Ethiopia – Rock Churches, Castles and Mountain Plateau

(Originally published January 2011)

I landed in Addis Ababa at 8pm on Monday 3rd January and was offered a lift by Faita, who I was sat next to on the plane and works for the UN World Food Programme in Addis. I met up with Martin on Piazza (which is nothing like a square!) near the hotel. We headed out for a late dinner and a few drinks before bed.

Early wake up call the next morning and a taxi ride to the airport in a 40 year old Lada that barely made it uphill, for our 8am flight to Lalibela. From the air, Ethiopia looks like the grand canyon over an area covering half the surface area of the country. On arrival in Lali we found a small hotel and headed off for a walk around the place. After getting our bearings we stopped in a small cafe for lunch… My order was mixed up and I ended up with a Kai Wat which was way too spicy for me to finish (or really enjoy for that matter!). It took a few beers to soothe the tongue before I was ready to head back up the hill… Slowly! We stopped at one of the main churches on our way and took a head start on our tour the next morning. After a snooze we headed out for dinner and ended up having food at a small restaurant chatting to the staff and trying not to be put off by the soap on TV!

Our tour of Lalibela’s rock hewn churches started at 7am in order to coincide with some of the Christmas (orthodox calendar) ceremonies and have a chance of making it round as it is the busiest time of year! Our guide, Tadesse, was both knowledgeable and relaxed which made for an enjoyable experience. The rock hewn churches are all sculpted out of the rock and range from totally freestanding to cave in construction.

We spent 5 hours visiting each of the 11 churches and walking along the passageways that link them. One of these passages is underground and represents the passage to hell. It was totally pitch black and it took over 30mins to cover 50m due to the number of people and the slow progress. This was accompanied by chanting and humming of prayers throughout. At Immanuel church we assisted to one of the colourful ceremonies which includes chanting and dancing and many of the of the churches were full of pilgrims listening to prayers and already waiting for the overnight sermons and celebrations. After this we headed off for a well deserved lunch and a few cold beers! We spent the rest of the day walking round some more and taking in the atmosphere in this special place on its most spectacular festival.

St George's church, Lalibela

Inside one of the churches, Lalibela

On thursday morning we flew West across the country to Gondar. Gondar has a busy yet relaxed feel to it which suited us well. We spent the afternoon walking around, sampling a few cafes and checking prices for tours to the Simien mountains. Everybody here wants to know if we like Ethiopia and Gondar… Some because they are curious and others because they want to approach you to sell you something. This is generally good natured and easy to brush but I found it more fun to become Dimitri from Kazakstan as this means the kids have nothing further to relate to and stops them in their tracks (as they can’t rattle football teams and player names or member of the royal family… If only they knew about Borat!)

Gondar was once the capital of Abyssinia. At its height in the 17th and 18th century it rivalled European capitals in splendour and pomp. The royal enclosure is what remains of this golden age and within its walls one can put together a picture of what Gondar once was. We spent Friday morning visiting the enclosure and in an effort to not overdose on sightseeing we spent the middle of the day taking in the sun and undertaking our favourite pastime… Namely eating and drinking. It took a monumental effort afterwards to muster the energy to walk the short mile to the old royal baths!

Royal Palace, Gondar

After a bite to eat in the evening we headed to a traditional club… Effectively a small bar where singing and dancing takes place in the middle of the room. This meant having to tip the band several times (in a rather funny way as we had to stick the note on the singers forehead after she had come up to you and ‘serenaded’ you) and pay way over the odds for a couple of beers. But it was fun and proved that dancing is not all about hips… shoulder moves can be pretty impressive too! You’ll have to trust me on that one.

On saturday we booked our trek after a little procrastination (which paid off as a swiss guy walked in a decided to join us which brought the price down for all of us). We then visited the most famous church in Gondar and in tge afternoon joined 50 or so locals in a grubby hotel bar to watch the Arsenal FA cup game.

We left Gondar at 7am the next day after breakie. In Debark (100km north along dirt roads) we picked up our ‘support’ team for our 4 days / 3 nights in the Simien mountains. We had a guide (Mitou), a cook (Abidjo) and a scout (Wassi) as well as a couple of muleteers and a few mules. From there we drove to Sankanber camp (3200m), traditionally the first camp but often skipped on treks heading deeper into the park, and then walked along the escarpment (where the mountains suddenly drop over 500m down to the plateau to the north) for 4 hours to Gich village. Here we went for a traditional coffee ceremony in one if the large village houses and then onto Gich camp (3600m) where we would spend 2 nights.

We had a leisurely wake up and breakfast at 8 before leaving on the hike to Imet Gogo (3926m), overlooking the escarpment to the north. Got back to camp for a late lunch followed by a lazy afternoon siesta. In the late afternoon we walked up to a peak behind the camp for sunset… This was ruined by oncoming low cloud but the contrast with the light from the setting sun produced some good views. Also saw 100s of Simien baboons heading back to their cave following their dinner (they feed on grass roots).

Tuesday was the longest walking day as we headed from Gich camp to Chennek camp via Inatye peak (4070m) along a vertiginous portion of the escarpment. We arrived in good time shortly before 3pm (before the mules taking the road) and there was a bar… Well a shack selling beer! So we had a Dashen beer! This was followed by tea and popcorn and chilling until dinner.

The escarpment, Simien Mountains

On the final day, it was an early start to climb Bwahit (4430m) from where we got fantastic 360 views, including all the way to Ras Dashen, Ethiopia’s highest peak. We were back in Chennek camp for 1pm and after a quick celebratory beer we returned to Gondar (5hrs of dusty drive in a 4×4). After most needed hot showers we headed out for food and a couple last beers.

On Thursday 13th in the morning we left Gondar. Martin headed off to Bahir Dar by bus whilst I flew back to Addis Ababa. I had the afternoon in Addis during which I visited the national museum and its excellent palaeontology display before getting the late evening flight to Cairo.

It was only whilst walking round the airside part of Addis airport that I realised I recognised the corridor and shops… Which made sense as I flew Ethiopian to Kilimanjaro in 2004 and obviously had a short stopover here!