Susie & Dan's Travels: Ethiopia

Our time in Ethiopia started with a three day visit to our friends Gavin, Lizzie and baby Isabella at the British Embassy in Addis Ababa. It was so good to catch up with them and to be spoilt with the creature comforts of an English home. As a guest, it is easy to get lost in the tranquillity of the British Embassy which has the feel of an English country club including swimming pool, riding stables and short golf course, the only difference being the giant tortoises and odd leopard that roam the grounds. As well as being shown around the city, sipping on some of the finest macchiatos we've ever tasted for a mere eight pence, riding in the hills surrounding the city and Dan finally having a shave for the first time in five weeks, we had our first taste of Ethiopian food which we have come to love and also watched the remarkable local dance which can only be described as shoulder break dancing. Thank you the Cook Family!

Back on the road, our first stop was the Simien Mountains for seven days of trekking and an attempt to summit Ras Dashen, the fourth highest mountain in Africa at 4620m. The landscape of the Simien really is truly breathtaking and unlike any other we've seen before. Formed through millions of years of volcanic eruptions and erosion, it could be described as a green version of the grand canyon yet even more dramatic. Giant labelia trees, heather, aloe vera and wild thyme cover the countless plateaus, crags and gorges which are also home to the most interesting of Ethiopia's endemic wildlife, namely the gelada baboon, the walia ibex and the Ethiopian wolf. We came across several huge groups of the magnificent looking gelada or 'bleeding heart' baboons and it was a fascinating experience to sit amongst a hundred or so group members and watch their social behaviour. They apparently have the most complex array of communication of any nonhuman primate and the most sophisticated social system with the females deciding who's boss, the young males forming bachelor groups and the older males performing a grandfather like role to the young. We came across some of the beautiful but rare walia ibex, however the elusive Ethiopian wolf escaped us, not surprising with an only an estimated fifty or so in the entire national park. We were incredibly lucky though to see a huge lammergeyer bird attempt to shatter an animal bone which it very occasionally does by dropping it from a great height mid-flight onto a rock below in order to get to the marrow inside.

With a guide to lead the way and an old-aged scout at the rear (armed with an antique rifle although we were convinced more for effect rather than anything else) we walked over 160km through the mountains staying in the remote villages of Sanaqber, Geech, Chenek and Ambikwa. The going proved to be tough with steep and uneven ascents and descents, two passes over 4000m and a slightly demoralising drop to 3000m the night before the early morning attempt to summit Ras Dashen, having been at 4200m at lunchtime. We're pleased to say we both made it and the feeling as with any good summit was one of jubilation.

After the Simien we visited Gondar for a day, one of the former capitals of Ethiopia, before heading north around what is known as the historical circuit. The first stop was Lalibela, famed for its eleven rock hewn churches and referred to as one of the elite few eighth wonders of the world. Built by King Lalibela in the 12th and 13th century in an attempt to create a new Jerusalem on African soil, the churches were intricately carved by thousands of hands literally chiselling down into the solid rock and then from the outside in, some even freed entirely from the surrounding rock on all sides. The most impressive is the cross shaped and 15m deep Bet Giyorgis (St. George) which we were lucky enough to see early in the morning of Ethiopian St. George's day whilst a few hundred people were standing around it to join in the chanting of the service being held within.

The town of Aksum was our next port of call, purported to be the Queen of Sheba's capital in the 10th century BC, allegedly the home of the Ark of the Covenant and littered with ancient tombs of former kings with giant stelae (monoliths made out of single pieces of granite used as tombstones) the largest of which weighed in at over 600 tonnes however sadly collapsed as it was being erected in the 4th century - believed to be the largest single block of stone that humans have ever attempted to erect. To see the advanced crafts and building ruins dating as far back as the 10th century BC was truly remarkable.

A drive through the Adwa Mountains close to the contentious Ethiopian/Eritrean border took us to Debre Damo, known as the holiest place in Orthodox Christian Ethiopia. Debre Damo is a 10th century monastery built on top of a high mountain plateau on which the resident male monks spend their entire lives without sight of the outside world. Unfortunately for Susie, women are not allowed on the plateau which even extends to the cows that live up there. The walk to the top ended with a rather precarious 17m climb up a vertical cliff with a leather rope for Dan to haul himself up with and a leather strap around his waist for one of the monks at the top to help pull him up. An exciting journey to say the least.

Our final stop was a visit to three of the 10th century rock hewn churches of Tigray, each perilously placed high in the mountains to avoid any attack from the Muslims amidst worsening relations at the time. Abuna Yemata Guh, the most spectacular one we visited halfway up a rock pinnacle required an hours steep trekking and culminated in a vertical cliff face scramble (no rope this time) and a walk along a very narrow ledge with a 200m drop, probably one of the least safe things we've done but well worth it.

Our last night before returning to Addis finally saw Dan give in to the local culinary speciality of tere sega (raw meat) that he previously thought more sensible to avoid. In the corner of many a good local restaurant exists several large hanging animal carcasses. To order, the butcher will hack off the requested fine cut (e.g. beef steak) and simply serve on a plate alongside a spicy awazi sauce and the customary injera. Injera is a bread like pancake made from the indigenous cereal tef and used as the base of practically every Ethiopian meal. The taste was divine but will no doubt be followed in several months time by some tape worm eradicating pills.

Our somewhat naive image of Ethiopia before entering, and no doubt that of many others, was one of a dry land ravaged by famine and surviving only on the comic relief esque aid that reaches it every year. Whilst sadly this is likely true in some parts of the country, the Ethiopia we saw was completely different with a very proud population, perhaps something to do with the fact that Ethiopia is the only African country to have successfully fought off colonisation throughout its history. Whilst we unfortunately did not have time to visit the tribes of the Lower Omo Valley in the south, it gives us a good reason to return in the future.

Click on the album cover below to see some more of our pictures.