22nd September 2013

Due to the sparse internet coverage in Ethiopia this is posted late,
from Sudan.

Northern Ethiopia

Normal traffic Addis style

First off a couple of notes:

Addis Ababa is named after a beautiful flower we are told. As far as I can see it is something of a misnomer. There isn’t much that we saw that shows itself alongside the world’s most beautiful cities. I really don’t mean to judge, only to report what I see.  The roads are in unusually bad shape, with little or no recognisable surface on most of the roads in the centre. There are often no discernible footway, which makes it quite hellish for pedestrians. At the time we were there it rained heavily each day, which meant every pothole, dip and even roadworks were filled with muddy water. The poor old pedestrians were getting soaked left, right and centre. There are no road markings anywhere except for occasional pedestrian crossings, presumably to give the illusion that is safe to cross anywhere! It is genuinely hazardous for all. Then, there is the new LRT system which will one day no doubt transform the lives of the dwellers of Addis. For now though they have managed in nearly 4 years to install some, but by no means all, of the piers for the overhead tracks and some of the roadway installations have now been there so long that there are people living there and street markets have become established. It is due to be completed in 3 years. I think that is wildly optimistic.

The thing that makes all this so challenging for the poor old punters is the total absence of any kind of traffic management. It is truly startling to know that there are traffic lights all over the city but almost none of them are operating. Occasionally you will find a lone cop trying to make sense of the most complex, congested and anarchic junctions, where motorists blatantly ignore his directions. There is a main square which is sectioned up by the LRT works, where there is no traffic regulation and nothing to indicate how the traffic should flow often you can find yourself face to face with a queue of oncoming traffic that is right up to your bumper and nothing to do but wait. When the traffic is less heavy crossing this square can be terrifying. It is impossible to overstate the chaos here.

Horses in the road

Since last writing I have been given an explanation for the many horses that seem to stand in the road. It seems that these are cab horses, who have finished their useful lives and are left to fend for themselves and as the only environment they know is tarmac they just stay on the road. If this is true then it does seem quite sad but one has to see it against the harsh backdrop of people who do not have enough to eat.

The next note is to explain that having spoken about how lush and fertile much of the countryside is I think it is worth noting that This is the same country that was devastated by drought all those years ago. Although It is part of our consciousness as visitors the drought seems to be very much a thing of the past here and the countryside shows absolutely no signs of anything other than growth, even though agriculture is not specially well organised and many people live on subsistence farming, which of course means that success is entirely dependent on the weather.

Formula 1

The thing which makes Formula 1 so watchable is of course that we watch and hope that someone crashes.

I know that I have up to now managed to punctuate many of these blogs with reports of disasters both major and minor. I don’t want to tempt fate nor do I wish to disappoint; but we have not even had a puncture since we were in Zambia.  We have, in Kenya, had far and a away the worst roads we have had to contend with. Our little truck has taken it all in its stride. So for you ghouls who enjoy a bit of drama at our expense we are truly sorry to disappoint.

On with the show

The Road to Lalibela

We have been travelling to what is known as the Northern cultural route where we hope to see some of the truly spectacular and ancient features of Ethiopia. I was going to give some kind of commentary on what the countryside is like and so on. We turned off the highway on our way to the ancient historic town of Lalibela. At first I was disappointed to find that this is a dirt road of some 60 km. However, it was staggeringly beautiful, range after range of sumptuous green mountains and valleys with pleasant villages and rivers running through them. Although there is the occasional minibus, there seem to be no vehicles of any description in any of the villages. We have seen so many beautiful sights it is possible to feel rather inured to them sometimes, and then this surrounds you, and you know what?  I know there is going to be more! It was rather slow going, so we has to bush camp out here. Lovely !  It was getting dark and the crowd of onlookers has now left us alone. It was quite Christmassy really, surrounded by shepherds and goats and donkeys. Many of the onlookers dressed in much the same way as one might find in the bible.

As night falls and the host of stars come out we had the place to ourselves. After a dinner of pasta and fish, we settled down to a nice game of scrabble. 

Perfik!

LALIBELA

This small town is incredibly important from the point of view of cultural heritage in this country which is home to the oldest Christian Community in the world. Lalibela has 11 Ancient churches that would make your mind boggle. They were built (if that is the right word) in the 11^th century. Actually the ground of this town is solid rock and the churches were carved, yes carved out of that rock. When we went to visit them I had thought that this would be a soft sandstone that would have eroded beyond recognition in that time. Not so! They are carved out of hard Basalt rock, it is so hard that the rough floor outside the churches shows no sign of being worn smooth. These are big structures too.

