Visitors

Ingrid, Pete and their friend Cathy (nicknamed IPC) arrived on the 18th December to spend Christmas and the New Year with me. You might imagine tinsel, holly, pine trees and lots of carols in the background. The reality was that the days merged into one and no celebrating took place. Conversely, when it was the Ethiopian Christmas on 7th January, the streets of Addis were awash with goats, sheep and cattle being slaughtered and butchered for the great celebration of the Orthodox Church after a period of fasting (eating no meat) for 40 days. Fasting Food (vegetarian), which had been so easy to order in any restaurant, was totally off the menu that day.

Their holiday here was different from the usual activity challenges in which they partake. No great mountains to climb, no rivers to paddle, no rock formations or ice to conquer nor caves to explore. Just endless dusty (and I mean DUST!) roads to survive within non-stop bumps and mind-boggling precipices. We traveled over 3,000km in 17 days which included 3 days exploring Lalibela and its surrounding churches and 5 days trekking in the Simien Mountains. The going had to be slow, not just because of the roads, but because of the animals on them. Endless herds of goats, donkeys and cattle in which the herders could not care less about moving them off the road, although they must have heard us approaching for many miles, were a constant swerve/brake applying hazard. We seemed to develop an affinity with certain types of animals. Wherever goats were, and they could also be seen in and on all kinds of vehicles, especially as the Ethiopian Christmas was approaching, Cathy was happy! I settled for the good old dependable donkey. It is so very long-suffering and patient and carries its load so diligently without objection to the constant harassment from the stick of its owner that I could only emphasize. It evokes a Biblical image which has not changed over the centuries. I was happy!

Ethiopia really is a magnificent country as far as the northern plateau is concerned. But one needs to see it from the road to appreciate the endless vistas which constantly took our breath away. The Italians had done a remarkable job of road-building within the 6 years of their occupation from 1936-41 and the war with Eritrea a few years ago also produced some good connections for troop movements. Despite these inconveniences and obvious limitations to a relaxing drive, there were continuing roadworks in many places, which augers well for the future.

Our driver, Osman, was excellent and he really did make the trip pleasantly carefree. One is so aware of the fact that a Guide in a country where one does not know the language, food, hotels or topography is invaluable. I did a 3-day ‘Tourist Guide Training Course’ in Lalibela (famous for its eleven rock-hewn churches in the centre of the village) over ‘our’ Christmas with some students from Addis and tried to constantly emphasis this to them. When one has never been a stranger in another country, it is difficult to understand the complexities of being unable to understand an unfamiliar culture. Unless there is someone to interpret, one can be floundering in the dark and therefore miss an awful lot. Three cheers for my profession! But, oh, my despair when I cannot understand their ’English’! Most of the students I have been working with think that a smattering of English is enough to qualify them as Guides. Osman was articulate and clear in his language. Such a relief!

Our extended stay in Lalibela was because the local Guides had invited me to do a course in Practical Tourist Guiding. We had agreed on a three-day intensive programme a month before and I had set tasks for participants to prepare. However, despite enthusiastic ‘registration’, the night before we and the three Addis students left to go north, they cancelled because they had obtained some work. I know the tug between having to balance possible work vs. a course when one is freelancing, but…… The local Hotels and Tour Operators had said they would give preference to students with my ‘certificate’. So the three Addis students and I had a very productive time together instead.

We were in Lalibela on our Christmas day when the ‘war’ against Somaliland started. Nothing surprising there as it had been building up for ages, although most of the world had probably not been aware of it. We sent e-mails to family to try and reassure them that we were in no way inconvenienced as it was thousands of miles away. I had scheduled a 90 minute climb up a hill to a rock-hewn cave monastery for the day, but as each of the three students had a different opinion about the ‘war’ and who had to do what and why, I used this difference of opinion as a very good teaching/debating tool for them. As so often in Africa, tribal loyalties and religious beliefs automatically divided the opponents. The climb up the hill took 4 hours instead. We were later than the usual tourist groups who all passed us going down by foot or on mule and it meant that we could see and hear a special service for women which regularly takes place after lunchtime. The women had climbed the mountain wrapped in their white natela (shawl) which they use when attending any church; some had small babies on their backs and were patiently waiting in a cave for the last of the tourists to leave. The priests rang bells and the ancient chanting from the Bible in Ge’ez started. To hear this sound coming from a cave in the mountain was quite magical.


