Nov 10 - Off Again - Ethiopia this time

Here we are - stating off again. Ethiopia this time.

We are fully in panic mode (strange, as we get older, I mean, less young, the panic mode starts earlier) as we try to do everything before our departure tomorrow for Addis Ababa which has the status of both a city and a state.

It is where the African Union and its predecessor the OAU are based. It also hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and numerous other continental and international organizations. Addis Ababa is therefore often referred to as "the political capital of Africa" due to its historical, diplomatic and political significance for the continent. (I stole that from Wikipedia)


This time we are being spoilt. We have a local guide. Our daughter Tessa is working there in the humanitarian development sector.

Here in Luxembourg the weather is miserable. There it should be like Spring, warm days, cool evenings. And sunny!

So enjoy the coming winter. I do hope you have snow tyres on. Or at least on the car.

We will think of you from time to time, but don't hold your breath!

Peter and Sue

(Sharp eyed readers will see that there appears to be some confusion about dates.  I had to fiddle the dates so that this blog would be ordered as a travel diary with earliest entry first, rather than a blog.)

Nov 11 - Frankfurt

First stage complete, we are in Frankfurt airport and early for once. Otherwise I would not be doing this blog.

This should be full of pictures, but I discovered my camera batteries are flat, or more likely,the wrong type.

We had various ways of getting here, and the chosen one (Bus to Saarbrucken, then direct train to the airport) does not allow buying tickets online. So I could leave early, go to the station, buy our tickets, then return and without stopping, pickup Sue and the bags and return to the station. Or we could leave together at the same time, and just catch an earlier bus.

Which we decided to do, and it was lucky we did. When we crossed into Germany, the German customs stopped the bus for a spot check. Four armed police came on board and started cross examining all the passengers, including us.The driver told us afterwards they were looking for drugs or for black money cash transfers.They hauled some poor foreigner-looking man off the bus and searched him for a while,then let him come back on. Later the driver told us his bus had been stopped successfully twice in recent weeks. Once a man had been caught with 420 000 euros of black money. The other time it was 460.000 euros in cash.

Off we went, somewhat late. Our schedule gave us 21 minutes between the bus arriving and the train leaving. We were 20 minutes late. We had a mad scramble, and some luck, and we were the last people to get on the train!

Otherwise the trip was uneventful. We arrived early, and ran into a noisy demonstration at Frankfurt airport. Protesting about noise, aircraft noise. I bought some batteries for the camera, so at last you get a picture.

This was the band which led the noise making at the noisy demonstration.

Next stop Addis Ababa.

Nov 12 - Time travel

Ethiopia is a very old country which, unlike most of Africa, has never been colonized. So it never was forced to adopt European standards.

Its adoption of Christianity is also old. They do not believe in new fangled inventions like that of Pope Gregory, and his messing around with the calendar. They are still on the original system.

This allows time travel.

We left in 2013 AD of the Gregorian calendar and arrived, judging by the Ethiopian calendar, on 03/032006. Regrettably, we lost those 7 years when we came back home.

The months and hours are different too. The Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of 30 days each plus five or six extra holiday days, which form a thirteenth month.

Ethiopians use a 12-hour clock, with one cycle of 1 to 12 from dawn to dusk, and the other cycle from dusk to dawn. Ethiopia is fairly near the equator, so roughly all days and nights are 12 hours long, so the start of the day is dawn, rather than midnight. Thus, 7:00 AM in East Africa Time corresponds to 1:00 in daylight hours in local Ethiopian time.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_calendar

Nov 13 - In Addis

We flew Ethiopian Airlines, which were good except for the inflight movies. I had a rather difficult man sitting behind me, who managed to kick me in the back every time I was about to doze off. But Sue, unusually, managed to sleep. Overall a good flight. And 75 minutes early arriving at Addis.

This is an airport to make Heathrow jealous.

We got our visas in a few minutes and lost about 60 seconds in the passport control. No one asked us if we were terrorists, or if we had come to the country to kill any important people. NSA, if you are reading this, and I expect you are, maybe you could leak these comments to the US Immigration Service?

As you see from the pic, this is not our usual 10 Kg backpack holiday. Tess has given us a long list of things to bring, and anyway we have a base where we can leave things in Addis while we travel around Ethiopia.

