Northern Ethiopia- Where History meets Nature.

Northern Ethiopia- Where History meets Nature.

The cross of Saint George, the most famous monument in Ethiopia.

July 15^th 2013- Lalibela, Ethiopia.

Northern Ethiopia is a gateway to another world. With the sands and heat of The Sudan behind me, I now have embarked on green mountains, ancient churches and castles, raging rivers, waterfalls and a lake that resembles an ocean. The north west section of Ethiopia is also hands down the most touristic section of the country, and after coming from Sudan, where there are no tourists at all, I was naturally in for a bit of a shock, in more ways than one.

The mighty castle of Gondar.

First stop, Gondar. What many often call the “Camelot of Africa”, except the fascinating part of this is that Camelot is mythical, and Gondar is VERY REAL! The castle, the bustling streets and markets, the delicious coffee and beer made this city a welcome respite after Sudan. It was almost like I climbed these green mountain and emerged in a mystical kingdom, sort of like a journey to Narnia, but this was no dream, it was ohhhh so real, and Gondar was only the beginning of Ethiopia’s incredible relics.

Church of the Trinity and  the Mountain of Light, Gondar. (Debre Birhan Selassie)

The down side of all this incredible tourism can tend to be that the locals use and abuse tourists. Now mind you, I am aware that we live in a much different economy that they do, and I always expect a little bit of haggling over goods and services. However, Ethiopia has to be one of the worst I have seen for price gouging, right up there with Thailand. The local bus ride from Gondar to Bahir Dar, roughly 80 Birr, or 4 dollars. They will ask for 500 Birr, and if I was not told the correct price by my hotel, how would I know? Often, a man will approach you, who speaks decent English, and he acts as a middle man, luring the tourists in, forcing them to pay extreme prices, taking a big cut, and then paying the bus what the original price should have been. It becomes sad in a way, as this spills over into the children, and everywhere one goes in a touristic area of Ethiopia, the scams keep coming, the constant shouting of “You, you, you, money….” And the endless following and stories of being a student and needing money for various things.

Hiking the Simien Mountains.

The thing I kept reminding myself is that 90% of Ethiopians are very good people, very helpful and kind people, and often times as I dug in my feet at the bus station, local people would come to my aid and stop the injustice that was taking place. It is a reassuring feeling about humanity, and it has made me fall in love with these people.

After Gondar I ventured down to Lake Tana, staying in the town of Bahir Dar. I used this town as a base for exploring the wonderful Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile that flows to Khartoum in Sudan and meets up with the White Nile, before heading North to Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. This town is also within reach of the amazing Blue Nile falls, Africa’s second best water falls after Victoria falls in Zimbabwe. And with it being rainy season, these water falls proved to be a spectacle like no other.

Blue Nile Falls in full force.

 It was also ironic that while walking the trail away from the Blue Nile falls, about to get the boat across the Nile, I strolled through a field of “Chat”, a mildly narcotic leaf that the Ethiopians chew all afternoon to get a little buzz in their day.

Hippos in Lake Tana

The monasteries around the lake proved to be a wonderful spectacle and learning about the history of Christianity in this land, which is really the jump off point for the faith that spread all across the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa was amazing. We also managed to spot some wild Hippos where the Nile feeds into Lake Tana, coining the title of this blog, history and nature side by side. Ethiopia has it all!

Up close and personal with Africa's most dangerous beast.

The final destination on my list for Northern Ethiopia was to be the famous Lalibela, the most famous site in all of Ethiopia. However, on my journey to Lalibela I got a strong reminder of how travelling Africa is all about the “journey” and not the “destination”, lol. It took me two days to get there. I arrived at the bus station in Bahir Dar at 10 am, waited for 4 hours for the bus to fill, then drove 5 hours to a town called Gashema, where I stayed the night at a small “local” hotel, home to goats, sheep, horses, donkeys and some of the most lovely Ethiopian villagers. My room up in this highland village was a whopping 30 Birr, 1.50$, and the entertainment we made that evening, truly priceless. I introduced the Ethiopians to Katy Perry, making a parody of “California girls” and replacing it with “Ethiopian girls”. This was quite a hit with the locals, and when they broke out the “Tej” or local honey wine, the evening really took off.

Homestay in Gashema.

I finally made it to Lalibela after three hours of waiting for the bus and two flat tires. I had some lunch, checked into my hotel and went about exploring the fantastic ruins of what the Ethiopians coin “The New Jerusalem”. The city was carved out of solid rock nearly 1000 years ago, and these rock hewn churches leave one with many questions, puzzling the power of faith, and how far people will go to praise god or one of their leaders. Lalibela ranks up there with Petra, the pyramids and the Great Wall of China as one of the most famous historical sites on earth.

Up close and personal with the rock cut churches of Lalibela.

Lalibela's finest.

I boarded my first domestic flight the next day, and jetted across Ethiopia down to Addis Ababa, to take care of some business before heading to the east of the country.

Domestic travel at its finest! Ethiopian airways bound for Addis.

Northern Ethiopia has proven to be a wild excursion, and has exceeded all expectations. If any of you are planning on visiting Ethiopia in the future, this area is a must see! As for now, it is time for me to hatch a plan to get to lesser seen east of Ethiopia and onwards to Somalia.

Let the journey continue!

Cheers,

William Delaney