Blogs from Southern Nations Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 6

Wow... it has been quite a while since we last talked to each other. So much has changed since then. Let's see, where to start? Ok, site placement. Well, I was aiming for either in the Tigray region by the Simien mountains or Awasa near the Bale Mountains. The day of placement was a huge ordeal. The country director made an appearance, which I didn't think was a big deal because she only has 69 volunteers in-country and 40 were with me. Anyhow, there was this huge map, roughly 10' by 10', of Ethiopia and when our names were called we had to place our picture up on the map. Names were called and pictures placed. I was number 33 in the order. I wasn't sure if I was excited or if I was going to ... read more

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 ... read more

In 1974 in Awash Valley, a 40% complete skeleton was found of the oldest known human, believed to date back 3.2 million years. She is now widely-known as the infamous "Lucy," and holds the Amharic name "Dinkenesh" as well. Archaeologists believe humans have inhabited the Awash Valley since the beginning of the species; the area is also famous for being the place where many hominid (pre-human) remains have been found as well. Africa isn't called the Cradle of Humanity without reason. To be more precise, this said Cradle is the area along the deep East African Rift amidst mountains, valleys, and plateaus. Historians and archaeologists believe this is the continent that all of our ancestors originated from, landing Ethiopia smack dab right in this Cradle which we all are said to have sprung from. Lucy's home ... read more

I have always been a little ambivalent about tourism that involves going to see local people in traditional dress, but the trip to the Omo Valley in the south of Ethiopia was amazing. The expectation, on both sides, that tourists pay for photos made the whole experience seem less voyeuristic and less stressful too. The downside was that it was difficult to take un-posed photos and sometimes individuals were almost aggressive in insisting that you take their photo; I found the Mursi tribe especially aggressive. The fact that we saw many people wearing traditional dress as they walked along roads or worked, meant that it did not feel as though people were dressing up for the tourists, but that it was part of normal practices. Our venture into the Omo Valley started with a day of ... 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