ETHIOPIA SUMMARY OF TOUR AND IMPRESSIONS

April 21 - May 5, 2012

North and South ETHIOPIA Tour Summary

How do we start to summarize all the sights, sounds, traditions, peoples, culture, food and experiences of the last 2 weeks?  We can but try.  Regardless of individual comments below - know that this has been an amazing tour for us and we have loved every moment of every day.  These are our opinions and may not be the same as your own should you be lucky enough to travel to Ethiopia!.

Ethiopia is a land in North Eastern Africa with approximately 85 million people, all deriving from over 70 different tribes each with a different language.  Amharic is spoken by many, and English is the language taught in all Universities here.  Many schools teach the local language and English.  All children go to school for free.

The Ethiopian people vary from area to area - in general their skin colour goes from medium brown to almost black.  Most have very curly black hair worn quite short or shaved.  They are a very beautiful and handsome race.  They are also very tactile - they always greet each other with a big smile and touching left and right shoulders three times while shaking hands (men) or touching and kissing cheeks three or four times (men and women).  All day you see women walking along holding hands, and men holding hands.  Homosexuality and Lesbianism is illegal, taboo and prohibited.

The main religions are (Ethiopian Orthodox & Protestant, Catholic) Christian 60%, Muslim 35%, remaining are the Animistic and the non believers. 

The countryside is unbelievably spectacular, from lands close to sea level like the lower OMO Valley in the South, to the Highlands like the Semien Mountains in the North.  It is very mountainous with many deep gorges and few roads in many areas.  To tour here you can fly between some major centres, or spend long hours driving across roads full of donkeys, goats, cattle, adults and children, donkey carts, mules and a few vehicles always trying to weave around them.  Short distances take a long time to cover but there is so much to see it is impossible to be bored while traveling in Ethiopia.

The lands vary from wet 8 months of the year to very dry and no water.  Outside of the main city of Addis Ababa everyone can be seen carrying the inevitable yellow plastic jugs (old vegetable oil containers) and fetching water every day.  The majority of people walk everywhere or ride their donkeys, or donkey carts, if they have one.  The bus lines have a lot of vehicles and you see them on the main routes fully packed with people inside and loaded on top with everything they are carrying to, or from, home.  There are also the minibus with 12 seats (and most often with  more than 12 packed inside but is illegal). The people are very industrious and can be seen ploughing their fields with a hand drawn or ox drawn plough from before dawn until dusk.  Children as young as 3 years old are sent out to take the sheep, goats, and cattle to and from their feeding and watering places for the day.

The number one export is coffee, number two fresh flowers and number three goat and cattle skin for leathers. America and Japan import the most coffee from Ethiopia,  Europe and Asia are large export destinations.  For their own consumption and in Asia and Europe they grow coffee, maize, sorghum, bananas, mangoes, pineapple, papaya, apple, orange, lemons, limes, avocado, chilis, broad beans, cabbage, potatoes, kassava, cotton, fresh flowers (roses mostly), wheat, barley, oats, lentils, tomatoes, onions, garlic, pumpkins, water melon, chick peas, green peas, green haricot beans, sugar cane. spices: rosemary, cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, 

The weather is different between the North and the South.  The long rainy season months are also at different times of the year from North to South.   It is below freezing at night in the high altitude Northern Semien Mountains - it is above 35 Celcius in the South by the OMO river Valley.  Most of the country is high altitude and this means cool, and cold, nights which can be very comfortable for sleeping.  Addia Ababa is at about 8000 feet.  In the Semein mountain area it is over 10,000 ft.

Most Ethiopians live at subsistence level by growing their own crops and raising their own livestock.  As tourists drive around, many people will put their hand out to you (looking for something from you) whether you are walking by them or driving by at 100 km per hour - they are looking for money, pencils, candy, tee shirts etc - or in the villages you visit to see the different cultures you will be required to pay per person per photo for every photo that you take.  But don’t let that deter you, this is a wonderful country with lovely people.

Ethiopia is currently under construction!  Never have we seen so much construction - massive road projects with huge amounts of large modern construction equipment for hundreds of miles.  Everywhere you look there are new hotels, new homes and new Universities being built and existing facilities being expanded.  The Chinese are managing much of the construction using local labour (between Turmi and Key Afer it is managed by a company from India). Some of the funding is coming from the World Bank, European Union, the Ethiopian Government, and of course China.

