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Time for a holiday.
In not too many days I'll be leaving behind my comfortable inner city existence and my cats for a journey to Conrad's mythical 'Heart of Darkness' - Africa....well.....OK.....Conrad was thinking more of the jungly bit in the middle than he mountainy bit on the side, but its as close as I've ever been.
I'm going to spend three fascinating weeks in Ethiopia. Great food, good cheap beer, lovely people, fascinating history & spectacular scenery. Hard to beat really. I probably won't be able to post photos until I get back, but I'll give a brief rundown on the trip & a bit of background. I'm guessing most folk here haven't travelled to Ethiopia & aren't very familiar with it, so you might be interested.
Ethiopia is about twice the size of France and has over 90 million people - the second highest in Africa. Like most African nations is it s collection of different tribal, ethnic & religious groups. The nation has traditionally been defined & rule by Christian northerners - speakers of Amharic, a semitic language. The east & south are dominated by Muslims (often Somali speakers) & Christian or animist Oromo speakers. The Oromo are the majority in Ethiopia, but have never had all that much influence. Since the fall of the communist Derg in 1991 the political leadership of the nation has been dominated by Tigrayans - northerners closely related to the Amharic by language & history.
Geographically Ethiopia is dominated by the start of the Great Rift Valley - a massive tectonic plate boundary. The Afar/Danikil Depression in the north is the lowest & hottest place in Africa. It is actually a triple plate boundary. The whole centre & north of the country is a giant mountainous plateau. Addis Ababa is almost 2500 meters above sea level - similar to Bogota, Colombia; Mexico city & Shimla, India.
The first past of my trip is what is known as the 'Northern Historical Circuit' - a huge arc through the north that usually moves clockwise from west to east. My journey will start at Bahir Dar (Lake Tana), north west of Addis. It is the source of the Blue Nile and close to the spectacular Blue Nile Falls. From there it is overland to Gonder, an ancient capital with a cool castle on the hill. Then I get to drive through the Simien Mountains to Axum. That takes me past Ras Dashen, the highest mountain in Ethiopia at 4500 meters (a few hundred meters lower than Mont Blanc). Axum is the centre of an ancient civilization stretching back over 3000 years. I've always liked a good ancient ruin.
Then it is south through Tigray, where Ethiopian Orthodox monks have for centuries built tiny churches in mountainous caves. Overnight at Mekelle & then south Korem, a town made famous by the 1984-85 famine, & on to Lalibela, famous for its rock-cut churches. After a few days back in Addis I'm doing a brief trip to Harar in the east, an ancient walled city home to dozens of mosques. Then it is down the rift valley, past lakes filled with flamingos, hippos & bilharzia (so no swimming) to Awassa. After that it is back to Addis & then on to Muscat & Dubai on the Arabian Peninsular for a few days.
Quite the trip. Can't wait to provide some photos for you all.
In not too many days I'll be leaving behind my comfortable inner city existence and my cats for a journey to Conrad's mythical 'Heart of Darkness' - Africa....well.....OK.....Conrad was thinking more of the jungly bit in the middle than he mountainy bit on the side, but its as close as I've ever been.
I'm going to spend three fascinating weeks in Ethiopia. Great food, good cheap beer, lovely people, fascinating history & spectacular scenery. Hard to beat really. I probably won't be able to post photos until I get back, but I'll give a brief rundown on the trip & a bit of background. I'm guessing most folk here haven't travelled to Ethiopia & aren't very familiar with it, so you might be interested.
Ethiopia is about twice the size of France and has over 90 million people - the second highest in Africa. Like most African nations is it s collection of different tribal, ethnic & religious groups. The nation has traditionally been defined & rule by Christian northerners - speakers of Amharic, a semitic language. The east & south are dominated by Muslims (often Somali speakers) & Christian or animist Oromo speakers. The Oromo are the majority in Ethiopia, but have never had all that much influence. Since the fall of the communist Derg in 1991 the political leadership of the nation has been dominated by Tigrayans - northerners closely related to the Amharic by language & history.
Geographically Ethiopia is dominated by the start of the Great Rift Valley - a massive tectonic plate boundary. The Afar/Danikil Depression in the north is the lowest & hottest place in Africa. It is actually a triple plate boundary. The whole centre & north of the country is a giant mountainous plateau. Addis Ababa is almost 2500 meters above sea level - similar to Bogota, Colombia; Mexico city & Shimla, India.
The first past of my trip is what is known as the 'Northern Historical Circuit' - a huge arc through the north that usually moves clockwise from west to east. My journey will start at Bahir Dar (Lake Tana), north west of Addis. It is the source of the Blue Nile and close to the spectacular Blue Nile Falls. From there it is overland to Gonder, an ancient capital with a cool castle on the hill. Then I get to drive through the Simien Mountains to Axum. That takes me past Ras Dashen, the highest mountain in Ethiopia at 4500 meters (a few hundred meters lower than Mont Blanc). Axum is the centre of an ancient civilization stretching back over 3000 years. I've always liked a good ancient ruin.
Then it is south through Tigray, where Ethiopian Orthodox monks have for centuries built tiny churches in mountainous caves. Overnight at Mekelle & then south Korem, a town made famous by the 1984-85 famine, & on to Lalibela, famous for its rock-cut churches. After a few days back in Addis I'm doing a brief trip to Harar in the east, an ancient walled city home to dozens of mosques. Then it is down the rift valley, past lakes filled with flamingos, hippos & bilharzia (so no swimming) to Awassa. After that it is back to Addis & then on to Muscat & Dubai on the Arabian Peninsular for a few days.
Quite the trip. Can't wait to provide some photos for you all.
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