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Some very good travel photography here on 13:51 - Feb 2 by eastangliaisblue
Ethiopia is on my top 5 list of places I really want to go. Lalibela is a definite stop I want to do. Did you travel the whole country?
Did a figure of eight around it, the first half on a 'backpacker' truck and the second half with a private car and driver - which was so much better. We entered from Kenya at Moyale and then had an evening stop in at Konso before camping at Tumi in the Omo valley for three nights. Got to see the rite of passage that includes running over the backs of bullocks which was featured when Bruce Parry filmed on episode of 'Tribe' there.
Then a couple of nights in Arba Minch (good market at a village on the hill) before heading towards Addis with a stop at the Rastafarian churches in Shashamenee and another in the Bale mountains (where I fell out big time with the truck operators over them dragging their feet on the contracted hike to the top). Back in Shashamenee we quit the truck and a fixer sorted us with a driver once after a much happier bus journey to Addis Ababa.
Things improved immeasurably once we met up with the driver and we headed north to Bahir Dar where our driver arranged a visit to a folk evening which involved every single person present having the rip taken out of them and a challenge to do a frantic shoulder shaking dance.
Gondar was the next port of call, has a massive castle built almost four hundred years ago. Next was some serious trekking in the Simien mountains and then more spectacular ancient building in Axum. Getting from there to Lalibela was arduous even by car but worth it. The final special thing of the trip was a visit to Harar, the main city in the Islamic corner of Ethiopia and once home to Arthur Rimbaud. For some reason known only to the inner workings of my brain when we were taken to the evening feeding of the hyenas outside the city walls I joined in:
Glad I did it but when I did n't notice a large one come round the back of me to get to the meat and I felt the immense weight of it;s body lean on me I lost my nerve a bit and gingerly backed away.
No idea if our fixer is still operating what with the impact the pandemic must have had on his business but a search on Trip Adviser or Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree usually brings up glowing reports. DM me for contact details
Cheers for sharing this Steve. Having travelled most of Scandinavia, the Faroe Islands is the final one to tick off the list. Looks amazing. Ironically I’ve just been chatting to the Codfather over in Lofoten, another amazing spot on this planet.
Some very good travel photography here on 16:03 - Feb 2 by WeWereZombies
Did a figure of eight around it, the first half on a 'backpacker' truck and the second half with a private car and driver - which was so much better. We entered from Kenya at Moyale and then had an evening stop in at Konso before camping at Tumi in the Omo valley for three nights. Got to see the rite of passage that includes running over the backs of bullocks which was featured when Bruce Parry filmed on episode of 'Tribe' there.
Then a couple of nights in Arba Minch (good market at a village on the hill) before heading towards Addis with a stop at the Rastafarian churches in Shashamenee and another in the Bale mountains (where I fell out big time with the truck operators over them dragging their feet on the contracted hike to the top). Back in Shashamenee we quit the truck and a fixer sorted us with a driver once after a much happier bus journey to Addis Ababa.
Things improved immeasurably once we met up with the driver and we headed north to Bahir Dar where our driver arranged a visit to a folk evening which involved every single person present having the rip taken out of them and a challenge to do a frantic shoulder shaking dance.
Gondar was the next port of call, has a massive castle built almost four hundred years ago. Next was some serious trekking in the Simien mountains and then more spectacular ancient building in Axum. Getting from there to Lalibela was arduous even by car but worth it. The final special thing of the trip was a visit to Harar, the main city in the Islamic corner of Ethiopia and once home to Arthur Rimbaud. For some reason known only to the inner workings of my brain when we were taken to the evening feeding of the hyenas outside the city walls I joined in:
Glad I did it but when I did n't notice a large one come round the back of me to get to the meat and I felt the immense weight of it;s body lean on me I lost my nerve a bit and gingerly backed away.
No idea if our fixer is still operating what with the impact the pandemic must have had on his business but a search on Trip Adviser or Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree usually brings up glowing reports. DM me for contact details
Sounds amazing, all the places you've listed I've done research on. I nearly went a few years ago but my wife was made redundant so that put a stop to it at the time. One day though, one day.
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Some very good travel photography here on 18:40 - Feb 2 with 1106 views