Arba Minch, Ethiopia - Day 120 - Boots on the Loose

Left Addis bright and early as it’s a good 10 hour drive to Arba Minch. Driver’s name is Andu; fairly quiet at first but has turned out to be a real treat for us. Quite religious (as are most people) so doesn’t drink or smoke; he’s great to have around as he’s very blunt and if anyone is harassing us he steps in and tells them where to go. My favorite memory of him so far was last night when he was dancing around the bar with Alissa’s headlamp on, set to strobe. Stopped for lunch in a Rastefarian village called Shashamane which is on land given by the Ethiopian government back in the 60’s, and was for any rastafarians from the America’s who wanted to return to Africa. On the way there, weaving through the usual array of traffic, pedestrians, cattle, donkey carts, etc, etc, this kid came darting out of nowhere with a big jug of water on his shoulder and came within a couple inches of his life.

Shortly after lunch the highway ended and it became a semi-paved, pothole-filled road. Many lakes and mountains all around, farm fields, and lots of plain old wilderness with the odd Akashia tree sticking out. Apparently Ethiopia used to be very forested but 90% of it is now gone.

The birds here are AMAZING; I’ve never really care3d much when a polace is supposed to have good bird watching but they have these birds called “Maribous”, which are about as tall as humans and must have an 8-foot wing span. They look like skeksees from the Dark Crystal and there are tonnes of them everywhere.

You would think that on the drive into South Ethiopia you wouldn’t see too many people between towns, but I honestly don’t think you go more than 100ft without passing someone walking down the road. Almost everyone acknowledges you in some way, most commonly children chasing you down the road, waving, yelling “ferenge, ferenge”, or “highland, highland”. For a long time we thought it was “hello, hello”, but Highland is the main brand of bottled water here, and they want you to throw your empties out the window for them to use. (I guess that’s a good thing??) For a while we tried to make a pee stop, but couldn’t find a visual break in the pedestrian traffic, and if people see you stop (especially children), you’ll quickly be swarmed. As the sun began to go down, all the shepherds had their cows on the road for the trip back to town, and we found ourselves weaving through thousands of cows at some points. (cow jam?)

Tried “qat” in the truck (pronounced “chat”) which is a mild narcotic that everyone chews. After an hour or 3 of gagging back the bitter leaves (looks and tastes like one of those leafy hedges back home), you end up having a bit more energy than you normally would after a 10 hour drive.

Woke up the next morning and packed the truck only to find Jamie missing his camera. Was using it the night before in the truck, and he had gotten out numerous times to look at each hotel so we had to assume it got kicked out at some point. So we spent time driving to all the same places as the previous night, looking on the ground, asking around… nothing. When we finally left, Andu told one of the kids to see what he can do. Well guess what turned up when we returned that night – I couldn’t believe it!! The guy that actually found it wouldn’t accept a reward, but the kid that Andu talked to took Jamie’s offering (and so he should!).

Anyway during the day we went up to a village that sits pretty much on top of a mountain (I think 3000M about sea level?). The people are called the Dorzei. Showed us around a bit then brought us in and made us coffee on an open fire from scratch! (as in roasted the beans, ground them, etc.) Probably the best coffee I’ve ever tasted (did I mention coffee was invented in Ethiopia?). As with all the villages you pay around $20 to go (in total) pictures of people cost around $0.25 each; so far this village was the best value because we could ask all sorts of questions, and they showed us a few things about how they make food, etc. Afterwards we walked around the market, and got to try a taste of “Tej” which is booze made from honey. It was pretty neat at each village when you get out of the truck and get swarmed by people; as soon as you start walking each person has at least 2 little kids grab hold of their hands and stay with them the whole time. The market was interesting; basically a big grassy field with people selling what they can… mostly raw goods like spun cotton, honey, tobacco, butter, etc.

Before Ethiopia, everyone told me I look like Chris Benoit (a WWF star), but now everyone (and this time EVERYONE) tells me I look like Wayne Rooney, a soccer player for Manchester United. It’s quite funny how often someone says it to me (Andu tells people to come meet Rooney’s brother).

On the way down the hill from the village (and the way up) everytime you come around a corner there’s a group of kids trying to earn your money doing their tribal dance which is quite cute; but we had to pay this one kid after he did a good 20 backflips in a row for us!! (with bare feet on gravel, of course).

One other interesting fact from the village: they build these huts that they live in that get passed through the family; he had his grandfathers hut that was 95 years old, but used as a cook house since it was a quarter of the height due to termites eathing the bottom!

Headed down to the docks for a boat ride around the lake (after the village). I’ve seen doumentaries of how angry hippos can be when in their territory, but I was amazed to see how close you can get! Around the corner near the massive group of pelicans, maribous and other birds was the biggest crocodile I’ve ever seen… maybe 6 or 7 metres long?? Probably saw another 2 dozen crocs floating around the area too. Was an expensive boat ride but worth it for the hippos alone…

Also during the day got my first glimpse of a wild bore (or 2) at the side of the road, as well as a good 20 or 30 baboons here and there. Andu bought some bananas in case we saw them and when he threw one at them, we just about saw 1 baboon tear the head off the other (their teeth are huge!!). Great day.