Day Eleven: An Intro to Animals

Feeling refreshed, we hit the road (again on our good ol' Matatu 46) and went back downtown to find a bank. With dismay we realized that it was Sunday and no banks were open (and we were turned away from the Hilton being told they only exchanged with their guests! Not sure how they knew we weren't staying there...). Outside the hotel, the doorman caught wind of our predicament and nodded us in the direction of a nearby security guard. He told us not to worry, that he would change our money for us. Hoping that we weren't breaking any laws, we completed the transaction on the street corner, and were on our way again.

The Elephant's trunk is chasing away a women that wanted
nothing to do with touching an elephant.

Our first stop was the David Sheldrick Rescue Centre dedicated to saving orphaned elephants, raising them to good health, then reintroducing them to the wild. We learned the story of each elephant, usually that their mother had been the victim of poaching, and they were found beside her dead body close to starvation. We watched them being bottle fed by their beloved trainers, and they played a bit in the dust and waterhole provided. The most exciting part was when the trainer led one (by holding out tasty leaves) along the fence line and Erin got to pet it. It was super hairy and prickly!

Next, we moved on to the Giraffe Centre where they breed the endangered Rothschild giraffes and reintroduce them to the wild. There are only 50 left in the world currently, so this centre is very important for their survival. There are three areas of Kenya where they can be found (we'll be going to one area next week, so fingers crossed!). At the centre we got to hand feed them from a platform, and even pat one's head!

Then we stocked up on snacks and drinks, and made our way back home, Matatu 46 failed us again by taking a detour around where our road is, but after a good walk/workout, we found our way.

Now (Day 12) we're all ready for our safari today! We'll post again in a four or five days with hopefully tons of amazing animal photos.

The Giraffes had a very large forested grounds to wander.

Day Ten: Jambo! Third Times a Charm

Today we flew to Kenya, at the fantastic hour of 4am. Not feeling challenged enough on four hours sleep, we decided to attempt getting to our hostel via public transportation. This proved simple enough at first - we found the downtown shuttle, gloated over our saved cash, and found our next bus with little difficulty. But things started to fall apart when the ticket taker told us to get off too early. Thinking we had actually gone too FAR, we caught the bus in the opposite direction (this ticket guy also nodded that he knew where we were looking for). Before we knew it, we were back downtown again! Feeling discouraged, we weighed our options, but again got back on Matatu 46 hoping that this reassuring ticket taker actually knew our road. Thankfully, he did, and on the third attempt found the "Upperhill Campsite."

Our Delux Safari Tent awaited us...thick canvas with a tiny lamp inside that barely lit the corner. But the bed had a frame and was comfortable, so although cosy, we were glad to be in our new home. We enjoyed a relaxing day and even better, the best sleep we've probably had since we've been here. Yay!

Day Nine: Saying Good-bye to Ethiopia

Lasting Impressions:

* Ethiopians are very friendly and welcoming to tourists. We always felt safe walking alone through town.

* Even knowing we were going during the rainy season we were surprised by how lush and green the landscape was.

* The poverty in Ethiopia is heartbreaking at times. Some salespeople know to appeal to our guilt for tips and to entice purchases. Our taxi driver in Addis told us he was struggling in order to get an increased fare (after convincing us he knew where he was going and then we had to ask for directions). Another girl when she failed to convince Craig to buy a scarf through

Our Route in Ethiopia

flattery said, "You are a beautiful man, but you would be more beautiful with this scarf." Then she said outright, "I know you don't need this scarf, but I am a student and need books, please help me."

* After many feeble attempts at bartering, we were so pleased with ourselves to negotiate our taxi fare down from 400 Birr to 150!

* Anytime that power, water, and internet are all working is cause for celebration. Sending emails from a hot shower is difficult though...

* Like in many countries, men commonly hold hands, and show affection physically. We were surprised by how clingy and one sided this sometimes seemed. But it was cute when due to pedestrian traffic they would be forced to seperate and then reach for each other once past the obstacle.

Just a picture to break up the text.

* The division is labour is unequal along gender lines, with women doing the majority of the work for less pay. This was highlighted when we walked past a construction site and three men stood watching three women shovel gravel.

* We never did get the hang of pronouncing anything in Amharic. Although Craig did get to use the one phrase he could remember. Aznalo Yelem. It was not clear when we were taught "I'm sorry, I don't have" when we would use it. Then Craig had a child beg for candy, so happy to use the only phrase he had the child must have thought he was an evil man the way he took such pleasure in depriving a child of a treat.

Another picture

Day Eight: Over the Edge

With Erin and Craig both fighting off colds, they were happy to wake up to the sounds of a downpour on their roof. Thus absolving them of any responsibility to do anything to make the most of their day.

