Bishangari Lodge at Lake Langano
Oct. 1st | Posted by Nicky
10 comments
We’ve been looking forward to doing this post, as I think it was both Jrock and I’s favorite part of our trip to Ethiopia.
For five days, we stayed at Bishangari Lodge, on the shores of Lake Langano. The lodge is a 5+ hour drive from Addis, south of Adama, but well worth the travel distance. It’s situated in an eco-reserve, with gorgeous tall, huge trees filled with monkeys and amazing birdlife. Many don’t know that Ethiopia is amazing for birds – it’s one of the best places in the world. There were baboons eating ants on the paths between cabins, and often in the open places in front of the open-air restaurant. Warthogs came down from beachy higher places to graze in the bush near our cabin every afternoon. To get a sense of what it is like to stand in the trees, you can listen to an audio file I took. Click here, save, then play: Standing in the trees at Bishangari.
The “lodge” is actually a collection of godjos (cabins,) with a central open-air restaurant, a tree bar, traditional tukuls (huts) for coffee ceremony and massage, and a small village of traditional tukuls that you can stay in too. We too the luxury route and stayed in one of the godjos, and it was perfect. By the way, in my line of work I often gauge the authenticity of a place that calls itself “eco-tourism” – and these guys are legit. Not only do the cabins have solar hot water and light, the food is cooked with biogas from a large biodigestor filled with food waste. They have a preservation lease to keep the land in its pristine state, and do a darn good job, with no paving between the godjos and litter baskets on posts everywhere. They hired local people to build the place, under the direction of three engineers from Addis, and then retrained the people to be birding guides, waiters, reservation agents, etc. And in contrast to other places I’ve been, the service standards were exceptional! The even bring farmers in from the surrounding area to teach them about conserving the value of the surrounding woods and grazing land, and are making real headway. Just awesome.
So what did we do while we were there? Well, we ate great food, including talapia and other fish right out of the lake. We swam every day, as Lake Langano is one of the few places in Ethiopia you can swim without getting sick. We hiked through the woods, met local farmers and herders, went birdwatching in the tall trees, sat on the banks of the lake and watched hippos at sunset, played soccer and swung in the hammock, and generally had a fantastic relaxing time.
I could go on and on, but needless to say, we will be returning to Bishangari again. And we’ll bring our relatives too!
I will do further posts about rural Ethiopian life and Ethiopian wildlife in susequent posts, as they deserve attention all their own. Keep watching!
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- The dusty, wash-baorded 4WD road in from the highway to Bishangari.
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- The first night – too scared to eat after a warthog sighting right outside our godjo.
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- Enjoying the hammock attached to the restaurant.
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- The outdoor restaurant – the baboons would sit right outside and we would play soccer.
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- The horses grazed free – but the girls were too scared to go riding.
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- Bilharzia free – but murky as English tea! The girls loved it.
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- The staff are all from surrounding villages and rural properties.
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- Curled up at night – the girls didn’t hea the monkeys on the roof – but we did!
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- Our godjo. The warthogs grazed right outside.
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- Beside the lake, the ground was sand full of anthills and acacia trees.
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- The solar panels beside one of the godjos for water and light.
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- Braiding hair outside post-afternoon-nap.
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- Our birding guide leading us across the grazing fields to the forest. This guy knew his birds!
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- The carriers sure came in handy – I sold one to my Ghanan friend when we left, so we have to buy another for Jrock.
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- Look carefully and you’ll see a man above the waterfall. Langano means “clear/clean water”.
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- Jrock playing volleyball with some local hearding kids. The ball was made of socks.
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- Catching a rest after a long hike. One thing about rural Ethiopia – there are people everywhere.
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- The daily menu and an itinerant baboon.
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- Our spash babies in their too-big suits. Once they just went nude.
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- Drinking a glass of vino and relaxing. They actually had pretty good wine there.
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- Watching hippos with some local boys working on their Science 9 correspondance homework.
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- Our naturalist off by herself looking at the hippo pods. “hippo” became our code word for flatulence because of the sound they make.
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- The family that watches hippos together, stays together. (For fear of hippo attack.)
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- Gorgeous sunset views at Lake Langano. Good shot, Jrock!
I’m showing my husband this post. Thanks for that, eh?
I too will be showing my husband this post, this definitely looks like somewhere to visit when we go to Ethiopia to pick up our daughter! Not that we have a referral yet, but the agency is back up & running, so I am choosing to be optimistic! Anyway, this place looks AMAZING!
It looks and sounds amazing! I can’t wait to go back and this will certainly be going on the list of “must visit” places…Thanks for sharing
thanks for bringing up these great memories, your photos are so well done. glad you took the time to go down there, sk
What wonderful memories! It looks so beautiful there. This looks like a to-do for later on in life for our family. Thanks for posting!
So I went from showing your post on Bishangari to my husband to him trying to figure out how it would be possible to visit given our relatively short stay in Ethiopia in February.
Once again, thanks for that, eh?
Well, there is one solution, Chris – stay longer!!! lol
Okay, that made me giggle! Now why didn’t I think of that.
Thank you very much for having visited Bishangari lodge. We sincerely appreciate your blog and hope that you will continue to visit us in the future.
No problem! We have recommended you to MANY adoptive families who have then stayed at the lodge. We hope to visit you again!