Last weekend, four other travellers and I went to a city in
Northern Ethiopia called Bahir Dar. As soon as we landed, we all fell in love
with the place; the sky was blue and we could breathe again!
Our first activity was a boat ride on Lake Tana (apparently
one of the biggest lakes in Africa) to an Orthodox Christian monastery that was
built in the 14th century. Christianity in Ethiopia is really
interesting, as it has been here for a really long time and it is said to be
the home of the original stone with the ten commandments! The country is full
of old monasteries and churches that are carved out of rocks. My grandma would
have loved it. Anyway, the monastery was beautiful; it had artwork that
reminded me of the Buddhist monasteries I saw in Tibet. The buildings are made
of three concentric circles, the outermost for the public to pray, the second
circle for priests, and the inner circle for a replica of the 10 commandments. I
really enjoyed touring these monasteries; I felt like a part of history!
The next day, we drove about an hour on a ridiculously bumpy
road (our tour guide said we were getting an “African massage”) to the Blue
Nile. It was cool to see the countryside, but it was a little bit sad at the
same time. Aside from a few areas that looked fertile and arable, everything
was brown. It seemed like most people were cattle herders (apparently Ethiopia
has the eighth largest population of domesticated animals in the world!). A book
I was reading said that cattle grazing has created a lot of deforestation,
which causes rain to wash away all the fertile soil. In Uganda, it seemed like
even if villagers didn’t have any money, they could usually plant food to
survive. I don’t know if the same is true in Ethiopia, and that worries me.
Once we got to the area of the Blue Nile, we took a short
hike to Blue Nile falls. This part of the Nile is NOT blue; in fact it is
totally mud brown, which made out tour guide giggle. After we saw a great view
of the falls from the top of the mountain, we hiked on a wobbly suspension
bridge (which was actually really fun) right down to the river. We just hung
out on rocks while being misted by the waterfall. I was splashed by the Nile, I
feel famous!
On our final day in Bahir Dar, we went on a Bike tour around
town. Although my bike was falling apart, it was great! We rode over a bridge
across the Nile, and saw hippos! We weren’t allowed to take pictures though,
because the government is worried that someone will try to destroy the bridge.
They are building a dam on the Nile to use for hydro- electric power and
irrigation, but Sudan and Egypt are worried it will cut off a lot of their
water flow. So I could not capture the cute hippos in a photo!
Everything about the trip was so wonderful, until we were
about to fly back home and it started storming (helllooo rainy season). We were
stuck in the Bahir Dar airport, which is literally like a garage, for five
extra hours! And the power, at the airport, went off at least three times,
leaving us totally blind in this garage- like structure with 50 strangers.
Every time it happened, people would groan loudly (me included); it was
actually pretty funny haha. But we made it back eventually, no harm done. The
whole time I was in Bahir Dar, I was thinking of the town I lived in in Uganda.
I miss it! It had more of a community feeling like Bahir Dar, and people were a
little less aggressive than in Addis Ababa. I think next time I travel, I will
make sure I live in a little town instead of a capital city, although living in
Addis is a great experience of course.
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