After a leisurely morning Craig felt confident enough to hike out to the Blue Nile Falls, while Erin made the wiser decision to recover further (Craig is now worse). The falls were as impressive as the food Craig and Erin shared for dinner was terrible. Dinner consisted of 3 thin slabs of lukewarm, overcooked, tilapia from the lake; along with cold crispy potatoes, and chilly rice.

On our last non-travel day in Ethiopia came to a close we realized we had maybe set too ambitious a pace and were ready for a reset in Kenya where we will hopefully be able to take things more slowly.

And on the Seventh Day They Tried to Rest

After a tortuous bus ride to Bahir Dar, Erin and Craig were rewarded with their first Ethiopian sunset over Lake Tana

Day Six: A Little Bit of Everything

Craig has 20 more like this.

 On day six we woke up early to head to Wunania in the mountains. The drive was promised to be beautiful but coming from Lalibela, we felt it was a disappointment and our expectations were dramatically reduced for our hike. However when we pulled off to the side of the road at the top of a pass, the view that lay before us was outstanding. We hiked for a few hours along a ridge overlooking many gorgeous valleys, with Craig always lagging behind to take pictures.

Along the hike we spotted Gelada Baboons and Black and White Colobus Monkeys, our first wild mammals of the trip. It was amazing to see them scrambling along the steep cliffs, keep at bay by children sitting on the opposing ridge, yelling at them to protect their crops. Along the way we had to avoid goats, donkeys, bulls, and sheep. The children herding the animals would sometimes break off and follow us for a while before returning to their flocks.

We reached the end of our hike at a summit high above the surround valleys with a great panoramic view, a little tired, but our day was just beginning.

After the hike it was off to the main sites of Gondar (Lalibela, see days 3-4, used to be named Roha, Tolkien liked to steal Ethiopian city names). First stop: the royal enclosure, known as the Camelot of Africa, but because there is not a Camelot of somewhereelse, it should just be 'Camelot'. The palaces were amazing, and our guide was not too pushy so we were able to wander off on our own. When we did listen we learned some interesting facts about 16th century Ethiopian kings: The one that is "the Great" raised taxes 10 fold,  and another instituted laws to protect animals which we observed are no longer being followed in Ethiopia (i.e. Donkeys cannot carry incredibly burdensome loads, and you cannot carry chickens upside-down).

 

The second stop, after a 3.5 km walk through town and the pictured above juice stop (from bottom to top: avocado, guava, papaya, and mango), was the baths. The most stunning feature of the baths are the tree roots growing over the walls.

Slightly exhausted by a long day of hiking,  as we were, the baths' green shallow water did not tempt us and we opted for a tuk-tuk to get to our last sight of the day, an old church. This proved to be rather scary, the ride not the church, as the tuk-tuk tended to veer right unexpectedly. The church itself had interesting paintings, but was otherwise unimpressive. Erin nearly made the faux-pas of using the front door to the church, which is men only (she should be happy she was even allowed in since many churches in Ethiopia do not allow women).

At the time of writing (delayed publishing due to internet issues) we sat waiting for a sunset, which would never arrive as the clouds were rolling in again, and sampling our third different Ethiopian wine, a sweet red.

Days Five: TEJ Talks

On day five we left beautiful Lalibela and headed for Gondar, the city of castles. We met a nice woman from Spain, Pepa, at the airport and split a taxi with her. We took her recommendation for accommodation and followed her to the Genetics Guesthouse (we're not sure why it's named Genetics, please alert us if you see our clones).
Pepa invited us to join her and a friend of a friend, Kibru, who is a guide in Gondar. We chatted over drinks about what there is to do in the city and then decided to continue our conversation over dinner. We ate at another traditional restaurant called the Four Sisters. When we approached the restaurant, a guard announced our arrival using a horn so that when we turned through the gate their wait staff was ready to greet us! We watched a traditional Coffee Ceremony, had a bucket of steaming coals with incense placed at the foot of our table to ward off mosquitoes, and split the National dish. This included more injera (spongy flatbread), beef tibs (fried meat with onions), lentil soup, sauteed onions and carrots, pickled beets, and much more. All accompanied by more Tej.
Kibru was very open and easy to talk to about religion and politics in Ethiopia. We found it interesting that in a Nation were the people are proud of the place as the origin of man and coffee, and (one of) the oldest civilizations, dating back 10,000 years, that the majority of people, including the young and well educated, would discount this history by saying the earth is 5,500 years old. However as he put it, "the church tells you what is right and wrong, in school they teach you what science says, and you choose what to believe."

(Above: Coffee Ceremony, Below: Dinner and Tej)  We walked back to our hotel in the darkness admiring the stars.