Wonders of Northern Ethiopia

I’ve been back in Addis Ababa for the past week now from my trip through Northern Ethiopia. Two weeks on the road was pretty great, but exhausting at the same time. I left Addis alone on the bus, but made a new friend quickly the next day in Bahir Dar - by the end of the trip we were seven. Going on a little boat cruise on Lake Tana was fun with Hiro, a Japanese backpacker. We’ve explored some monasteries on the little islands near Bahir Dar, looked at the Blue Nile outlet and watched a hippo taking its afternoon bath. We’ve topped the day off with dinner at the Cave Coffee Shop - I went already the night before. The sweet girl Yemsirach was working that day again and served us her delicious Shiro and some cool drinks. Hiro and I realized that we are on the same path to northern Ethiopia and decide to travel together - much more fun!

We thought since we’re close to the Blue Nile Falls we should take a look. Early next morning we take off from Bahir Dar to the small town of Tis Issat (“Water that Smokes”) on a 45-minute bus ride. At the ticket office they ‘warned’ us that it’s not the raining season yet and the water levels are low. Not expecting much, we start our walk for about an hour to reach the best view of the falls and indeed, we keep searching for the water realizing it’s a “no-water-waterfall”. The water level is so low that hardly any water flows – sad but true! We continue our walk – accompanied by two teenage boys – hop on rocks over the Alata River and continue on through a beautiful landscape along farmers plowing the fields. We cross the Blue Nile again by boat and are back where we started. A beautiful two hour walk, but no waterfall. Oh well, fun times anyway! We catch the next bus back to Bahir Dar and from there we take a minibus to our next stop: Gonder.

In Gonder we visit the Royal Enclosure - a UNESCO World Heritage Site – and walk around town. The 70,000-sq-meter compound contains numerous 15th and 16th century castles and palaces and one can hear the trees whisper stories of the past. Gonder has many impressive sites and buildings, but during the same day we prepare our trip to the Simien Mountains National Park. I’ve heard the mountains are spectacular and not to be missed, so I had to go. It wasn’t too hard to convince Hiro to come along and off we went the next morning. We hired a 4WD including camping gear and driver, who took us to the park headquarters in Debark. We pay our entrance fee and they assign our mandatory scout - including his machine gun. We drive for about thirty minutes and stop at the first sight of a group of Gelada Baboons – one of Ethiopia’s most fascinating endemic mammals. Fifty or more of them sit near a dry riverbed on the ground and eat grass. We get out of the car and walk closer. They don’t seem to care about us too much and keep eating, but moving slowly a little further away from us. What a sight – amazing mountains surround us and we take our first hike to the campsite – our scout leading us. We walk along the edge of the mountains and take in our first awestruck sight of the Simien Mountains! It’s hazy, but we can see enough across the valley to know that we have arrived in a special place. Two hours later we arrive at our campsite Sankaber, 36 km into the park. Our driver is already waiting with the food and our tent is pitched. We eat in one of the huts set-up for campers – we had to bring our own food. It’s still early in the day and we linger for a while at the campsite. But we are restless to see more and leave for another hike.

We don’t have to walk far from our campsite to realize that we walk right towards the edge of the mountains. As we reach the cliff we have an amazing view over the valley and many other mountain peaks in the distance. The landscape is breathtaking and different from any other mountain range I’ve seen. I take in the moment and feel far away from the rest of the world. We slowly walk back and the locals serve us buna (coffee) and chai (tea) in the tiny village near our camp. The sun is about to set and we organize some firewood for later in the evening. Darkness sets in very quickly and we start a fire in one of the huts. Our scout and a few other people join us as we prepare dinner – eating out of tin cans has never tasted so good!

We rise early with the sun the next morning – like almost everyone in Ethiopia – and get ready for our hike to the waterfall; our scout has been talking about it the previous day. We head out early to possibly see some deer along our hike. We walk along the cliff of the mountains and take in the breathtaking view over the valley. We walk down and eventually up again and reach the viewpoint to the waterfall after several hours. The fall is far away in the distance down in the valley, but we have a good view over the green mountains. I enjoy the moment at this beautiful site, because it’s our last day in the mountains – two days only give you a quick taste of what’s beyond. I know I will return one day! Our driver is waiting with the car near the road for us - all packed up and ready to go. On the drive back we stop to watch some Gelada Baboons again. Amazing monkeys…or whatever mammal species they are! In Debark we check in our hotel and walk to the colorful, crowded and bustling Saturday market. Hundreds of people walk around, scream and try to sell anything you can imagine: cows and ox, goats and sheep, horses and donkeys, grains and salt, spices and plastics. You need it, they got it! As usual many locals talk to us and want to know where we’re from. Curious kids always follow us, no matter what.

Time flies by and the next morning we are early at the bus station and wait for the bus to Shire to connect us to Aksum. It eventually arrives and off we drive on the road further north. After many hours on a curvy and bumpy road down the steep mountains we make it to Shire and eventually Aksum before dark. We find a nice hotel and go on our first walk around town. Aksum seems like a nice town with a warm climate. The next morning we organize a guide and explore all the historical sites around town, which fill up our entire morning and afternoon. Amazing ancient history! During lunch we run into some other foreign travelers at a local restaurant. They invite us to join their tour on a minibus through Tigray and Lalibela. We agree, since we planned to go the same way.