Saturday, January 28, 2006

the photographs

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This is what everyone wants to see... forget about all of the talk. If you want to see photos, click here .

Prologue

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Do I stay or do I go now? On the eve of my much anticipated trip to Ethiopia I was working late trying to finish off all of those last minut...

The famine

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I think all of us on our trip were asked by friends/family/acquaintances “why on earth do you want to go to Ethiopia… isn’t there a famine, ...

The war with Eritrea…and clashes with Somalia and the Sudan etc

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Thankfully this was one aspect of Ethiopia that we did not experience! According to the Foreign Office website, the border areas are all no-...

Lake Tana

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Lake Tana was the first real experience of Ethiopia that I had. It was the first place we travelled to after leaving Addis Ababa, and once t...

The Blue Nile & the Tisisat Falls

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The impression of many people I talked to before heading off to Ethiopia was that they thought it was a dry, desert-like country, and why wo...

The Birthplace of Christianity at Axum

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Allegedly Axum (or Aksum) is the birthplace of Christianity and the Ark of the Covenant is held there in the inner sanctum of one of the chu...

The St George Church at Lalibela

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St George’s Church at Lalibela is an interesting structure. We had driven past it a couple of times without even seeing it. You have to loo...

Haile Gebreselassie

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We didn’t meet Haile Gebreselassie on the trip, however I did get some insight into how he can run so fast. Obviously there is some underly...

Haile Selassie

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Haile Selassie was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1935 and then after the occupation of the Italians ended, from 1941 until 1974. His...

The historical city of Gondar

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We didn’t spend a great deal of time in Gondar. Apart from the afternoon tour of the Palace much of our time was preparing for or cleaning u...

The Simien Mountains

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Click to see map of the National Park & surrounds. This is what I came to see! It was a few years ago now that I first saw some picture...

The Simien Fox

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The Simien Fox is endemic to the Simien Mountains and is very rare indeed. There are estimated to be only about 40 animal remaining in the S...

The Walia Ibex

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The Walia Ibex (Capra ibex walie), like the Simien Fox, is endemic to the Simien Mountains and is also one of the most endangered mammal spe...

What else is there to know?

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Coffee is brilliant – some of the best I’ve tasted. None of us expected that in the town of Debark we would come across the best cappucinos...

Epilogue

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So back home again, in the era of Ethiopian Idol , how do I feel about the trip now? For me it was a great experience and there are many mem...