But honestly, it’s not last week.  Hew, boy! I am falling behind.  But enjoy them anyway.

We spend a little time in rural Ethiopia – outside of Addis, around Adama and around Lake Langano.  I think future trips will probably include more venturing outside of the cities… now that we are more comfortable with the country and how it works.

To give you a sense of the places we went, in the rainy season, here are some of the sounds:

cattle grunting, girls’ skirts swishing, cattle boys whistling, birds screeching, monkeys jabbering, waterfalls splashing, familiar Amharic and new Oromo greetings

and the smells

dust settling, lake air blowing, cattle dung drying, fresh leaves bursting, the occasional diesel truck belching, clay baking 

A few random comments… First off, I have never been to a country that is as accepting of other races, colours and creeds as Ethiopia.  And I don’t say that lightly.  Never in 2 months did I feel discriminated against, or specially treated since I was a ferengi (white foreigner.)  Nor did my east Ghanaian friend (black foreinger.) Even in the countryside, where foreigners aren’t that common, people were curious, but always polite, warm and accepting.  Maybe it’s because they were never colonized.  Maybe it’s because there are so many tribes, cultures, languages and religions. Maybe it’s just because they are a people confident in their country and identity.  I don’t know.  But I do know, there are lessons we can learn from the Ethiopian people.

Another interesting experience that blew my mind.  Several farmers and rural folks talked to me about climate change.  They didn’t necessarily call it that – some did! – but many of the young and old spoke with frankness about the changing weather, the drying effect on the lands, the swinging of the seasons, and the resulting hardships.  It astounds me that these ideas met so much resistance here, when rural (and many completely illiterate) farmers in a third world country know exactly what is happening.  Perhaps because they are subsistence farmers, or perhaps because they live so dependently on the weather, they can see with a broad gaze the effects.  Now… if they could only get some pollution control in Ethiopia (along with CO2 regs!) the government would be as on top of things as the people!

Anyway, enough of my rant. Here are some of our favorite pictures from the countryside. Remember these are just samples from the regions we visited; each tribal and geographical area has something different to offer. Click on the pics that interest you for a closer look, and then again for a fabulous close-up!

We videotape the girls all the time, but since they refer to themselves in the third person, they constantly say their own names. And we try to keep their names out of the spotlight – hence the nom-de-internets of Sugar and Spice.

Since tonight there was a rare occasion when they weren’t talking like nuts (they are super chatterboxes!) we thought we’d share a little video.

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!