Jan 20, 2020 - Bahir Dar part II - Timkat

And so finally to the big day: Timkat festival January 20th 2020, a joyful and joyous celebration of the Ethiopian Epiphany when what seems like the whole population spills on to the streets as processional participants or bystanders to reenact the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. As the slow-moving procession of priests, choirs, musicians and celebrants wends its painstakingly slow way down the street, the way is prepared ahead by young men and women brushing the way with palm leaves before other groups then unfurl carpets to provide...

Jan 15, 2020 - Bahir Dar - part 1

The shortest straight line route from Gondar to Bahir Dar where we anticipate joining the Timkat celebrations obliges the traveller to take to the water and cross Ethiopia's largest lake, lake Tana. Since Ethiopia has no access to the sea, except by the neighbouring country of Djibouti, the lake provides the only source of fresh fish as well as the opportunity for locals to learn to swim. Bahir Dar lies over fifty miles south so we settle down for about six hours on the shimmering blue lake-water which, it turns out, provides over 50...

Jan 14, 2020 - Gondar and the Simien Mountains

Half way on the itinerary, time to mention the influemce of two countries who have/are influencing Ethiopia's history: Italy and China. Italy had two shots at occupying modern-day Ethiopia, in the mid 1890s and again in the mid 1930s until the Allied forces took over in 1941 for a further 6 years. It is fair to say that the Italians began to create an infrastuture in this huge country with some of their major roads still in use today, though the Chinese have taken over the road-building programme these days. The Italians seem to have also...

Jan 12, 2020 - Lalibela

Lalibela, Ethiopia's most famous World Hertitage Site was always going to be a highlight on the trip and indeed it did not disappoint, though clambering over rough and uneven terrain was always going to be a challenge for the older generation of visitors. Locals seem to be unfazed, perhaps from their years of worship, or maybe because many carry a wooden prayer staff which helps with navigating as well as with religious purposes. However, there seems to be a plentiful supply of stick-thin ladies of a certain age on hand to help out...

Jan 10, 2020 - Aksum

Reader's views on Ethiopia today may be coloured by images of starving children in the 1980s but those views are out of date. The country, as one of the largest in Africa with over 100 million inhabitants, has shed it's often turbulent history, including 17 years of communist rule, to become a beacon of peaceful development, presently coming together joyously to celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river, an event known her as Timkat. More on this in a later bulletin. Before the journey starts a few background facts: Ethiopia,...

May 17, 2019 - Addis Ababa

Landed at Addis Ababa exactly on time – 0715 - and with e-vise we got though very quickly. Out to the front and were greeted by a Getfam Hotel agent and waited a while for the driver to arrive. He did, and a nice ride into the hotel. He was quite the tour guide. Checked into the hotel at 8:00 and they had a room for us already. We dropped off our stuff, got some local currency. Then a brief rest. At 10:00 we headed down to the lobby to meet our tour guide, “Nu-guy” (Nurelegn) who was very nice and attentive. We start with a drive around the...

Nov 28, 2018 - Addis Ababa

10 Addis Ababa The flight was non-eventful and we arrive at Addis on schedule, almost. Once again the parking lot is all messed up. We are stopped at the exit of the arrivals terminal while a motorcade pulls up into an interior parking area. They are leaders from the Organization of African Union Summit that is just winding up. We have told Elias that we want to see more of Addis, so we head into town and then up one of the many mountains surrounding the city, past an area which has many shops selling traditional clothing. The government...

Nov 26, 2018 - Bale Mountain Lodge

09 Bale Mountain We left Axum by plane for Addis. In Addis, we were picked up by the same driver who met us originally. This car is excellent--a newish Toyota Land Cruiser, very comfortable. Good thing, as we have a couple of very long drives. We stopped for lunch in Addis, in a restaurant that was also a gallery; some really nice paintings, but on canvas, and large. We did manage to find a small one that we liked. We are headed to Bale Mountains (ball eh) and it is a long way, so we are going to stop overnight in Haro Langano Lodge, on the...

Nov 25, 2018 - Axum

Axum PHOTOS HAVE BEEN ADDED FOR EARLIER ENTRIES THAT WERE ORIGINALLY POSTED WITHOUT PHOTOS BECAUSE OF SLOW INTERNER Although Axum in the oldest town in Ethiopia, the holiest city in the country and former capital of one of the world greatest empires, it is now pretty small. It is scattered with antiquities, not only the Church of Maryam Tsion, but mysterious catacombs, ruined palaces, multi lingual tablets, and stelae. You get the impression that you could probably find some ancient structure anywhere you dug. And apparently there were also...

Nov 22, 2018 - Lalibela

07 Lalibela We are back in Vancouver. You can tell by the number of photos--we now have a decent internet connection. Lally bella - Translated as "the bees recognize his sovereignty" or, "bee eater" Our plane was only about half an hour late. Better than we had expected, given the fuss that was being made about the Presidents of Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea. We were glad we had left for the airport early; the roads were still open when we went through, although there was a really large military presence all along the roads leading to the...

Nov 11, 2018 - Simien National Park

06 Simien Mountains We left Gondar about 8:30 after a fairly pedestrian breakfast, but with a splendid view of the surrounding countryside and the swimming pool which was entirely empty as it appears to be under construction. The drive is about 2 hours, but we made a number of stops to take pictures. We checked into our lodge, almost in the Simien Mountains National Park. It is a small, 12 cabins, lodge, built by a British women, Julia and her Ethiopian husband. It is quite beautiful in a very stark way; all rammed earth construction with...

Nov 10, 2018 - Gondar

05 Gondar Again, no pictures because of slow internet The drive from Bahir Dar to Gondor took us east of Lake Tana, through agricultural areas and many small villages. Some of the villages look quite quiet – it is not their market day. Others are bustling. Many people are walking on the road to get to the nearest market, and we saw one group of men carrying a litter with an ill person in it. The nearest hospital is about 5 kilometres away and there are no ambulances in the rural area. There are many crops in this area – rice, wheat, niger...