By the time Lalibela was left and we slowly moved northwards to Gondar and Axum, we were all ‘out-churched’ and did not want to make the time to visit the Tigrean rock-hewn cave churches which required quite a climb or did not admit females. As well as this time-saving, we also decided to forego the Danakil Depression area to the east in the Afar Region where the desert sinks below sea level and the temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius. It is in this area that the 3.2 million year old skeleton of ‘Lucy’, the oldest known upright-walking humanoid, was found. She can be viewed in the National Museum in Addis and was discovered whilst the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was playing on the archaeologist’s walkman. Pete was mightily pleased as he does not like the heat and had already had to be very careful about sunburn in the high altitude of the Simiens. I like deserts and hope to go there one day on my ‘own’. This would involve two 4x4 vehicles, armed guards, guides and permits as well as transport on a camel. However, we followed the main road southwards through semi-desert on a good road and saw enough camels to satisfy us. Ingrid was happy! The road is used to convey troops to the Eritrean border rather than for cross-border visiting and another part of it is extremely busy with heavily laden trucks bringing goods from Djibouti, which now has an official Ethiopian cargo port, the only sea outlet for Ethiopia.. The ongoing border dispute with Eritrea means that a letter posted to that country from Ethiopia has to go via Italy.

In Gondar I left IPC to visit the 17th century palaces on their own. I had seen them before and liked them, but was afraid to build up their hopes in case they were disappointed in European-style stone buildings which were in a quite ruinous state in parts, although UNESCO had done some good restoration/conservation work. In the end, this was their favourite tourist site.

On to the Simien Mountains north of Gondar, where camping supplies were bought. IPC had brought along a cooking stove and sleeping bags, but at the entrance to the National Park, we needed to hire tents, a guide, 2 mules, 2 muleteers and an armed ‘scout’. The latter, as in so many other places, always had his AK47 slung over his shoulder. I never saw any of these ‘guards’ use their rifles, but they were familiarly comfortable with these items and obviously spent time cleaning and oiling them. My light-coloured canvas rucsac was kindly carried by ours and its strap has permanent oil stains on it to remind me of those unsavoury items. The scout would sit impassively with bended knees and AK47 at the ready and ‘guard’ us and our tents for hours. Unadventurously, we did not opt for the luxury trekking services which supply erected tents and meals at the camp sites with, tables, table-cloths and a chef wearing a white suit with chef’s cap. Trekking in the Simiens is one of the things one is expected to do in Ethiopia. One night I counted 46 tents in our campsite. Fortunately the escarpment space is large enough to accommodate most groups without one feeling crowded out. The weather was hot during the day and freezing during the night as expected. Early one morning I folded up my tent with sheets of ice still clinging to it. On our last night though, just after erecting tents, rain came down heavily for an hour and preconceptions of ‘but this is the dry season!’ were dispelled. We had to dig trenches around my and IP tents as theirs was especially vulnerable with holes in the groundsheet causing mini-fountains inside. The trekking was great though and IPC were very accommodating to this old lady. We regularly stopped for breathers, especially on the uphills where the steadily rising altitude to nearly 4000m caused one to pant much better. The scenery is breathtaking and justifies the effort, although most of the campsites are accessible by road. We did see the rare Walia Ibex on occasions, but our most common and plentiful wild animal was the Gelada Baboon. Pete was happy!

Sadly, the endless shaking about in the comfortable 4x4 meant that we were always ready for bed straight after supper. In Axum, I had hoped to be able to show IPC the 1600-year old granite Axumite stelae in the bright New Year moonlight, but we just collapsed into bed as usual. The mystery behind such sophistication in carving the hard stone and the transport and erecting of up to 500tonne single pieces is unsolved. The vast Axumite Kingdom is not well-known in the West and I had certainly never come across it before arriving in Ethiopia, yet it was incredibly powerful and influential between the Middle East and Africa for 100s of years until the 4th century AD when the then king converted to Christianity, thus making Ethiopia a very ancient and isolated Christian community which has not evolved like the rest of Christianity has. The church in Axum is the reputed ‘home’ of the real Ark of the Covenant, in case you are intrigued by ancient mysteries. Before visiting Ethiopia, one should read ‘The Sign and the Seal’ by Graham Hancock to get a sense of adventure about this country! Not like the Harrison Ford ‘Raiders’ stuff, but a good introduction. And because Ethiopia, with the very strong power/influence of the Orthodox Church insisted on keeping the Julian calendar when the rest of the world changed to the Gregorian one in the 18th century, they are getting ready to celebrate the true millennium in September this year. So just remember that the night when you were all celebrating, was just a rehearsal for the real thing nearly 8 years later!

