Clive Best

Today is my last day at work and I am actually rather sad to be leaving tomorrow evening. Yesterday evening I met the the two Jill’s in the Hilton bar as I was watching the semi-final match between Cameroon and Ghana. Every Thursday evening they and two friendly taxis organise a meal and water run for the homeless poor sleeping rough in Addis. With money raised by contributions the taxi driver’s family cook 300 meals of injeera and sauce in plastic bags. I went with them. There are some harrowing sights of mainly middle-aged and young men with absolutely nothing. There are also some women sleeping with children in their arms on the pavement. Many sleep outside churches and some seem very weak from continuous street life and bad living. Without fail they are all humble, kind and friendly. There was never any real aggression, just in the case of one young man desperate about his life. Another checkup is to look out for serious medical conditions. One man had malaria, and Jill determined to revisit tomorrow with Malarone treatment. Last week they found a TB sufferer , but unfortunately he died this week as it was too late too treat him.On a much brighter topic - Friday evening Taye and Merete took me out to dinner and we ended up at the Harlem Jazz club near the airport. There was a really good band playing a mixture of blues and jazz, which reminded me of how bands used to perform in the past before the big money. A very nice evening before bed at 1am. Today Kaleb took me to Piazza to buy some last minute presents and then I crashed out at the pool. Finally a last drink in the bar of the Hilton. My pet EU funding project is to build a Lion park and rescue those poor 15 lions in the central zoo in Addis. I am sure it would be a huge success. Acquire some land on the outskirts of Addis and make some nice enclosures where the lions have room to live. Probably not that expensive to give these animals their rightful pride.I am writing this at the airport waiting to fly out. I am sad to leave. Ethiopia is a beautiful country with a magic history and lovely people.

If Lalibela was anywhere else apart from Ethiopia it would be swarming in tourists. It is quite simply a unique architectural site of human religious endeavour and should be on everyone’s must see itinerary. King Lalibela (means honey eater) lived in the 14th century and was inspired to build the world’s largest rock-hewn churches. They are on a European scale cathedral style. What makes them even more wonderful is the red sedimentary rock they are embedded in. Lalibela was also very smart because he built an extensive set of deep water drainage channels because he knew that water was a danger to all such buildings. This extensive set of channels kept the below surface churches dry in the rainy season. Some of these channels are 20 feet deep with inlooks, caves and pathways. But it is the churches that overwhelm in their achievement. There are 12 churches and each one is different. Some have elaborate paintings and sculpture, while others are symmetric and angular. I believe all 12 churches were carved during the King’s lifetime which must have involved tens of thousands or people for 40 years or more. It is still immersed in legend as all the guides will tell you. The most famous church is the last one he built: St. George’s. It is uncanny that George is so important to Ethiopians and is also the patron saint of England. George’s father was supposed to be English and his mother Ethiopian. All churches here revere St. George.

Lalibella itself is covered in traditional houses made of wood and stone. The local population lead a rural life mostly unchanged for 100s of years. A huge market is held on Saturdays and the roads are full of local people carrying their wares, chickens, goats etc. to the market area. I found this fascinating and the area is divided into different areas selling different produce. One was selling honey straight from pots, which meant the area was also full of bees! In the evening I decided to try the local traditional bar and sample home- made honey wine. This has been fermented and had a rather pleasant not sweet taste. It must have been powerful stuff as I woke up with a headache the next morning. I suspect they gave me the strongest brew they had, and this convinced me to help two students buy the books they said they needed to pass the next exams.

The churches of Lalibela are quite amazing. It is still not sure how they were built and how many workmen were involved. There are plenty of myths about supernatural help for King Lalibela to build all 12 churches during his lifetime. The last church, St. George’s, is the one normally publicised, but all of them are unique and different one from the other.

On Friday afternoon I went to the Nile Falls. I had heard this was a shadow of its past glory following the construction of a new Hydroelectric plant, however I disagree - it is still spectacular even in the dry season and well worth a visit. First you drive about 1 hour down a tough road and then cross the Nile upstream by boat- already a large river as it leaves Lake Tana. On the other side you then walk 10-15 minutes across seemingly flat countryside before hearing and seeing the roar of the falls as the river collapses over a 100 feet cliff. This must have been one of the most spectacular falls in the world as depicted in the 1 birr bank note, as you see that now half the cliff is dry where the extra water fell before the diversion of much of the flow to the power plant. Despite this it is still amazing and probably the best water fall I have ever seen. If you walk down to near where the falls hit the surface below then a spray covers the ledge and a colony of small flies and insects thrive from the wet conditions. You get completely soaked rather quickly which can be pleasant as it gets hot and almost tropical at Lake Tana.

I visited Lake Tana and Lalibela this weekend as it was my last chance before leaving Ethiopia - and it was fantastic. I flew from Addis first to Bahir Dar which Haile Sellasse at one time hoped to make Ethiopia’s new capital. The town is well laid out and nestles at the bottom of Lake Tana. Tana is the third largest lake in Africa, is almost square and nearly 100 km large. It is also the source of the Blue Nile which eventually feeds Egypt and Sudan with life-bringing water. Although it is the dry season and it hasn’t rained for 4-5 months the lake is still quite full and the Nile flow is reasonably large. The Nile is a huge strategic resource and I have been told that Ethiopia is not allowed to expand its irrigation as old treaties state that 90% of the water must go to Egypt and Sudan. It seems a bit hard when most of the water originates in Ethiopia.

I arrived around 9 am and after booking into Hotel Tana left with the guide for a boat trip to the Island Monastery. Lake Tana is famous for its bird life and we saw hundreds of white pelicans, cormorants, herons, kingfishers as well as some unique Ethiopian birds. The guide was an expert and my memory for names is bad so I can’t recall them all. Early in the morning there were scores of small papyrus boats loaded with firewood being paddled from an area of forest back to the villages on the south shore. The round trip must have taken hours. Then we headed to the Island Monastery of Kibras St. Gabrael Unity, where no women are allowed to embark. The monks live a simple meditative and pious life.

The monastery was founded in the 13th Century and parts of the Church date back to that time. Some of the monks are in their eighties and nineties and one recently died at 105. There are currently around 60 monks on the island. They bathe in the lake and they drink lake water which looks very organic, bearing in mind we are warned it is unsafe to swim in Tana. There are some very ancient books, ancient crosses and crowns kept there. The books are in Ghija language, written on goatskin and beautifully illustrated, and some are 600 years old. Then I was shown the original chainmail of a famous monk from the 14th century who wore it as penitence and lived only on lake algae to an old age. This (and Lalibela) are surely places where you get a glimpse of the ancient spiritual heart of Ethiopia.

In the afternoon I went to the Nile Falls - see next post, and then watched the sunset from the hotel. The lake is very attractive and I am told there are snakes, alligators and in the Nile entrance also crocodiles, and hippos. The Nile crocodiles can be 4 metres long ! All I had to deal with was a tiny mosquito which kept me awake trying to find it in my room! Delilah had left insect repellent wipes and eventually I caked myself in these and pulled the sheets up to my neck and crashed out. I am told that malaria is only present in the rainy season - September - so fingers crossed !

Update: It is now 3 weeks later and I seem to feel OK still.