Category: Return to Addis Ababa and some final thoughts

Our first introduction to Ethiopia was disheartening.

It was on the outskirts of Addis Ababa that we were exposed to a heartbreaking scene that plays out along the busy roadways leading to and from the city.

What we saw was horrible. We didn’t take pictures and in hindsight we should have in order to expose this inhumane treatment of an animal that works tirelessly for its masters and then is put out, not to pasture but is discarded and left alone to survive along the roads and boulevards of a traffic-congested and air-polluted environment. There is little forage food or water and their lives are left in the hands of the hyenas that come down from the hills at night and the endless vehicle traffic that they limp and hobble through by day.

Our hearts broke when we saw the horses.

Old, skinny, injured and dying on the side of the roads. Dodging traffic in the medians, limping, bleeding, dehydrated and sick. Unfortunately, we have seen animals suffering all over the world but this was something that really can’t be put into words. It was heartbreaking and we won’t forget…

The south of Ethiopia is a great adventure.

The roads aren’t good and they are consistently clogged up by herds of goats and cattle and of course, potholes. Ethiopia has the highest concentration/population of livestock in Africa. It takes many hours to travel relatively short distances as the main roadways are used for moving thousands of livestock to and from grazing areas. Ethiopia is also the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria and you definitely notice this while travelling.

The strong and endearing identity and independence of the tribal cultures in the south is evident and has evolved from the fierce rejection of attempted foreign influence over many decades however, the tribal cultures are quickly losing out to the 21st century changes that are running rampant.

Their livelihoods and way of life had not changed for centuries but they are now faced with challenges resulting from the devastating effects on their lives thrown into turmoil from the modernization efforts of the local and corrupt governments and the international players looking to get a toehold into the region. One international player stands out.

In the Omo Valley, the building of the Gibe III dam on the Omo River and the dire effect on the Omo Valley inhabitants and their centuries-long agricultural practices is a testament to the destruction of a way of being.

Now tourism dollars are more important than ever; however, we felt that some of the villages we visited on the tourist trail were contrived and set up. They need an income and we cannot blame them but it was saddening. It felt like a prostituting of a once proud people.

The north of Ethiopia is completely different than the south. The roads are generally excellent however we didn’t drive as much in the north, about 900 km versus 3,000+ km in the south.

The face of the geography and the faces of the inhabitants is noticeably different as there is an obvious influence from the North African/Egyptian blood line and interestingly this extends to the language in the Tigray region which has a slight Arabic sounding influence.

The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and the Tigray region are a testament to the strong Orthodox and Coptic Christians and Jews who have inhabited the area for centuries.

The Afar region to the northeast is an example of peoples who have endured extreme living conditions for millennia and serves to show the amazing resilience that still exists among the people of this area.

The Afar region in the northeast also hosts a surreal landscape of volcanic and tectonic history with the huge salt plains in the Danakil Depression and the alien landscapes of Dallol.

Most of the Ethiopian population belong to two tribes, the Amhara and Oromo. Many of the Amhara live in Addis Ababa and are an Orthodox Christian tribe who are very involved with governing the country while the Oromo is the largest tribe in the country and dominates the Southeastern part of the country.

In between are another 78 ethnic groups, all different and vying for a place in the ever-changing political structure that is evolving in the country.

The landscape of Ethiopia is incredible, the food, the real Ethiopian food is amazingly good and the people are friendly.

I wrote this draft post not too long after arriving back home from Ethiopia in November 2019.

One year later the Ethiopian government went to war with the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front

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Well, we have 3 days left before heading home. We arrived in Addis Ababa on the 26th of October and will head home from Addis on a late flight departing November 14th.

Over the course of 14 days of travel we covered approximately 3,300 km in a couple of Toyota Land Cruisers. The roads were generally bad and pothole-ridden in the south, were paved and generally very good in Amhara and Tigray and were unpaved 4×4 rough stuff in areas of the Afar region.

I don’t think we stayed at the best hotel in Addis in regard to the location to walkable restaurants and bars in the city. The Bole area a few km away would have probably been a better choice however the Capital Hotel & Spa where we stayed was very nice. The main restaurant was okay, breakfast was included and it was good. Their bars were boring however their traditional restaurant was absolutely fantastic!

