Alive in Ethiopia

How to describe Ethiopia in one word? Some travellers that we met (known collectively as ‘The Boys’), have a challenge to try to capture each county they pass through in just one word. The process of selecting the word is quite complicated and involves locking in noises and other protocol that are too intricate to expand upon here. Spence (‘The Boys’ accounts manager and scribe of ‘The Book’) took a poll of the 10 of us who had just crossed the border from Ethiopia to Kenya to select the word to be entered into ‘The Book’ for Ethiopia. Words such as ‘lush’, ‘moist’, ‘crowded’ and ‘vibrant’ were bandied around the campfire. The winning word, offered by Dave (not normally one for brevity, but this was a good'un), was ‘alive’, which is remarkably apt. As soon as we crossed the border the place hummed with life, excitement and a kind of vociferous intensity. In the car, I took on the full time job of chief waver and smiler to respond to the constant stream of waving, clambering and yelling children who lined the road, acknowledging that we were there, in their country. Life is lived along the road in Ethiopia; it is the playground, the supermarket and the highway for herds of goat, cattle and donkey. Greetings ranged from delightful smiles and cute choruses of “hello, welcome”, to the slightly crazed farangi frenzy that was followed by screeches of "Faragi…….you, you, you you, YOU!” On the roadside kids dance as you pass, and each region has a 'specialty'. In the north it is the shoulder dance; in the central highlands it takes on a knee/leg focus; in the south there is a lot of bum wiggling and even some standing on heads! Stepping outside the car meant that each spare hand or finger was quickly latched on to- you can go nowhere in Ethiopia without a full entourage of children. In Ethiopia, you cannot be private, subtle or unnoticed. And you certainly can never be alone. The place is alive with life and it demands interaction.

Our first port of call in Ethiopia was Gondar- a kind of Ethiopian Edinburgh with cobbled streets and castles looming in the background. It is also home to some amazing- if dilapidated and incongruous- Art Deco architecture. The Italian influence also means that Ethiopia also has amazing coffee; frothy macchiatos are poured from circa 1930’s coffee machines, in even the smallest backwater villages. We quickly became addicted. I also became addicted to avocado juice (by itself or mixed with mango). Delicious and requiring a spoon!

 From Gondar we headed to Axum on an incredible tiny, winding road- amazing driving, but very slow going- we drove all day and still didn’t make it in daylight. Axum itself was a chilled out town, home to the Axum Stele and the Arc of the Covenant (which is allegedly in a church here, but mere mortals are not allowed to see it- it’s kept shrouded in secrecy), and some beer on tap- welcome after Sudan!

 We then headed across to the Tigray region- home of stunning landscapes, and hard to reach monasteries set into rock. It is also home of grumpy monks and very inflated entry prices.

We then headed through more gorgeous landscapes with hidden rock churches set in caves and across to the famous Lalibela where this time we stopped in at a more obscure rock hewn church, Yemrehanna Kristos, complete with mummified bodies dumped out the back; “Just some local dead people”, said our guide.......

Our final stop on what is known as Northern Ethiopia’s ‘Historical circuit’, was Bahir Dar, where we met up with Dave and Nadine, who had acquired the travelling name of ‘The Losers’(this accompanied them from the Sudan where they were travelling with ‘The Boys’ who like labels!) Needless to say some entertaining evenings followed. We soon discovered St George was our favourite Ethiopia beer and that we absolutely love Amharic pop music!

 We then headed to Addis Ababa to get our Kenyan visas, though we slightly miscalculated, arriving on a Friday, and visas would take up to 4 days to issue. Addis is a sprawling and slightly unfathomable city; we couldn’t get our heads around it. Even with maps and GPS we could never make it to where we wanted to go. Taxi rides were confusing affairs and seemed extortionate after Cairo prices. Eventually, we gave up, and stayed closer to home for our entertainment; the dodgy streets surrounding the Taitu Hotel. Fun but seedy!

 Luckily visas were issued on the Monday and we headed towards the Omo Valley via some beautiful lakes and lakeside camping to Arba Minch. We visited the Dorze tribe, who are known for their fabulous ‘elephant’ style huts, which were actually very cozy inside (though they do share their inside space with their animals for warmth). It was also a lesson in sustainability, as the Dorze people make bread from fermenting the banana tree growing outside their huts, the leaves wrap the bread for baking and the remaining pulp from the fermenting process is wound into string. Pretty amazing. The bread was tasty and the accompaniment was a delicious fiery garlicky, gingery, chilli-ey sauce. In the market place we also tried the local ‘wine’ tej, which is sold in the guidebooks as a’ honey wine’, but in reality was pretty gruesome- and this is coming from a wine lover!

As we moved further towards the Omo Valley - Lake Turkana route into Kenya, the group expanded from us four ‘The Lames’ and ‘The Losers’, to 6 (Walter and Inga- ‘The Wingers'),to 10 (with the addition of Ed, Spence, Jason and Louis -‘The Boys’). We headed to Jinka, where there was a local market which was frequented by Ari, Mursi and Bana tribes. It was a great place to see just how individualistic each tribal group actual was, and a great place to buy fruit and veg. A very enjoyable experience.

We were dubious about visiting the Mursi people in their village because guide books and other peoples’ blogs warned it was very exploitative for all involved. However, we decided that we would do the village visit, and though the whole experience felt slightly surreal, I am still glad we did go. When we first reached the village all the interactions with the villagers seemed quite okay- I was wearing a beaded top and had a bag with mirrors and other bits on it. They were fascinated by them, which made it -for me- seem less voyeuristic; we were all interested in looking at each other! (I would love to take a lot of ‘Accessorize’ stuff out there- it would be right up the ally of the Mursi people, and equally the Mursi are inspiration for a whole High Street Line!) But once photos started to be taken and payments negotiated , (and rightly we expected to pay for photos and did) it felt very strange…….Who didn’t you take a picture of? Who do you ‘choose’ to take a picture of? While to experience wasn’t too horrific it still felt very uncomfortable.

 

We then decided to head off through the Mago National Park- which began with a warning from the park warden; “the river is impassable”. This proved too much of a provocation for our band of travellers. We did pass it- and in true ‘boys and their toys’ style, we used every bit of equipment -winches, sand ladders, spades, waffle boards- to cross not only the river, but the 90kms of park which was virtually road less and hadn’t seen anyone for ages. The cars have the scratches to prove it! Our reward was plenty of gung-ho fun, and meeting some less touristy tribes at the other end of the park, where the interactions seemed more genuine.  

We then headed to Omarate to complete the paperwork to leave Ethiopia and headed towards Lake Turkana, where I will leave you now and return for the Kenya post soon!