Blogs from Arba Minch, Southern Nations Region, Ethiopia, Africa

ETHIOPIA...Nech Sar & Arba Minch. 514 sq miles of savannah, dry bush & groundwater forest in SW Ethiopia...a haven for 104 species of mammals and over 189 species of birds...welcome to Nech Sar (Nechisar or White Grass) National Park. Accessed from Arba Minch...along one of the roughest tourist roads in Ethiopia...the isthmus between Lakes Abaya and Chamo...known as "the Bridge of God." Stunning scenery...but with a bloody history. In November 2004, 463 thatched huts of the Guji-Oromo people were burned down by Ethiopian park officials and police...forced relocation. But why? In 1965 after spending 3 months surveying wildlife areas in Ethiopia, a UNESCO team proposed a game reserve to the east of Lake Chamo for the protection of the Swayne's Hartebeest & other wildlife. In 1967 Nech Sar National Park was proposed but was not established ... read more

Ready for the adventures we woke up and had breakfast at Tourist Restaurant, where we met our collegue, Sarah. She is from Arba Minch, so knew everything and everyone, thus we let her organize a boat trip to Lake Chamo. We had to drive 20minutes on road and 15 off road through a cotton field -that I haven't seen before so I was really surprised to find it here- to get to the "port", where some 3 motorboats were lying, there was one guy sleeping in a tent, others were cutting the trees with matchetes -at first I was not convinced about our safety, but at the end we ended up playing and posing with the weapons :) And than the boat trip...OMG...so peaceful and relaxing rolling on this giant lake while the sun strokes our ... read more

7am: waking up, coffee, shower, tea, breakfast 9am: planned time to leave (we just have finished breakfast) 9:13 am: SMS from the workmates who have the car that they are on their way 10:30am: actual departure time 10:40am: stop at the supermarket to buy some food for the trip It is always nice to leave Addis for a while. The pollution of the air is so awful in the city that I could hear my lungs opening a bottle of campaign and hiphiphurraying in my body that they can breath fresh air again :) And of course the view...descending from 2500meters to 1600, from the dusty, crowded capital to a hilly, remote landscape...pure beauty. So we immediately said YES to the invitations of our workmates who have to work in Arba Minch (Forty Springs) for a ... read more

Geo: 6.03939, 37.5905OK, my buttocks never seem to get accustomed to the long bus rides. After 4 hours, I always seem to get sore. Kind of like road cycling, but I'm not getting any exercise. The trip to Arba Minch takes 7 hours, but I make it just fine. We have dropped in elevation, and the last three hours are very hot, and as the usual, no one wants to open any windows!! What really amazes me, is some of the travelers are wearing a jacket as well as a shirt. Wow!!My first full day here I am able to take a long boat ride as well as being able to access the Nechasiar National Park from the boat. I've made arrangements with a German man to share the cost and we depart. On the way ... read more

One of the most amazing things that we discovered about Ethiopia on this trip is the incredible variety of culture, scenery, and wildlife that you don't expect when you first think of Ethiopia. We never imagined that we'd be on a game drive in Southern Ethiopia, but here we are seeing loads of zebras and gazelles in a park that you would expect to see in Kenya. It may not have been as exciting for some others, but being our first real experience with Zebras in the wild, we were absolutely thrilled! Some others commented that these were some of the nicest looking zebras that they had seen in Africa. Needless to say, we snapped away several hundred photos...... read more