Many things that you would need to buy on a daily basis in the Western world we would consider cheap in Ethiopia - cooked breakfast for $3, lunch for $3, dinner for $3.  A large bag of 12 fresh mangos for 50 cents.

Our tour was arranged by DINKNESH TOURS - we would have no hesitation highly recommending Dinknesh Tours and all of the three Dinknesh staff below - in fact I would hope that should I return to Ethiopia I had the very same Guide and Drivers!

On our trip we had one amazing tour Guide Melkamu Alemu for the entire 14 nights North and South Ethiopia Tour.  His knowledge of Ethiopian peoples, culture, history, religion, wildlife, politics, geography was so complete it was superb.  No matter how many questions (and repeat questions) that I threw at Melkamu he would always answer me with a smile.  His English was fluent and very easy to understand. Melkamu guides a lot of German tourists and he is fluent in German as well as English and Amharic.

In the North we flew and drove - Adane Beshada was our driver of the 30 passenger minibus and he welcomed us every morning, night, and every time on and off the bus with a big welcoming smile. We loved him even though our conversations in English with him were very limited to greetings.

In the South we drove everywhere with Driver Belete Bekele we called him Bele and enjoyed every moment.  Bele covered long distances every day on very difficult roads (animals, people and potholes) always with a smile and ready to answer any question.  We loved his taste in music, and his knowledge of artists, instruments and songs.  We never saw him lose his temper or concentration once.

The hotels we stayed in varied in our experiences from 5 star to 0 star. Regardless of the comments below, the hotels in general were much better than we had expected in Ethiopia, we had expected that in the South the hotels would all be extremely basic with no facilities - essentially a bed and shower and toilet.  Our experience was that most of the hotels had more facilities than we had expected, had been around longer than we expected and at a higher level than we had expected.  Apart from some minor frustrations (cold or no water in the shower, only one towel, no shampoo at any hotel just soap, no reading light or very low level reading light) the hotels were fine for all tourists, but definitely not luxury level.  The availability of WIFI at many of the hotels also surprised us.

In Addis Ababa the Panorama Hotel 4 star was adequate with free WIFI a great bonus.  A nice downstairs bar (which we didn’t try ) and clean bathrooms with individual water heaters.  The bed was comfortable and the breakfast passable.  There are rooms in the centre of the hotel where you look at the person through their window in the room in the opposite tower just a few feet away if you open your drapes so a room on the outside walls is much more appealing.  It is located towards the edge of town so not really convenient for just walking out and about.

In the North in Bahir Dar we had lunch at the ultra modern KURIFTU resort on Lake Tana with swimming pool and rooms set in flowering shrubs in a garden setting - just beautiful with great views, excellent food and nice rooms.  That night we stayed in the town of Gondar at the GOHA hotel.  An older hotel with very friendly and helpful staff and amazing views over the town,  The food was good, although the rooms were showing their age a little, small and dated.  In the Simien Mountains we stayed at the Simien Lodge which claims fame for the highest bar in Africa!  The views spectacular, the individual rooms very spacious and comfortable.  Walking at this height to and from the central facilities at over 10,000 feet you definitely feel the lower levels of oxygen than what you are used to.  The hot water bottles we each had for our bed that night was a wonderful surprising touch!  The YEHA hotel in AXUM was again an older , originally government, hotel with good views of the town.  Large impersonal dining room , mediocre food, small dark dated rooms but a great location.  Large notices in this and many of the hotels “absolutely no laundry to be done in rooms!”  In AXUM we also looked at the Consular (large clean rooms) and BRANA (better food) hotels - newer but multiple storeys with no elevators.In LALIBELA we stayed at the ROHA hotel, with smallish dated rooms with cold water and no pressure in the bathroom, but a larger hotel and dining room, efficient service, large and welcoming bar facilities, nice gift store (one of the very few we saw).  We also visited the new Mountainview Hotel on top of the ridge - definitely recommend that - very modern with amazing views, gracious management and staff and a Jamaican chef!  We also visited the new TUKUL Hotel (next door to the ROHA) with lovely round rooms decorated wonderfully and again sitting on a ridge with wonderful views - the dining room looked very sparse and unwelcoming.

