17th May, Addis Ababa

A change of plans. We intended to sweep north from Gondar to the Simien Mountains and Axum then on down to Addis stopping off at the churches at Lalibella on the way. With the rains starting and a bad road for half that distance we decided to head on down to Addis where we are ensconced in the small yard of the Wanza Hotel. On the way we spent a couple of nights at Lake Tana as mentioned in the earlier blog then went south stopping a night in a delightful complex in the process of being finished overlooking a branch of the Rift Valley. It would be at least 5,000 feet to the bottom of the valley. Tribes of monkeys were fighting on the cliffs while eagles and vultures floated above including the massive Lammergeyer with its 3 metre wing span. During the day we had dropped into the main Rift Valley where the Blue Nile wends its way. The road down took about 10 kms to get to the bottom and a further 10 getting up the other side. It is an amazing spectacle and when you realize this split in the earth’s surface runs all the way from the Dead Sea in Jordan down to Mozambique in southern Africa. With aid from Japan the road through the Valley was being improved and a new bridge is being built over the Nile.
Ethiopia is an amazing country; so mountainous yet most of it cultivated. At the moment the ground has been ploughed and sown, all ready for the rains to come. I hope they don’t fail like they do some years. Not many cars, mostly minibuses and trucks, the people seem to walk everywhere. It’s nothing for them to walk 20kms to the markets and driving through the towns one has to carefully weave a path through the people. Donkeys are used a lot, the sheep are intelligent keeping an eye on the traffic but you still have to keep an eye on the odd independent one that decides the grass is greener elsewhere.
Ethiopian food is very interesting and should be tried: the staple food is injeera, made from fermented yeast. It’s like a very flat pancake that overflows the plate and on which the other food is placed. You tear off a bit of injeera with your right hand then use it to scoop up the other food sitting on top. Difficult at first but quite easy after you get the hang of it. Beber is a potent paste like harissa that is added to many of the dishes bringing the eater out in a hot sweat after the first few mouth fulls. The Italians were here for a few years in the ‘30s and their legacy is the pasta dishes that are always on the menu and the coffee machines that can be found in the smallest of bars or cafes. The coffee grown in the country is reputed to be the best in the world and their macchiatos are to die for.
We will stay here until Monday when I have to organize the Yellow Card 3rd party insurance that covers most of Southern Africa. It saves having to take it out on each border.