly dispelled on this journey.



Shortly after arriving in Gonder, we found the Terara Hotel and checked in there. The Bradt Guide describes the manager as an Ethiopian Basil Fawlty, which proved to be an accurate description. You soon notice that it is not just the scenery which has completely changed, but almost everything and you soon forget that you were ever in Sudan.



Ethiopia and its culture is not only starkly different to Sudan or any of the other countries I have visited so far, but to almost anywhere else in the world. Ethiopia was one of the earliest nations to take on Christianity, although their Orthodox Church is extremely different to any other. However, there is also a significant Islamic population.



Religion is not the only unique feature of Ethiopian culture. Their clock is completely different. There is a 6 hour difference, as their 12 hour cycles begin at 6 a.m., to do with when the sun comes up, I think. They also have a completely different calendar. They never took on the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century like the rest of the Christian world. Their calendar has 13 months, which means they are 7 years and 8 months behind the rest of the world. Ethiopia is also the only country in Africa that was never colonised in the 'Scramble for Africa' (aside from Liberia, which is debatable). They fought off the Italians who tried to colonise.



For the above reasons, Ethiopia has a proud and unique culture, where the people aren't burdened with the effects of post-colonisation. That is not to say there are not problems. There is undoubtedly extreme poverty and in certain parts, the way of life is extremely primitive.



Gonder's main attraction is the Royal Enclosure, which contains several castles and other buildings built by Emperors Fasilida and Iyasu, among others. The castles would not look out of place in England and are in the style you would associate with King Arthur of Camelot. But here they are in Northern Ethiopia. We also visited Fasilida's Pool, a short distance outside of Gonder, which is said to have been Fasilida's second residence. This is a sunken bathing pool, with a two storey building erected inside it.



I later went to visit the Church of Debre Birhan Selassie, situated on one of the hills overlooking Gonder. There were said to be 44 churches in Gonder, but only a few survive after being destroyed by invading forces from Sudan. The artwork inside this church dates back to the 16th century and is unlike any I have seen. It is almost cartoon like.



The following day we visitied Kuskuam, which is set on a mountain overlooking Gonder. This is a palatial complex that was built as the residence of the Empress Mentewab. The main palace is in a state of partial ruin as is an interesting building, which was designed to get around the prohibition on menstruating women entering a church. The chapel has 12 alcoves, which Empress Mentewab would visit in turn every hour, while a priest stood outside praying and swinging incense.



At night in Gonder, there was one traditional club we went to a couple of times under the Atse Bekaffa Hotel. I can only describe this as something similar to a traditional Irish pub, where you replace the Irish music and dancing, with Ethiopian music and dancing. The layout was very similar, with floor staff rushing around delivering people drinks. There was also quite a bit of interaction between the crowd and the performer, most of which I didn't understand. One difference was one male singer who would be prompted by the audience to sing a line or about a certain subject. If the audience member was happy he/she would place a 10 Birr note on his brow to encourage him to sing some more. I noticed him sing 'faranji' one time and asked someone beside me what he had said. He told me he had called me an American. I kept my 10 Birr notes in my pocket.

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