Day 47- Bahir Dar 19/11/12

And, I regret to say, yet another boring day. Started off by stopping off at the municipal rubbish dump (!), to see storks, vultures, egrets, kites and goodness knows what else. Then on, past pools of water lilies, to the start of our trek to the Blue Nile Falls. Over the Portuguese bridge (built in the 1600s when the Jesuits were trying to convert the country to their brand of the true faith).

In spite of our experiences in the Simien mountains and Debark, this is very definitely the dry season, so the water coming over the falls is a poor shadow of what it can offer, but still impressive. (Also, most of the water is diverted just upstream for the hydroelectric power plant). Cass says that, in full flood, the falls are 400m wide by 45m deep. Somehow, walking in the Peak District will never be the same again.

We continued our walk through, as usual, glorious countryside with verdant fields - the sugarcane was particularly green, tall and straight. Also fields of qat / khat. Long discussions as to whether this is legal in UK- we decided yes, but only just.
Then it was another cup of coffee in a straw hut, not quite the same as back home.

Upon return to base, Shannan, Ian and I went for a walk around the main market - totally different to St Albans! Almost medieval in its layout, with large areas set aside for different things - fruit/veg - beautifully presented - spices (what an aroma!), shoes, ladies wear etc etc. Even one "street" reserved solely for 20 or so tailors with their sewing machines.

Later, we with Anki and Ross went to the spa next door for our evening meal - and what a meal. We all agreed the best in all of our trip so far. I had grilled marinated vegetables as a starter, followed by seasoned Nile perch. Surprise surprise, we all finished off with a chocolate brownie. Just superb.

Time to go to bed after yet another fantastic day

Day 46- Bahir Dar 18/11/12

What a fantastic day. Our hotel has a beautiful garden with masses of tall yellow or red lilies(??? - perhaps like those in John B's garden) and a massive fig tree supporting the roof of the outside restaurant. It is right on the shore of Lake Tana, which is the source of the mighty Blue Nile. The lake itself is a massive 2156 sq km compared to, say, Windermere at a rather paltry 15. (Lake Victoria is 68,870 sq km!).

Passing by pelicans bobbing on the water and with a flock of terns wheeling overhead, we took a small boat across to one of the many monasteries in and around the lake. An African fish eagle on a tree and a hornbill flying by greeted our arrival on land, followed by a beautiful walk through a forest of "dappled glades", taking in the local flora and fauna, e.g. vervet monkeys running through the tree tops.

We arrived at our destination - a round church in the middle of the forest. Dating from the 14th century (when it of course had a thatched roof rather than metal) and with murals from the 16th, we were all rather enchanted by it - particularly as we had a superb guide. We learnt more from him than in all our previous visits to churches - for example there are many more books in the Ethiopian orthodox bible than "ours", plus the Mary chronicles, which helps to explain why so many of us have been rather baffled by many of the murals previously. He explained quite a number to us - fascinating. And everything, everything, in a church is symbolic. He also said that there is now a phrase in English - "to be Assanged", i.e. to be unjustly accused. Is this now common in the U.K.? Or simply in Ethiopia?

There was a small museum which shows even more crowns of Ethiopian emperors.

Before we embarked again, we had a coffee in a small straw hut, with banana leaves on the earth floor, while local frankincense smoked away in front of us - it's a hard life for we overlanders.

And to add to all of this, our return journey was via the start of the Blue Nile itself, 1450km before it joins the White Nile at Khartoum on its long way to Alexandria. I found it almost exotic to be at the very source of such a great river in history. Although the Victorians of course strove to find "the source if the (White) Nile", the origin of the Blue was in fact discovered by a Scot, James Bruce, way back in 1790 - and it is the Blue that contributes most of the water to the great river north of Khartoum. As we were entering the river, a chap in a papyrus boat paddled by - just like in ancient Egypt.

Later on, three of us went for a walk out from town to the Nile bridge and to the Martyrs Memorial Monument on the banks of the river. Very impressive, but needs a little TLC, e.g. a good clean in parts, and for the eternal flame to be lit! As we arrived, so did the bride and groom - bride gave me a wave and a broad smile. As perhaps in many cities, you see here utter poverty next door to gleaming modernity.

In the evening, we bumped into another bridal party, where bride and groom were just leaving the restaurant, wearing white robes and gold "crowns".

All in all, yet another boring day.

Day 45- Bahir Dar 17/11/12

We all had another great opportunity to sit up top again today - it really is a truly great experience. As usual, lots of children waving madly to us - even standing in the road ahead dancing for us. Flew through a flock of beautiful blue iridescent birds (superb starlings?) - quite exotic. Scenery as always beautiful.

When we stopped in the middle of nowhere for our picnic lunch, we were soon watched by some twenty or more locals, obviously intrigued by what on earth we were doing. Some of them had live chickens hanging by their legs from sticks held across their shoulders.

We arrived in Bahir Dar (the "Riviera" of Ethiopia) just as the sun was setting, to find a truck from another company here. I was most amused to find almost everybody on Helena (generally in their 20's and 30's) talking about the "youngsters" on the other bus.

Day 44- Lalibela 16/11/12

Another early start as six of us climbed up to over 10,000' to visit the Ashetan Mariam monastery - in fact closer to a hermit's cell than a monastery to our way of thinking. However, some great views and I was pleased that I was able to make the climb - although a bit slower than the others!

Then it was back to the expensive Mountain View for another blogging session to catch up, before dinner at a most amazing restaurant - looks almost like something out of Star Trek, owned by a Scottish lady and her Ethiopian business partner. Local food, but I had bubble and squeak patty as a starter, followed by shepherds pie and then banana crepe with honey and lemon sauce. Absolutely delicious, and a quite amazing lady. Photo of restaurant and of the wc's to try and give an impression.

Next opportunity for blogging is likely to be in Addis Ababa in a week's time.

PS Am including a couple of shots that show how luxurious is the courtyard immediately outside our hotel bedroom, and also one that hopefully shows :

a) how rich is the soil, and this is at nearly 10,000'

b) also showing how crops are grown everywhere here, even around the rocks. No wonder they have to use hand sickles rather than anything like a tractor

Day 43- Lalibela 15/11/12

Named after the king who lived here in the eleventh century, who "built" eleven churches, this is another of Ethiopia's world heritage sites. Built is definitely the wrong word, as they have all been hewn out of the solid rock. Depending upon the style, they are either monolithic or semi-monolithic, but still stupendous. It took just 23 years to finish them, reportedly with the help of angels sent down from heaven.

We were "lucky" to visit today as there was a major religious celebration taking place - this was fascinating from the point of view of spectacle and sound, but rather infuriating as we could hardly hear a word that our guide was saying. We spent the whole day visiting all the churches, none of which are the same in external design or internal layout.

Conscious that I have not been able to blog since leaving Gonder xxxx days ago (we all lose track of time), I was getting desperate to find some wifi somewhere and the Mountain View hotel on the far side of town came up trumps. That was the good news, the bad being that we had to pay for a rather expensive meal in order to be able to use it. We being Paul, Karin and myself - Karin took a shot of Paul and I seemingly having a quite, romantic, candle lit supper.