Ethiopia

Warning, long blog entry to cover 4 weeks..... Read it in stages!

So, what did we know about Ethiopia before flying into Addis for four weeks? Very little really. Long distance runners, a few ancient churches and loads of mountains. Oh and of course Bob Geldof and Live Aid in the 80's. What did we learn by the time we flew out to Nairobi this morning? That Ethiopia is a fascinating place with a rich history of ancient civilisations, friendly people who are rightly proud of their unique history and culture, excellent wildlife and incredible scenery. And big – we saw a lot in four weeks but there is plenty left to entertain us for a return trip. Where do I start..

Addis Ababa – the sprawling metropolis of 3 million people that serves Ethiopia as its capital. We flew in late on a Sunday and spent the next few days checking out a few of the museums and galleries of Addis, stopping at the many coffee shops for a cup here and there (Jo reckoned the coffee in Ethiopia was the best). Ethiopia is unique in that is was never colonised by a European power. The Italians tried twice but were spanked by the Ethiopians in Mekele in 1896. They had more success in 1936 when they took control of Addis & the major towns but were forced out by the British 5 years later as part of WWII. However their influence is very visible with coffee machines and Pizza joints everywhere.

We went to the Ethological Museum which is housed in Haile Selassie's palace, the last of nearly 220 emperors in Ethiopia stretching back for hundreds of years and his palace was a sight in itself. The museum gave us a good insight into some of Ethiopia's many tribes and cultures including video footage of the famous cow-jointing ceremony practised in the south as part of a boys coming of age. We also visited Lucy, a 3.2 million old fossilised hominid found in northern Ethiopia and now housed in the National History Museum. It began in Africa, literally.

From Addis we took a 10 hour bus journey to Bahir Dar on Ethiopian Christmas Day for a couple of days on the shores of Lake Tana. Here we camped and took a day trip out to some of the ancient monasteries that were built in the 16^th and 17^th century. From Bahir Dar we headed for Gonder, stopping one night before heading on to the Simien Mountains for our first trek.


The Simien mountains were fantastic. We rocked up the booking office around 10am, got a guide - Amara, scout, cook, mule and mule mane, did our food shopping and then were trekking by 12. We spent in total 6 days walking in the mountains covering approx 100 km. The mountains are famous for their 4000m peaks, dramatic cliffs and escarpments and endemic wildlife which we enjoyed in abundance. The days were clear and hot but the nights were freezing cold with frost and ice on the tents in the morning. Trekking at those altitudes was hard work and we both left the mountains with heavy colds but great photos including the illusive Walia Ibex, a mountain goat endemic to Ethiopia that lives on the slopes on the escarpment.





After the trek we headed back to Gonder to recover for a few days and check out the castle. Emperor Fasilidas chose Gonder in the 17^th century and built an impressive palace in the style of a medieval castle. Subsequent emperors followed the trend and built their own palaces with the castle walls which made for a fascinating afternoon wondering through the ruins thinking we were back in some English castle from Robin Hood films. Because of the castles Gonder is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Time in Ethiopia is a bit different. When the day starts, sunrise, the clock starts. So at sunrise, 6am, the time is 12 or 0. Then 7am is 1, 8 is 2, 12 is 6 and so on until sunset, 6pm, when the day ends, 12. Then night time begins where 7pm is 1, 8pm is 2 and so on until morning. Got that? It takes a while but you soon get the hang of it after turning up 6 hours late/early for your bus ride.

The calendar is also different. Ethiopia has the same amount of days in the year as the West, 365 and 366 in a leap year, but the calendar is split into 13 months, 12 of 30 days and one of 5 or 6 days. The last, smallest month falls at the end of the calendar year which equates to September in the Western calendar so they celebrate NYE on the 6^th or 7^th September.

Also, Christmas falls on the 30^th Dec in their calendar which translates to the 7^th Jan in the Western Calendar. Which means that the answer to the Band Aid Christmas Number one question 'Do they know its Christmas time at all?' is No because you're two weeks early Mr Geldof, Mr Sting and Mr Bono.

And finally Ethiopia is 7.5 years behind the Western calendar. So we visited Ethiopia in 2002 Ethiopian time but 2010 in our world. I told you it was a unique country.

Religion is big in Ethiopia. Christianity rules but Islam is also very prevalent, especially in the West as you get closer to the Middle East. Pilgrims introduced Christianity in ***** and it features heavily in the vast amounts of historical artefacts and buildings that Ethiopia today proudly presents to tourists.

Where am I going with all this? Ah, yes Ethiopia is big on religion and big on religious festivals. So we celebrated Christmas on the 7^th Jan and then a week later the biggest festival of them all Timkat. Timkat celebrates the baptism of Christ and is seen by all practising Christians as a chance to renew their faith. We were in Gonder for Timkat eve which saw the Tabots from 14 churches taken to Fasilidas pool (the guy who built the first castle) where they are blessed and prayers are said throughout the night. The next day the water (pumped in over the course of the last week) is blessed and the crowds jumps in to renew their faith. The whole festival was a sight to see in Gonder with people, music, colourful outfits and priests everywhere.

From Gonder we took an internal flight to Lalibela which took 40 mins as opposed to two days on a bus. Lalibela is another UNESCO site home to the world famous rock-hewn churches. Think of building a castle in the sand but instead of building up you dig down and excavate the sand you don't need to leave you castle standing below ground. That's how they built the churches in Lalibela, straight into the rock. They did this 1000 years ago which led to many Liam DIY questions like “How did they get these walls so straight and of the same length” to which the answer from our spiritual guide was “The angels built them”. Whoever did build these churches did a great job which many south London builders could take note from.



Timkat was also happening in Lalibela whilst we were there which was great to see but meant there were tons of people in the churches. However when we went back the next day to explore not only the churches but also the interconnecting tunnels and passages (including one 25m pitch black passage which symbolises hell) there were less people and it was then we were able to truly soak up the atmosphere.

Lalibela back to Addis was another 2 day bus ride so again we flew, dumped some bags in Addis and set off for the Bale Mountains. There were no flights going that way so it was local buses all the way which meant 7 hours to cover one 150km stretch of dirt road that the Chinese are turning into tarmac. Once in to the mountains and once out.

We only spent 4 days in the mountains and it was a pain in the A to get there and back but it was worth it. Just. There are less than 500 Ethiopian wolves left in Ethiopia, which is less than other endangered animals such as Tigers, Mountain Gorillas and pandas. We were lucky to see 8 on our trek along with many other wild birds, fantastic mountains and beautiful camp-sites that were empty of people bar us, our great guide Hamed, our two horse men and two horses.

After leaving the mountains we booked ourselves in a beach resort alongside Lake Langano to recover and enjoyed a lazy day on the beach before heading back to Addis for a quick swim in the Hilton pool and our flight to Nairobi.

Ethiopia was amazing. Tough, yes, tiring, yes but a eye-opening experience that we thoroughly enjoyed. Once the Chinese have finished on their massive programme to upgrade the roads then Ethiopia will surely continue its rise as it has so much to offer tourists and travellers alike. The future, like the past, is set to be fascinating for Ethiopia.