The hotel advertises itself as a high security hotel and is very proud of their high security status. Was this hotel a likely target for the bad guys?

We are the most outstanding hotel for safety and security of our esteemed guests which is acknowledged by the United Nation Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). Likely, we are certified by the American Safe Hotels Company as a Safest & Secured Five Star Hotel in Addis Ababa.

Our hotel was the only place in Ethiopia where we could get decent Wi-Fi so we spent the day of the 12th trying to catch up on our blog posts and then had a great evening eating and drinking Tej (an orange coloured honey based wine) and listening to and watching fantastic live music and dancing entertainment at the traditional restaurant located in the basement of our hotel.

When in Addis Ababa a must visit is the National Museum of Ethiopia. We spent several hours wandering through this unfortunately very unkempt museum. The bones of human evolution and the artifacts of an amazing cultural and religious history were sadly displayed with very poor lighting and very little information posted to describe the artifacts on display.

The highlight of the museum is Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old collection of bones that once made up the skeleton of a bipedal Hominin discovered in the Afar region in 1974, the oldest ever to be discovered by anthropologists. Several hundred pieces of bone fossils represent about 40% of the original Lucy (aka AL 288-1).

Below is how Lucy may have looked.

The National Museum is interesting and could really be impressive if funds could be raised to do a makeover. The museum admittance fee was a very cheap 20 cents so there is certainly plenty of room to raise this. Maybe this could get the ball rolling to fix up what should be a showcase museum for the country.

There are several other sites in and around Addis that can be seen if you sign up for a tour but as it was our final day in Africa we were now in departure mode so after our visit to the museum we stopped in at a small collection of artisan shops and purchased some beautiful hand-woven baskets, returned to our hotel and slowly packed our bags.

As mentioned above, tours either 1/2 day or full are readily available to explore in and around Addis Ababa but they are in our opinion a little expensive. Our hotel concierge arranged a taxi that charged an hourly rate which I think was a cheaper way to go and you were in control of your own itinerary. Always the best way.

Our flight home didn’t depart until late in the evening of the 14th so we had to pay for an additional hotel night but it was well worth it to have time to organize our luggage, secure our souvenirs, have a shower and take some time to contemplate all that we had experienced over the past four months visiting South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Ethiopia.

It was another excellent adventure!

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November 11, 2019

The north of Ethiopia and the last leg of our trip was an excellent experience and it gave us an insight into the historic and strong Christian Orthodox and Coptic Christian religion that permeates much of the Amhara and Tigray regions and of the nominally Muslim Afar people who thrive in the extremely harsh conditions of the northeastern Afar region and the incredible landscapes of the Afar region.

We had 1 1/2 very interesting days in Lalibela, a 1/2 day drive and a visit to Yeha and 2 1/2 days exploring the other-worldly Afar region of Ethiopia sleeping under the stars and pooping (or trying to) in garbage and poop and toilet-paper-filled lava fields.

The landscape was incredible.

Our driver, Abrham (yes that is the correct spelling) was a very nice man and was the lead driver in our group so we were always the first to arrive at a specific destination. He is from Mekele and has worked as a tour driver for many years so he knew all the ins and outs of the expansive and open terrain we often travelled.

Abrham was also a very generous man.

On our way to Erta Ale Volcano, we stopped without warning at a tiny Afar settlement in the middle of a lava field in the middle of nowhere.

There was a young boy standing on the side of the road. Abrham got out of the truck and opened the back and pulled out books, writing paper, pens and some candy and handed it out to the small crowd that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He told us he did this every time he passed this way because they have very little access to education, never mind paper or pens or candy. It was a gesture that should be repeated by all tour drivers/companies that pass through. Life is very harsh in the northeastern Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia.

We were dropped off at Mekele airport with several hours to kill before our flight. However, we lucked out and were able to get on an earlier flight back to Addis. We arrived back at our hotel with plenty of time to relax, shower and have a nice evening and a light dinner of a very average pizza at our hotel lounge.

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