Update

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Hi!

Just a very quick update - I’d hoped to have typed another full entry by now, but time is just flying (and the internet connection isn’t…)!

Just so as you all know my route and where I’m up to…

From Gashena I went across to Lalibela to see some incredible ancient churches hewn entirely out of rock. From there it was over to Asaita via Dessie. Asaita was incredible - it felt a bit like the end of the world as we crossed nothing but desert for miles. This was the territory of the Afar tribe - probably the only people who could survive the hot, harsh region. From there I scooted out to see Afambo, near the Djibouti border.

Then (via Logiya and Awash) I went to Dire Dawa - a strangely modern railway town, before heading to Harar. I really enjoyed my time in Harar - it has long been a bastion of Islam in the region and for ages was quite separate from the rest of Ethiopia. The walled old town is fun to get lost in, there is plenty to see, and I got to feed some of the hyenas who come to town at night!

The east was also far more colourful than the North, with some more interesting clothing on the local tribes. Of course it was also far more Muslim. The colours and the verdant nature of some of the countryside gave the area a more typically ‘African’ feel in some respect, whilst the camels and merchants and markets gave it a real ‘Eastern’ tinge. This was alsochat country and, at siesta time, almost everybody seemed to have a gobful of the narcotic green leaf!

After a while in Harar, I came back to Addis, having received news that my good friend Matthew ‘Woodser’ Woods had snapped and suddenly decide to come out to Ethiopia! With him up the mountains I decided to visit the lakes in Debre Zeyit for a couple of days, before returning to a weekend of parties and football with the man himself here in the capital.

I’ve also been getting my ‘international development’ head in gear by meeting with representatives from the British Council, VSO and the UK Department for International Development to find out about the work they’re doing out here.

I am not yet in Arba Minch, but we will be tomorrow. We’re setting off early for a 7 day trip to the Lower Omo Valley, taking in such places as Jinka, Turmi and Mago National Park, and such tribes as the Hamar, the Mursi and the Bumi. I can’t wait!

After that, it’ll be a bit more of Southern Ethiopia and a little of Northern Kenya, after Woodsy flies home on the 12th, and before Suzie and Alex meet me in Mombasa on the 28th!

I hope everybody’s well out there!

Love,

Ben 😊

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