Feb 29, 2012 - Bahir Dar

Monday 27th February Dejen to Bahir Dar Woke up in the hotel this morning after our adventure last night near the Blue Nile Gorge. We had to pack up the tents, poles, sleeping bags etc. from last night before we left. There was a sense among the group of a lucky escape. We had breakfast then left on the road to Bahir Dar about 240km away. An uneventful day today, lunch on the road (without too many spectators this time) and we arrived at the hotel in Bahir Dar and set up our camp in the hotel grounds, around the back under a very large...

Feb 8, 2012 - Tississat Falls

Wednesday 8th February Let me start today by saying that it is actually Friday now. There has been very little time for writing the journal let alone sorting and editing hundreds of pictures. The ones which I picked for Monday and Tuesday were not very good, really picked at random with just a little thought for depicting the day’s activities. I will try to go back and pick out some better ones as soon as I have time. I only realized when I was uploading in the internet café that I hadn’t prepared a picture of Lake Tana, nor the high walls...

Feb 7, 2012 - Bahir Dar

So I went to bed at 9 pm with my alarm set for 3.40 am, but I woke at midnight and felt wide awake for an hour or so, but I did get a couple more hours of sleep – probably not that soundly though, knowing that I had to wake so early. We had breakfast at 4.30, left the hotel at 5.0 am and checked in for a 7.20 flight to Bahir Dar. The Ethiopian Airlines plane was small but much smarter than the one from London, and was spot-on departing. The flight was about 50 minutes and was over spectacular scenery the whole way. We checked in to the...

Feb 26, 2011 - Bahir Dar

Weckerklingeln um 4.30 Uhr für das Taxi zum Flughafen. Unser erster Inlandsflug geht nach Bahir Dar. Wir fühlen uns beide nicht hundert Prozent fit und sind happy, in Bahir Dar im Hotel angekommen zu sein. Dort schlafen wir erst mal richtig aus und am Nachmittag organisieren wir dann unseren Trip für den nächsten Tag auf die Inseln im Tana See. Start am nächsten Morgen um 8 Uhr nach dem Frühstück. Unser Bootsfahrer bringt es zur Halbinsel Zege, zu ersten Kloster unseres Trips: Ura Kidane Meret. Die Klöster hier sind rund, haben außen...

Nov 25, 2009 - Haile Doesn't Live Here Anymore

I’m sitting on my veranda at the Kuriftu Lodge in Bahir Dar. This place is also pretty over the top but unlike the Sheraton it’s based on local architecture. This morning I flew here with my guide. He is apparently going to be along for the whole tour. Fortunately we get along well (so far). We were met at the airport by another driver who drove us out towards Blue Nile Falls. It was about an hour hike through fields and grazing cattle. The falls themselves are pretty disappointing. A few years ago they built a dam nearby and all the water...

Jan 15, 2009 - Boat Ride on Lake Tana & Visit to Ethiopian Orthodox Monasteries

It is early evening, and I just woke up. I've spent today combining sightseeing with recovering from a stomach virus I picked up yesterday, most likely in Gondar. I suspect I will go to bed shortly after dinner tonight to further facilitate my full recovery, so i'll try and keep today's entry brief. I awoke this morning very weak and dehydrated from my bout with food poisoning, or "Delhi Belly", throughout last night. Although I felt like remaining in bed all day, as we were taking a boat trip to visit several monasteries on Lake Tana this...

Jan 14, 2009 - Visit to Falasha Village en Route to Lake Tana

We left Debark in the morning to begin the long drive to Bahir Dar on Lake Tana. In the late a.m., we stopped several kilometers outside of Gondar in the village of Wolleka. Wolleka was home to a large number of Falashas, or Ethiopian Jews, prior to the airlift by Israel several decades ago of nearly all of Ethiopia's Jewish population. The Falashas have a long and storied history in Ethiopia. Other than a few stands selling souvenirs and a very rustic synagogue which seemed little more than a painted hut with a rusty metal roof, however,...

Feb 8, 2008 - Bahir Dar

Mini van picked us up at 3 but did not leave city for Bahir Dar until 4:45(picking up passengers)...arr in B.D. at 3:45 and checked into a place near Ghion Hotel. Wasn't the greatest accom. but then we have been know to stay at much worse, esp given it was for just one nite.

Jan 21, 2008 - Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar is a big city located on the shores of a very large Lake Tana. Our hotel is of amazing design with very heavy wooden carvings and furniture but a very relaxed holiday atmosphere. Our bedrooms look over the main road to Lake Tana through palm trees and weather each day is pleasant and warm with nights slightly cooler. Weather to kill for! On our first day we visited two of the 37 islands in the lake by motorboat, each with a separate monastery and various artifacts. The living history of these monasteries and the ancient hand...

May 28, 2007 - Bahar Dar

El 26 de mayo parti a Bahar Dar con Caroline, una francesa que conoci el dia anterior. Tomamos una 4x4 que partia a las 4am y llego a las 2:30pm. Mucho mejor que el bus, que llegaba al dia siguiente! Llegamos a un hotel frente al Lago Tana, donde estan las islas de los monasterios famosos de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Etiope. Conocimos a otro frances, profesor de historia e investigador de la identidad nigeriana, con quien comimos frente al lago y fuimos a pasear por el pueblo. Eramos la atraccion de Bahar Dar, los nuevos 'ferenjis'. Fue una...

Oct 5, 2006 - Bahr Dar - 'There she blows'

Radiator is worse now than when the guy tried to fix it so we have to go back to Bahir Dar to get it fixed again. Oh and pick up a third spare for the roads south to Kenya. We have all decided that when we leave Ethiopia we need the beach. Once over the border we are heading for Mombassa which is about 500kms south from Nairobi. Not a bad idea. Mombassa has some of the best beaches in Kenya andis where all the Overland trucks head for. So left Gondor, had the same gearbox problem and filed the radiator on the way. Arrived in Bahir Dar at...

Sep 25, 2006 - Bahr Dar - After a night escape

Awoke i nthe morning to discover that Milo had given Wilson a bollocking for driving off after 'having a few' and 'not putting the gas bottle away in its correct location'. Hmmmmmm......... Wanker. The gas bottle was in the truck and needed to go outside. Arrived in Bahr Dar at lunch time where we just relaxed.