So I asked whether they were built by slaves. It seems not, according to our guide, Tesfe who took us around. It seems that this inconceivably big project was staffed by artisans and labourers who while doing it out of religious duty were paid to do it and that there are ancient Ethiopian scriptures that laid down how and where these churches would be made.

Surprisingly St George is one of the most important Ethiopian saints with all the familiar imagery 

I can’t do them justice by describing them here. We toured them one by one with Tesfe who was very knowledgeable and devoted. Each one was breath-taking in not only in the detail but in the fact that in order to start such a project they must have had to work out every detail in advance. Just imagine first you carve out the cube that will be your church and then hollow it out each room and vestibule was all part of the solid rock. Every detail was part of it. If a mason made a mistake it is there for all time.

These churches are home to a religious sect that not only is as old as Christianity itself but is proud of being pretty much how it was in the first place its customs and practices mostly unchanged over the centuries.

Do note the churches are not museum pieces but are still in full use.

These are important working churches not museum peices

It just happens that we were there at the time of the Ethiopian New year and as we toured around, the celebrations were just getting under way and all the senior priests and elders  were gathering there.

There is some preservation work being done funded by UNESCO as it is declared a ‘world heritage site’ .

An Italian man offered to restore this incredible peice of ancient history. He erected a scaffold and knocked holes to sound like he was working. The local discovered his vandalism and drove him out of town

I really recommend you have a look at some of the info on these churches, instead of me going on in amateurish detail about this (I am sure there is plenty of detail on google), let me describe our experiences. We had the privilege of touring these churches. Seeing priests and devotees going about their devotions in the same manner and dressed in the same way as they would have a thousand years ago and very likely since biblical times. Sure there were people dressed in modern clothes but I think this is testament to the fact that this is very much a living sect and not something preserved in aspic.

The quite perfect St Georges Church carved from the solid bed rock!

We continued on our way with Tesfe describing the traditions and beliefs of this highly structured sect. we walked through the monastery where monks and nuns live their devoted and hermitic life in tiny ancient cells. And through the adjacent traditional village which in the same way has hardly changed in its style in all that time. 

A scene that has not changed much in 2000 years.
By the way the kid face down in the mud was not actually intended as part of the picture don't know where he came from

Tesfe explained to us, when I commented on this unchanged state, that this is quite true but that there are now plans to rebuild and bring it up to date. He described the tension that exists between those who are hungry for something more modern and those who like it just the way it is. 

As we have this discussion we pass by animals being kept in primitive barns beside the houses, and another house which had a satellite dish attached to the roof. 

How else can you get to see the footie?

Tesfe turned out to be so well informed and sensitive to the problems attached to the dependence on tourism. In particular he was concerned that children are becoming corrupted by clumsy tourists who give them money and other presents just because they are there. It is very common for children to ‘ constantly demand money from ‘Feranjis’ as foreigners are known.  The adult population do all they can to discipline the kids but the lure of ‘free stuff’ is always worth a punt!

Tesfe our knowledgeable guide
He unselfconsciously carried our Sainsbury 'Bag for life'

Tesfe surprised us again by telling us that he does not support himself by the guiding. 

He says that he makes his living from bee keeping about which he again is so knowledgeable and professional. Altogether an extraordinary day.

I have not yet spoken about where we stayed in Lalibela. Our friend Guy had told us to seek out Susie who owns a restaurant and who is a great source of guidance and information. This of course is quite true.  What he failed to tell us is that the restaurant is a piece of true avant garde architecture designed by an Ethiopian architect.

The futuristic Ben Abbabas Restaurant in the sky

Beneath Ben Abbabas

 We made our way up the hill and found this unbelievable structure sticking out from the side of the mountain. It was just there glinting in the sunlight.

Susie runs this restaurant and employs an army of local young women who she tries to develop in order to run a good restaurant.  She was so kind and allowed us to camp at the back of the place where we stayed for three nights.

My eagle

There was even a pair of eagles swooping and gliding about. I know that some nerdy twitcher might well say they are not eagles they are some other kind of bird.  As far as I am concerned they are big birds of prey. That look like eagles, sound like eagles, they are eagles, alright!

After 3 days we had to move on and we had another long drive through more of that stunning countryside and mountains making our way through villages where the New year celebrations were taking place. One of the traditions at new year is for children to give flowers to adults. These new year flowers are bright yellow and only flower at new year. We were told that on the day the hillsides would be a blanket of yellow. And sure enough right on the dot they just burst out.

Everywhere were children with their new clothes and yellow flowers.

On our drive, including the day bringing us up to Lalibela  was about 250 km two days and in the end we were passed by one other vehicle!

Our route out of Lalibela

More on Ethiopia to follow v soon.

Love Ping and Noel

pingbow54@gmail.com
noelbow51@gmail.com