Blogs from Ethiopia, Africa - page 95

An hour after I was supposed to have been collected, I was still sitting on a rock outside Textiles. The sunrise was impressive and birds began to sing their morning chorus. Still I waited. Eventually, the promised 4-wheel drive arrived, with not only Michael (a random German tourist Clare had met in a shop and introduced to me to share the costs of going to Nechisar National Park) but an American couple, working in Addis, an Ethiopian living in Germany and his friend from Addis, in Arba Minch on holiday. Crowded, but cheap! Our guide, Kapo - who is mentioned by name in the Lonely Planet - sat in the back. Driving into Nechisar National Park, the first climb gives amazing views of the lake before dropping down onto savannah - and the first sightings of ... read more

This was only the second time that I had been to Dilla - the first was when first leaving Addis to come to Robe - and it was much bigger than I remembered it, although, as it turned out, when we originally dropped Teresa and Lennie off, we didn’t go through the main part of the town. This time, we were there for a Higher Diploma Programme workshop and I travelled down with Getu, one of the Higher Diploma Tutors. In the end, Getu and I stayed in Awasa overnight, rather than pushing on to Dilla. It also meant that we could get a lift in the morning with the HDP Leaders from Arba Minch, who did have a car. The workshop was actually very good - much, much better than I thought it was going ... read more

I knew that yesterday was a public holiday for Timkat (Epiphany) but I didn’t know what it entailed as nobody told me. Although to be fair, I didn’t make a real effort to find out. Yesterday, as the College was closed, I pottered. I had a really quiet day, enjoyed reading in bed until 9am, did some laundry - I figured it was about time I washed my dressing gown that mum and dad sent out to me. Then in the evening, I hired the DVD of The Notebook, which is based on a book by Nicholas Sparks. I have read the book, seen the film before and still cried! It was such a luxury - watching the film and crying at it while eating veggie mince and onions with potatoes and drinking Gouder (local red ... read more

Liza (another VSO) and her partner, Rupert, came up to Robe on holiday. Hooray! More visitors with a vehicle! They very kindly took me out with them for a couple of days. They stayed with me on Saturday night, mainly because the Bekele Mola only had a twin room and the other nice hotel, the Bale Park, didn’t have a room that night. So, on Sunday morning, after an amazing number of cups of tea for Liza, we headed to Dinsho, the Bale Mountain Park Headquarters, with Elias their driver. We called in on Deb and Alastair on arrival, who recommended that we get a guide from the lodge and head to the Web Valley as we wanted to walk. It was wonderful. Such a beautiful, untouched place. One of the highlights was seeing giant mole ... read more

Today, which is Christmas Eve in Ethiopia, the flags are out in Robe, the fountain is working and 3 strings of coloured lights are strung across the main road through town. This is only the third time that I have seen the fountain working - it is switched on for high days and holidays only. However, the celebrations are not for Christmas, apparently, but because the new Mada Walabu University and the road are both officially being launched this afternoon. I went up to the College Hall this morning for a sneak preview of an exhibition. There are some lovely items on display to show the culture of Bale Region, but none were for sale. I particularly liked a model of a woman performing the coffee ceremony (although for some reason she was white not black!). ... read more