In the South, the worst accommodation we stayed in was the GOBA WABISH EBELE HOTEL, originally a government hotel chain, now privately owned.  Everything is badly in need of upgrading from the bathroom shower (water everywhere and electric wiring right next to the shower head), sheets that don’t fit, and tiny dreary rooms.  The Sangaro Resort at Lake Langano was very nice with beautiful views, rooms and good food - a wonderful relaxing experience.  In Lake Awassa we stayed at the TADESSE ENJORI in the centre of town.  Our room was on the ground floor so we had to keep the drapes closed all the time since everyone walking by could look right in.  Comfortable bed, nice bathroom and shower. The food was good, a nice looking bar with restaurant upstairs - buffet breakfast and a la carte dinner.  Minimal English spoken or understood at the front desk - Since Lake Awassa is what this area is all about we would definitely recommend staying at one of the hotels on the Lake instead - we looked at both the  LEWI resort ( full service resort on the lake) and the HAILE resort on the lake - a true 5 star owned by the famous athlete - this would be my recommendation - a wonderful hotel and lovely location to sit and relax after some hard traveling days.  The Paradise Hotel in Arba Minch was in a beautiful location overlooking Lakes Chamo and Abaya, the staff were so very friendly and helpful, and the food pretty good if served a little haphazardly.  The individual round rooms with straw roofs each had a fabulous view and deck overlooking the views.  The BUSKA Lodge in Turmi was very welcoming and restful, the individual round rooms spacious with a huge bathroom with good water pressure in a large bathroom.  Terry got bitten in bed one night (30+ times) but they changed the mattress the next day when he told the front desk.  The restaurant provided good food and efficient.  In Jinka we stayed at the JINKA RESORT, the staff were helpful and efficient, the barman talkative and friendly, the food good. It was wet here with mud everywhere around on the roads due to the construction and the rain.  The area was damp, quite dark and mossy - just like our own British Columbia rain forests!  The rooms were quite large but very basic, again having to keep the drapes closed because of people walking past the windows.

In Ethiopia North of the capital Addis Ababa we saw history unfold before our eyes: castles in Gondar from the 12th Century; the site of the annual TIMKAT Festival every January where thousands jump into the water filled pool (filled just once each year) to be rebaptised and renew their faith; rock hand hewn churches in Lalibela, (Ethiopia Orthodox faith) from the 12th century (built to be the new Jerusalem) and the home of the original Arc of the Covenant; hundreds of long haired Gelada monkeys at the world Heritage Site Simien Mountains at over 10,000 feet high - miles and miles of amazing scenery stretching into the distance and calling you to follow!  

Then it was South of the capital city of Addis Ababa to the massive crocodiles, hippos, flamingoes and pelicans on Lake Chamo - again the scenery stunning and then right behind the high mountains where the DOZE people live.  We saw several of the tribes who still live as they always do: the HAMMER with their curly hair died red from the sand, the KONSO, the TSEMAY, the BANA people- all interacting at their markets with each other as they always have.  The KARO people essentially wearing no clothes but carrying Karishnikov AK47 over their bare shoulders to be prepared for battle with the BUME peoples across the river who steal their cattle!  The KARO, the DASSENECH, and the MURSI who scar themselves to make themselves more beautiful and wear the clay discs in their lips as a sign of beauty - the bigger the better.  To be able to see these peoples living as they always have was just such a very special experience.  

In the South we toured the Bale Mountains and saw 21 of the elusive wolves - they look like red foxes - we were so lucky!  It was cold and windy up there but we loved it, and the giant  senecios and red hot pokers - beautiful plants.  Everywhere we went in Ethiopia we were overwhelmed by the bird life - so many species and simply so many - birds everywhere in every shape size and colour!

The food - well they like it hot!  Very hot! Lots of chile and lamb and beef and spinach.  The enjera (sort of a sour soft pancake) is eaten with everything like a bread, but they also make wonderful bread and buns!

So how do we finish this summary?  Well, Ethiopia is a beautiful country with so much to offer which is how I started this summary.  It feels more Arabic than Eastern African, the music and language much more Indian and Arabic than Swahili.  The peoples here are not wealthy in the main part, but the majority are working hard to support themselves typically with subsistence farming.  There are so many reasons to visit here - culture, music, dancing (amazing), scenery, history, religion, trekking, camping, - don’t wait too long!  Come soon!