Ethiopian National Parks are not what one expects. There are hardly any animals and the local people graze their animals inside quite openly, despite knowing that they should not. As far as they are concerned, quite rightly, they have used those grazing lands for centuries. In the Awash National Park, we paid for the obligatory two armed Guards (squashed into our vehicle) and were told that there had been quite a bit of excitement the previous night as a lion had killed one of the local cattle. The owner would not be compensated for this loss. Because of strife between the Afar and another local tribe, one could occasionally expect to hear of conflict fights. But we only came across the cattle herders and at one time were stopped by about 6 Afar men wearing their traditional clothes with fierce-looking knives. IPC say they were a bit alarmed and thought it could turn nasty (my eyes were in a Su Doko puzzle and I just smelt their body odor and the stench of the rancid butter they use in their hair), when they turned around and offered their knives as souvenirs. No doubt there is a little factory behind the bushes…

Because we had a camera between us, this report will probably be different from the others so far. I am still happy not to be burdened by the image that camera-owning evokes, although it is good to have some records; like our ‘broiling’ in Filwoha Hot Springs in the Awash Nat. Park. They are incredibly hot and beautiful, but a reminder of Fentale Crater a few km. away which still spews hot lava and rumbles although the last active explosion was about 200 years ago. This is of course part of the African Rift Valley which dissects Ethiopia and will eventually, after a few billion years, separate ‘the Horn’ from the mainland and provide Ethiopia once again with the sea outlet it lost to Eritrean independence.

When IPC arrived, they were laden with bags. The next morning my own Christmas began! (Cathy had had a proper one in Scotland with her family before she left and then a third Ethiopian one here as well. Can one call this greed? One never knows with the Scots…). It took me at least three meals to complete opening all the numerous carefully wrapped presents!!! What a lovely surprise! From 3 bottles of Marmite to a roll of sticky tape: Rolls of Trebor mints to packets of strong Cheddar Cheese; endless books and CDs/DVDs to wonderful jigsaw puzzles; Ingrid had meticulously photo-copied my address book which I had left in the UK and brought a small diary for 2007. All so thoughtful and essential. I recon there were at least 30 parcels to open. What fun! But when they left and Ingrid said “Mummy I worry about you”, I realized that our roles had been reversed and I was now being looked after by my daughter. If it means so many presents every Christmas, I am not complaining.

There are very many happy memories to treasure. I was spoilt and really appreciate their efforts to come out here. Just a pity that when they left they did not have the space to tuck a baby camel, goat and baboon under their arms.

Extract from an e-mail from the beginning of November

I have been putting the cat amongst the pigeons with my report (I sent you the first draft just to let you know that I am doing other things) and have had quite a few positive responses from all walks of life. Have also now visited all 10 museums in Addis and collated their information to get a list for the students and also the local monthly free tourist magazine (like ‘What’s On’). Otherwise the students keep me busy and I have 22 two-page reports to read and assess for exam purposes. I am a real glutton for punishment! But I wanted them to present a subject as a ‘Guide’ for 5 minutes each, so gave them a list of subjects to write and talk about and the outcome is that I learnt a lot about Ethiopia!! We have also had very heated discussions. One was about Eritrea. As it was historically part of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), the students are unwilling to let go, despite the Eritreans’ vote to be independent. So, the older people say ’let it be’ but the younger ones want to go and fight to reclaim it. Thus millions of dollars are being wasted in a futile aggressive action. In the Postal museum, I was shown how a letter to Eritrea has to go via Italy. When will mankind learn?! And of course, on the southern border with Somalia, the same nonsense is going on. This time with American aid as they have not forgotten their defeat by Somalia a few years ago, so want revenge. And I have learnt that most of the Live-Aid food 20 years ago went straight to Uganda where it was sold. There is apparently a book about that scandal. The only legacy is that the kids are all taught to beg for money much worse than in the rest of Africa. Yesterday I spoke to a man who is organizing the manufacture of impregnated Mosquito nets. This kills the mossie and deters others, so that many lives can be saved. The UN is buying 20million of these to distribute freely in Africa. But the very poor and vulnerable will no doubt be selling them in the market the following day. My informant told me this without a flicker of concern. If only they are asked to pay a few cents for them, they will not treat them like just another hand-out from the Western stooges -- maddening for me as I do not approve of all this free stuff constantly streaming into the country. That is why I like working for Habitat for Humanity as they only help people who are willing to help themselves. Sorry about this outburst!
Every day seems busier than the previous one and I wonder if I will ever get away in a few months’ time.. And I left my room this morning with terrible guilt feelings. I was playing bridge last night and returned too late to buy bread, so the birds woke me with their usual demand for food and I had nothing to offer. They walk into my room off the balcony through the French doors and my guilt is compounded….