Closing out 2011 with Ethiopia

Simien Mountains from the plane

Last year (2010), I spent my Christmas and the New Year in Liberia and it was a fairly low key affair as most expats generally leave for their last home leave around this time. The only ones who stay back are the ones covering for operations and due to the need for essential cover, homes leaves at this time of the year are generally alternated between expats. Last year the Accounting Manager went home and I covered for him and this time it was my turn. I also had two home leaves left for the last 3 months of the year and right after I visited India in late October, it was time to head out again.

Ethiopian highland

My plan was to visit the Horn of Africa again and spend a week or so in Eritrea and then a further 10 days in southern Ethiopia. Airport visa for Ethiopia was no problem but Eritrea I knew was going to be a challenge. Somewhat surprisingly though, India seems to have fairly decent relations with Eritrea and there was even an Embassy office in Delhi. With that in mind, I left for India in October with all my visa application documents in tow. I figured 15 days would be ample time for me to get the visa as long as I post the application upon my immediate arrival in India. I was fairly confident I would get a visa…after all who goes to Eritrea?

Patches of farmland as seen from the plane

A little closer view of the farmland

Unfortunately, it did not quite work out that way. A few days after my submission I called in to check on the application and upon being connected to the consular, he asked me the reason for my travel to Eritrea. Perhaps he did not believe me when I told him I wanted to backpack. Perhaps he felt the same as I did…after all who goes to Eritrea…there had to be an ulterior motive for me going there, right?

Gondor Airport

Othrodox Priest

Anyway, he declined my application and told me that as I was a resident in Africa I had to apply from their closest embassy in West Africa which would be Nigeria. Even before I could tell him that the listed phone numbers for the embassy office in Nigeria were not functioning the phone was slammed down on me. I didn’t have the time or the intention to go all the way to Nigeria to get a visa for Eritrea especially considering that I could not even contact them via the phone. That pretty much put paid to my plans for Eritrea but, it freed up a week worth of time that I could now spend in Ethiopia.

Ladies with the ubiquitous white robes from the highlands

Palace in the Royal Enclosure

Fast forward to Mid December and I flew to Addis Ababa after spending a night in Accra. It had been almost a year and a half since I had spend some time in Accra and from what I saw this time, it seems as though the city (and perhaps the country) continues on its path of economic and infrastructure development. Good for Ghana!

Addis Ababa was fridget when I got in late at night. There was just enough time to get a hotel to while away a few hours before the early morning flight to the city of Gondor north of Addis.

Fasiladas's Palace

Gondor was where I was hoping to get together with a few other travelers to form a group to go hiking into the Simien Mountains. The city itself was not a bad place to spend a day. It has a beautiful collection of forts and other 17th century palaces and buildings all enclosed within a royal enclosure. The forts have a distinct European feel to it and more surprisingly were reputedly built by an Indian architect but it was still quirky to see European style buildings in Ethiopia who were perhaps the only African country to successively fend of colonialism.

Coffee shop

Iyasu's palace

A couple other notable sights was a bath built by an emperor called as Fasiladas which was under restoration and devoid of water as well as pilgrims who make it a better sight during the religious celebrations. It evidently is a better place to visit during the religious celebrations when white robed pilgrims throng the bath to take a communal dip.

Royal buildings in Gondor

Further north of the town was the charming church of Debre Berhan Selassie with beautiful murals and a quite interesting portrait of a Muslim prophet being led by the devil himself. When I checked with the priest on what the depiction meant and who the Muslim figure might be I got a slightly ambiguous response if it indeed was Prophet Mohamed or not. Regardless, I personally think the depiction was a representation of the times when the two religions were at conflict with each other and jostling for followers. It however was good to know that its not a big deal with the Ethiopians Orthodox Christians and Muslims who together make up the religious majority in the country and coexist well in Ethiopia.

Fasiladas bath

I did manage to get a picture of that depiction it but not sure I would want to post it on my blog, as if ever my blog is followed by a minority few religious fanatics, they might take offence to the depiction of the Prophet.

Debre Berhan Selassie church

Later than evening I was lucky to bump into Roland and Rebecca, a couple from London who were on a overland trip from Djibouti to Cape Town in their own Land Rover. They wanted to visit Simien and were looking for ways to share the costs of the trip and I was more than willing to chip in. Later that same night, Tomas, an American teacher from Abu Dhabi was the fourth and final member who joined our group and we decided on a four day trek through the famed Simien Mountains starting early the next morning.

Cherubs or baby angels on the inside of the roof

Close up of the Cherub painted the walls