December 2011 Trip to Ethiopia

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Saturday, December17 - Wednesday, December 21, 2011

We flew from Heathrow to Addis Ababa on an overnight flight via Ethiopian Airlines (8.5 hours). We spent the afternoon in Addis in a dayroom at the Ghion Hotel and then flew to DireDawa and drove one hour to Harar. On Monday we took a city tour of Harar, visiting spice markets and an interesting chat market. In the evening we watched the 'hyena man' feeding a group on hyenas, and some of our group got to help. It was interesting seeing hyenas just nonchalantly walking down the streets at night. On Tuesday we drove to Awash Natational Park and has a nice stop at a waterfall in a 150m gorge (seeing crocodiles). There was also a short driving safari seeing various antelope, birds, etc.Wednesday we drove back to Addis. We visited several places in the afternoon including the tomb of Haile Selasse.

Manning sewing machines

Chat market

Feeding hyenas

Awash National Park

View of domant volcano along Great Rift Valley

Woman carrying wood on back

Thursday, December 22 - Saturday,  December 24, 2011

Thursday we took an early morning flight to Bahar Dar - capital of the Amhara region situated on Lake Tana. In Ethiopia, you are allowed to carry water on internal flights - how absolutely civilized! We took a 1 hour boat ride to the Zeghie peninsula where we visited a medieval church after a 30-minute nice hike. It was a bit of a hassle with all the vendors hassling you up and down the path - so that detracted from the experience. On Friday we got up early to have an early morning boat ride around the lake where we saw hippo and other wildlife. In the afternoon we went to a viewpoint where we could view the source of the Blue Nile. Friday we also had a long hike to Tississant Falls. During this part of the year - the dry season - there was not much water, but it was still very interesting and a nice hike over a suspension bridge. Saturday we drove to Gondar (an old imperial capital), where we visited several 17th century castles. There was also a very interesting Debre Berhan Selassie Church - where they had beautiful pictures of Ethiopian angels on the ceiling.

Reed boats on Lake Tana	Coffee beans	Priests at Zeghie peninsula (Ura Kidane Mere Church)	Medieval Orthodox church	donkey with hay load	Woman carrying wood
Joanne at Tississant Falls	Suspension bridge	Castle at Gondar	Inside on of the castles	Rhino horns used as hat hooks	Berhan Selassie Church
Painting on ceiling of church	Church paintings	Kings 'swimming pool' where they now do baptisms

Sunday, December 25 -Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sunday morning we drove to Debark. On the way we stopped at Ploughshare Womens Coop, where they teach widowed women new skills such as pottery, weaving, etc. The hotel facilities in Debark are extremely limited, but we had a wonderful Christmas buffet, where I did try goat. On Monday we hiked all day in the Siemens Mountains (about 3200m - 10,500ft) - and that was wonderful scenery. On nice thing they did there was the children only have 3 places where they can sell their trinkets, and they stood patiently while we shopped - very organized and we were not disturbed by begging or eggressive selling. In the Mountains, we saw a lot of gelada baboons, and could get rather close to them. On Tuesday we had a 10-hour drive to Axum (very dusty!).

Woman at Ploughshare Center

Joanne in Siemens Mts.

Joanne in Siemen Mts.

Tour group in Mts.

Getting close to baboons

Getting close to baboons

Wednesday, December 28 - Thursday, December 29, 2011

On Wednesday we had a whole day of sightseeing in Axum. First we toured the ruins of the 'Queen of Sheba Palace' - where there were several layers of archaeological ruins from about 1000BC on. We also saw the obelisks of Axum (about 1700 years old) - several were broken and one had just been returned from Italy in 2008. There were also some interesting tombs from various kings.  We also visited a small museum near the Ark of the Convenent (supposedly). On Thursday morning we flew to Lalibela.

Axum - Queen of Sheba's palace	Axum- Queen of Sheba's Palace	Obelisks	Broken obelisk	Joanne at obelisks	Tour group at obelisks
Tomb	Entrance to a tomb	Queen of Sheba bath (actually a reservoir)	Tomb	Interesting notice in Axum	Church in Axum
Inside of Church	St. Mary of Zion Church supposedly housing the Ark of the Convenent	Hotel on Lalibela	Hotel in Lalibela	Hotel in Lalibela	Interesting menu at hotel

Thursday, December 29 - Saturday, December 31, 2011

Thursday afternoon we visited one group of the rock cut churches 910-12 century). Some of the churches have large coverings built to protect them against the elements and deterioration. On Friday morning we took a mule trek up the mountains (3200m) and visited the Ashatan Maryam church at the top. It was a very dificult trip with the altitude and the steep (there were places the mules could not do, so we had to climb) - very strenuous. On the way back we visited a local family in their huts for a coffee ceremony. In the afternoon we visited more rock-cut churches. On Saturday we flew back to Addis. In the evening we had injera at a local restaurant before our 1:30am flight back to Heathrow.

Rock-cut church with metal protection
	Priest	Priest	Trek up the mountains	Local family hut	Local family and coffee ceremony
Joanne on mule	Churches	Priest	Priest	Joanne at tunnel to church	Injera dinner