Wadi Halfa -part one

We were three days in Addis which gave us a chance to see quite a lot of the city. Ethiopian food is a different experience-they have something called injera, made from teff  (a local grain), and is the basis for most meals. It is a large thin, rubbery pancake that you tear into pieces and use to scoop up whatever else comes with it. All mid to large towns have plenty of excellent coffee shops, as well as great juice stalls . If you come check out the avocado juice or our favorite - mango. The National Museum houses several exhibits including our great exponent ten grandmother Lucy who is 3.5 million years old. and Selena, a 4.5 million year old bipedal primate. Our wanders took us through one of Addis' shanty towns packed around what once must have been a very pretty stream and gully and is now a black running sewer.

Addis is  city of extremes from crushing poverty to extravagant wealth; from beautiful sleek highrises to mud huts-of course any African city has this but Addis Ababa does it to another level. We spent a morning prowling the streets of the Merkato  known to be Africa's largest market.

A two day drive took us across the Blue Nile river gorge, a staggering 1000 meters deep. We had never heard of it, but is certainly in the Grand Canyon league ...minus the colourful rock. We spent a couple of laid back days at Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile; and visited some scruffy over rated temples on islands in the lake. Our mornings had a rousing start with the Orthodox Christians starting to chant as early as 4:00 am aided by some pretty good sound equipment.
Around sunrise the Muslims took advantage of even better sound systems. We should mention the Christian Church has been in Ethiopia since the 4th century and mostly evolved with out contact elsewhere.

This sets the stage for our visit to Lalibela, a world heritage jewel. It is a set of 11 Orthodox churches high on a ridge and carved out of rock. They were commissioned by King Lalibela, supposedly inspired by his pilgrimage  to Jerusalem.  Maybe Petra had something to do with it. The site is 900 years old and is astonishing


We have traveled many miles since leaving Central Kenya; the landscape is very dry and rugged. Africa is losing forests at 4 times the rate of any other part of the world ...and it shows. Twenty one countries have a deforestation problem. It is not all depressing as we have seen lots of eucalyptus plantings for erosion control as well as for building adobe homes,scaffolding, firewood and charcoal. These are thickly planted and when cut quickly regrow with several new shoots. The stone terracing also helps with erosion- both are recent programs and are wide spread in Ethiopia.

Downtown Debark - rush hour

We headed for the Simien mountains where a trek awaited our group,complete with pack donkeys,guides and three armed guards....strictly a make work program as two of the guns were WW@ era and almost certainly didn't work. We were told the hike was spectacular , but we didn't make it as Mike was grounded for 3 days with the usual travelers problem. We spent our time in the small town of Debark in a little hotel. Debark is pretty basic and incredibly dusty. From our balcony we watched  steady parade of heavy trucks, horse drawn carts , various livestock and people headed to market where the barter system still prevails.  A group of grade 3 and 4 students carrying new "English for Ethiopia" textbooks escorted us to their village school beautifully set in the hills above the town. Mike recovered and we rejoined our group in Gonder, the royal city. We visited the spectacular castles built by a succession of rulers over 350 years and are now a world heritage site.

After crossing into Sudan we had our first bush camping in quite some time....a beautiful setting in the desert by a lofty kopje. Between the perfect desert breeze, the usual breathtaking display of stars and one of those sunsets...what more could anyone ask??