Tigray is a region of northern Ethiopia rather than a specific location and just happens to be the last area I’m exploring on this trip. So why explore this region aside from the vast and stunning mountainous landscape? Tigray is famous for its rock hewn churches, most of which are anywhere from 500 to 1500 years old. Ethiopians liked to build their churches in caves or carve them high up the mountains right out of the rock in order to…
Ever wondered what it’s like to walk around on another planet? The Danakil Depression in the Afar region of Ethiopia is probably as close as one can get. Endless sandy deserts, endless expanses of ancient and recent lava flows, endless salt flats, active volcanoes, and geysers filled with boiling, highly acidic water. It sits at 410ft below sea level and it’s the hottest place on earth when it comes to average year round temperatures in the 105-120°F range. It’s harsh,…
Every trip seems to have one section that doesn’t quite go according to plan, and I think this section is it. After my Simien Mountains tour I was supposed to go straight to Aksum, but was told instead that I would have to spend the night in Debark and go to Aksum in the morning. Morning came and my ride didn’t show up. I then spent the whole morning trying to arrange a ride in a town with no local…
Continuing on my way north through Ethiopia, I made a long day trip into the Simien Mountains. Doing a three day trek is an option, but due to time constraints, I settled for the day trip and it turned out to be just right. Any excursion into the Simiens has to start in the little town of Debark, where the park headquarters are located and where you sign in and get an armed ranger. Why we need an armed ranger…
After an extremely short flight over some beautiful terrain and Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake, I’m now in another former capitol of Ethiopia, Gondar. The rule here started with emperor Fasilidas in the 1630’s after a couple of centuries of great instability. The empire was ruled by him, then his son followed by his grandson and remained stable until about 1730. After that every emperor that took the throne found himself murdered under suspicious circumstances and the empire slowly disintegrated….
From the chaos of Addis Ababa straight to what is arguably the most popular tourist destination in all of Ethiopia, Lalibela. The town sits at almost 7800ft above sea level and the green hills and mountains all around are just stunning! You need to be in shape to be here because every street and walkway is on a definite tilt. Most of the history of Lalibela is steeped in mystery. It apparently rose to prominence with the Zagwe empire when…
After a two hour flight from Zanzibar I now find myself in not only the capital of Ethiopia, but the capital of Africa. To be honest, I didn’t know there was such a thing as the African Union until I started researching this trip, but it’s based here in Addis, as are the embassies from all over the world. Addis is a huge city with a lot of people, I mean a LOT! There’s obviously a lot of poverty and…
I woke up early one last time in Dar es Salaam and made my way through the busy city center, this time to the ferry port and boarded the very nice Kilimanjaro 3 bound for the island of Zanzibar. The Indian Ocean water around these parts, by the way, is just the most crystal clear blue you can imagine. You can almost see all the way to the bottom. After a two hour ride I reach the port of Stone…
After a good nights sleep in the city center of Dar es Salaam again, I arose with the sun and made my way to the airport for a flight to Kigoma, clear on the opposite side of the country. Kigoma is a large, but relatively underdeveloped city, situated on the gorgeous shores of Lake Tanganyika, the second largest lake in Africa, and the deepest. On the other side of the lake sits the Democratic Republic of the Congo. My hotel…
After climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, getting a long shower, a good nights sleep, and wishing my good friend Rachel a safe journey back home, I caught a short flight to Dar es Salaam on the beautiful Tanzanian coast. Dar es Salaam is not the capital of Tanzania, though it probably should be. It’s the biggest city in Tanzania and it’s where all the embassies are, while the government sits in the center of the country in Dodoma. There really isn’t a…