Seventh Time on Sanetti

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Sama, the Ethiopian Tourist Guide with four German clients, had said that he would phone me when the group left Dinsho - the plan was for Hannah and myself to join them on a trip to Sanetti Plateau. Liza, a friend from Addis Ababa, had met the same group when her and Rupert were trekking in the Simian Mountains - the German group were then heading to the Bale Mountains so Liza had given Sama my phone number so that he could contact me for advice about the trip. He phoned at 7.30am to inform me that they were already in Robe! I, in turn, phoned Hannah, who managed to get dressed and be ready to leave to meet them at the Bekele Molla Hotel (where they were having breakfast) in 10 minutes.

Their mode of transport was a minibus/line taxi, which cannot have been that pleasant for the journey from Addis to Robe, which they did in one day. Later, they said that they had also done a three-day journey to Lalibella - and would recommend flying! Luckily for us, it did mean that there were two spare seats. Although it was my seventh time, I cannot imagine ever declining the opportunity to go up there - one of the most beautiful, huge, empty landscapes that I have been to. However, the main attraction for me is the anticipation of seeing an Ethiopian Wolf.

One of the tourists spotted the first wolf - at an incredible distance. It was difficult to see even when he described its location. Further along the dirt road, Hannah cried “wolf” in time for us to see one, with prey dangling from its mouth, quite close to the vehicle.

We took the road up to the second radio mast, to see the panoramic moonscape view and to have lunch. Amazingly, there was some snow! Not much, admittedly, but not something that I have seen in Ethiopia before.

Then, we made the return to Goba, again scanning the environment on the lookout for wolves. Again we were lucky! This time the wolf came close to the vehicle and crossed the road in front of us. It was obviously intent on hunting.

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Photos

Cold at the top!
This is Hannah's photo of us both looking as cold as we feel!

Ethiopian Wolf
One of the world's rarest canids. There are only around 500 in Ethiopia (in the the world!) and most live in the Bale Mountains.