Best of all was arriving in Addis and having our own friendly travel guide.

Worse of all was finding rain here, in the middle of the dry season.

We took it easy on our arrival day, and on the 2nd day went off to do culture, e.g. the National Museum.

Where we met Lucy.

Or at least what they found of her.

Entering Tessa's Palace

Finally, a drink in a 10th floor bar overlooking the evening city.

Nov 15 - Heading North

Tessa took a week off and we headed North.

We hired a 4x4 plus a driver. This was cheaper that the air fares for 3 people there and back.

This is our lunch time stopping place.

Genuine straw huts, not ones built for tourists.

Overlook the Rift Valley and the Blue Nile

A long way down

They are proud of their new Japanese built bridge. Most new developments come from the Chinese.

Looking back

We stopped for a natural break.

It was dark and raining when we got to Bahar-Dar, so we took the first hotel. Very cheap, but acceptable. And they had hot water showers of a minimal standard.

Having a coffee outside in the morning.

Tuk-tuks may not need much petrol, but they do need some. Looks like a petrol shortage,

Nov 16 - Gondar, on our way to the Highlands

We are in Gondar.
I`m typing this on Tessa's tablet, so you do not get much!
All is great, except the rain. Tomorrow we go trekking.
More later.

I promise!

That is what I was able to post then, but here are some pics.

I'm not quite sure where Gondar starts, but this looks like some sort of good marker.

Gentle farmland.

A welcoming traditional coffee in Gondar.

This is our lodge. Expensive and no hot water.

But otherwise very nice.

We arrived in time for a big event. Ethiopia were playing Nigeria in the African Cup.

Everyone in Ethiopia dressed up for the event.

Nov 20 - The Simian National Park - the start

The Simiens were just unbelievable.

The part we were in is roughly a large elevated plateau, with incredible cliffs around it, some apparently dropping 1 Km vertically to forested hills below. Enough to make you breathless, except that you already are - the plateau is above 4000 metres.


We discussed at length with tour operators who promised wonderful things, but in the end with the help of Tessa's broken Amharic, we did our own thing. It was basic at times, very cold at night but great fun.

Here is the notice outside the park office where we got our permit, scout (meaning armed guard) and guide. 

We set off through the Debark market.

Passing an overloaded cart pulled by an exhausted horse

Our guard, stuck in the back of the land cruiser

This is the entrance. That's all there was.

We had to wait awhile for the lady to appear.

Well, it is off season.

First view of the park proper. 

This is our starting point.

We hired 2 mules here, one for us and one for our bags. Each mule comes with a driver.

 Loading our pack mule with our bags.

It may be a plateau, but that is a relative term. It was not flat.

Our destination was 90 minutes walk away. Over on the other side of the valley.

All at around 4000 metres high.

Down the hill - this was easy

Across the stream

And up the other side. This is where we started realizing just how high we were, and how little oxygen there is at nearly 4000 metres.

The locals seem to think we are of little interest.

Sue being smart.

Giving us a suspicious glance.

And here we are!

Our destination for the next 2 nights - Everlasting Lodge.

I hope it lasts 48 hours.

Still, they do offer a full range of services,

The full complex.

Except for the loo which was 100 metres down a steep track.

And no lights. Lucky for us there was a full moon.

Someone is keeping an eye on us.

Inside, as well as out, it was very cold.

A beautiful morning.

Breakfast, as always in Ethiopia, is eggs.

Fried, scrambled or as an omelette.

But what a view.

Off on our days walk. This was a long loop out to some of the most spectacle viewpoints.

Getting close.

Just taking it all in.

Tessa in a photo shoot pic.

Walking up the other side. Sue still looks cold.

Just awe inspiring.

You stop and look and look and look.

There is a village down there in the middle of this picture.

I wonder if they ever think of all the tourists looking down on them?

Our guard looking pleased that he had kept all the mountain leopards away.

We are still being observed.

No comment.

More locals.

These strange parallel paths cut out of the turf.

What causes them?

Tess making sure we are on the good road home

Our chef for the evening. Much appreciated fine dining here on a par with the best in Addis

Another great day over, and now a 13 hour very cold night to look forward to.

We decided to pay for 3 piles of firewood, so we could have a camp fire and keep a little bit warm for a while.

.