A nice, quick flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from Nairobi was a welcome change from our normal long bus rides. It was already evening when we arrived so we talked to some people at the airport and got picked up for what Ethiopians described as a nice hotel. In reality, not so nice-the hot water did not work, the room was smokey, not super clean and the next day the taxi guy who worked with the hotel was really upset when we did not want him to drive us around all day on a city tour, oh well. We went to the Hilton to get money(international ATMs are scarce in Ethiopia) and there was an Ethiopian Airlines office in the hotel so we went in to see how much it was cost to fly to three different places in northern Ehtiopia that we wanted to visit and are about a 2 day bus ride away if you can get on one. Turned out for $184 each we could take four flights and get back to Addis for our flight to Cairo in 8 days. Done deal, so we got up early the next day and flew to Gondar, our location to hike the huge and empty Simien Mountains.
We got to Gondar and checked into a so-so hotel and prepared to take the early public bus to Debark, the launching point for the Simien Mountains. We toured the town and the 17th century castles that are built in town. The town as a very Italian influence from many years of Italians hanging around ending after WWII. You would never think there would castles like this in Ethiopia. During the day we were also hit up by many touts that day and evening about taking a private mini bus to Debark and Simien for way more money then we had. Our hotel desk guy knew the bus left very early from teh station so he said he would arrange a motorcycle taxi for us for early if we paid him the night before, trust him he said...So we get up at 5:00am to be ready at 5:45am, down to the lobby our desk guy tries to get us to take a private tour one last time, we said no which he did not anticipate and had never called the taxi ahead of time so he was frantically trying to get someone. We ended up leaving late for the bus station, missed the first bus and sat on another one that left two hours later. Meanwhile the bus touts are pushing and shoving people to get on various buses because they leave when they are full.
We arrived in Debark around 11:30, too late to hike as far as we wanted to for the night. On top, the park people had different prices for entry fees, etc. then what we were told in Gondar at the tourist info place. Jessica had a melt down which did nothinkg to disuade them so we decided to shorten our plans. As we sat down to eat some lunch before the park guy came up to us and said there was a guy and his private guide going to the first stop along the trek in the Simien and maybe we could negotiate a fee with him to ride along and drop us off. We did and it turned out to be not such a bad deal and it allowed us to hike to our original site and camp for the night before hiking all the way back to Debark. We had lunch with the guide and Cedric, his french passenger. During lunch the guide proceeded to tell us that American lost to Somalia, 7 helicopters were shot down, the Ethiopians beat the Somalians in half a day and Malcom X was a freedome fighter! Jessica made me bite my tongue otherwise I would have given the guy a quick history lesson. But we did manage to introduce him to Louis Farakan, we thought he might enjoy his teachings!
They dropped us off at a swanky lodge and we started to hike with our mandatory scout, who carried an M1 Carabine rifle circa 1930s and wore a smashing grey suit. I believe if you can hike in a suit, you have truly arrived. We hiked along the ridge of the canyons into the Simien mtns which are breathtaking and almost completely empty. We only saw sheppards and sheep/goats while hiking for 3 hours. We also came across the most famous resident of the Simiens-the Gelada baboon or bleeding heart baboon. They are very furry and from behind look much like a big dog. There were at least 100 of them scattered along the hillside and unlike som eof the other baboons we have encountered they were much friendler and easier to approach. And yes their middle chest does look like a bleeding heart, see pics! We arrived at our campsite at 4:30pm to find only one other scout sitting cleaning his AK-47 and no one else around. We were told there was food to buy at this camping area but soon realized that may not be the case. Then this safari looking fellow with a beard came walking down the hill towards us. His names was Simon, a Scot living in England who had been hiking for six days. This was his last night before moving on to Debark, he informed us there was no food to be had but he would share his meager ramon noodles and poridge with us. If not for his generosity we would have starved after eating our one apple and some leftover peanut butter. SO we shared dinner that night, turned in and got some sleep for the 35km trek back to Debark the next day. This trek back turned out to be long and hot, plus I was carrying my big backpack with the tent which made it a little tougher. We made it back to the swanky lodge, had some lunch then set out for Debark. At about 4:00pm we made it back to Debark, checked into a shitty hotel and cooled off with some cold drinks to celebrate our finish. The mountains were stunning and empty, what we saw for only two days, Simon saw for six as well as a leopard and a rare Ibyx that lives only in these mountains. Oh, and Simon's AK-47 totting scout had a green suit on, so posh!
That evening we met a guy who said he would go get the bus ticket for us early in themorning, save our seat then when it drove by we would hope on. Sounded good, maybe too good. A few minutes later he said there was a minibus going to Gondar, a few more Bihr(Ethiopian currency) and less time on the road. Sounded good as well so later he brought the driver back and we negoiated a cheaper price. So again up at 5:00am, said goodbye to Simon(we shared a room), then were hassled by the hotel staff because they wanted more money for Simon staying in teh room, which we had already told them. They threatended to call the police and locked the outside gate. We protested, showed them Simon sleeping in the room, paid the money and ran out to the awaiting minibus. Not a good start to an early morning. We approached the minibus and there were lots of locals getting and it was filling up. Did I mention the guy the night before said it would only be us and two other Americans on the minibus? Ok, no problem we have sat in cramped buses before, we took our seats in the back. Then they wanted to squeeze another person next to us, there was no seat, we protested and finally demanded our money back, hoped out and started walking towards the bus station. It was still dark and we did not know if the bus had left yet. I had also told everyone they were going to hell for trying to cheat us yet again, Jess yelled at them too told them they were not Christian(religion is big in Ethiopia). We walked about two minutes and what was coming down the road but the public bus, we flagged him down, hoped on(almost empty) and settled in feeling vindicated but still angry. Three hours and one chicken pecking at my heels later we arrived back into Gondar. We went back to our hotel to get the bag we left behind. After what happened when we left Gondar we were determined not to stay there. The same guy was at the desk, so we grabbed our bags, he started to get angry, told us we had to pay for the night, said he was going to call the police. We said again go ahead, then Jess told him why we were not staying and asked him if he was Christian. He could not look her in the eye or answer the question, and we left shortly after. Again, we were angry but glad to be out of there at a place with nicer people it seemed.
The next day we left early to the airport for our flight to Lalibella for Orthodox Easter. It was big in Ethiopia and Lalibella had so much history that we knew it would be a good place to be during this celebration. Good riddens Gondar we thought. Ah but it would get better!!!
