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on J and M in Assosa (Ethiopia), 29/Jul/2007 07:51, 34 days ago
29 7 07 blogBit of a panic this week as the first of the MI own courses is due to start on Monday for 5 days. This is to train the local civil servants in‘Report writing’. We struggled to get a trainer but that was resolved last week and this week we have struggled with getting enough trainees. It is very disheartening when the bureaus have actually asked for this course but now they won’t support us. The easy answer from them is ‘There is nobudget’. I could be very unkind and say ‘Oh but there is budget for new office furniture for Bureau Heads.’ Not sure where that money comes from. It is all rather frustrating but I suppose no different from anywhere else. Money for enormous civic centres but none for flood defences. I have spent the week asking myself ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘Can I go back home now?’ Needless to say there is not an easy answer to either.However on Friday things began to pick up as one of the ecperts has done an excellent job of pulling the manual together for the next course on‘Project Planning’ which our own staff are giving. It looks rather professional. Also the accommodation appears reasonable and the classroom has been set up. Not the one I would have wanted but we can work on that. At least something had been prepared and even new tables and chairs have arrived.Perhaps all our pestering and nagging all week has paid off.Holiday Ctd.Saturday 23rd June.We were up and off early at 6 30 am and breakfast was bread and jam by the side of the road. We then drove 72 kms to the actual Omo River, apparently there is only one bridge which was further north. The river was wide and fast flowing, children from about 5/6 were swimming about and collecting wood which had been caught by the current. They were able to divert this wood to the edge of the river despite the strong current.The locals cross this river in‘dug outs’, hollowed out trunks of trees.We then turned back and visited the Dasanech/Galeb people who wear clothes made out of the skin of cattle, with lots of metal jewellery.Later we visited the Hamer people’s market at Dimeka which was great as you felt you were really seeing them as they are. The main things to buy were their bead jewellery and their wooden headrests. Look jolly uncomfortable to me. There are about 35,000 Hamer people and the women wear their hair in thick plaits hanging down in aheavy fringe, they have copper bracelets fixed tightly around their arms. Married women wear one or more thick copper necklaces often with a circular wedge perhaps 10 cms long, projecting out in front. Apparently you can tell a first wife or a second wife by these necklaces. There were only 3 othernon Hamer there as well as us, a French couple and an Irish woman travelling on her own. We then returned to Turmi and found the Irish woman’s truck stuck in the mud. It was no bother to our drivers to tow them out and we were soon back for beers and good food (chicken and chips would you believe!) and another night under canvas.The next morning was dry and the tents were quickly packed away and after a good breakfast of eggs and pancakes we left at 8am for the long drive back to Arba Minch. However when we got to the river, about a mile down the road, we found the 2 other trucks just sitting there watching the water. Obviously they were not sure about crossing as the river was still high and decided to see if our sturdy vehicles managed it first. Our drivers took it as a challenge and Tameru got across first without too much bother but Elyas got stuck about¾ of the way across. It seemed an easy job to get him out of the mud and it was more his pride which was dented than anything else. However the craic was only starting. The French couple’s shiny new red landcruiser tried next and while he nearly made it he still needed a tow from Tameru to get completely across. Then came the Irishwoman’s shiny white Addis type land cruiser, not really meant for off road driving like this. The driver was rather arrogant, refused to take advice and the truck stuck in the mud about half way with the exhaust immersed in water and the Irishwoman still inside– she ended up being carried to dry land. Anyway after about 2 hours and many attempts with both Tameru’s and Elyas’s truck being used to tow in a chain effect, the truck finally moved. The driver of the French couple ( a friend of Tameru and Elyas) eventually had to take the wheel as the other driver was not capable. The moral of this story is to go for sturdy well built trucks and not the showy types, drivers included. Apparently the driver of the stuck truck drove like a maniac for the rest of the day to restore his macho image. This made little difference to the rest of us and I would imagine the whole of the Addis tour drivers community knows about this incident by now. We were now very late with the result that the cook missed his bus from Weita, our lunch time stop, to his home village. After a stop in Konso we arrived back in Arba Minch.We drove north up the west side of the country arriving after 120km in the rather non descript town of Sodo for lunch. Sodo lies at an altitude of around 2100m on a green and hilly part of the Rift Valley Escarpment notable for its maize cultivation.. After Sodo we were pleased to see a tarmac road which lasted for about an hour and then it just turned into a muddy slippy road on which our truck slide about, continually out of control. Both sides of the road were completely flooded and I could just see us ending up in the ditch. Thankfully we arrived in the next town Hosanna safely after 96km. By this stage it was pouring with rain, cold and miserable. The hotel was pleasant but rather cold. There was a TV in reception , the first we had seen on our travels. Hosanna is very high, above 2300m, and in a mountainous region and so the next morning it was still wet and misty and the mist did not disappear until we started to descend. We drove 100km north east to Butajira where the main local attraction is the Melka Kunture Prehistoric Site. It is regarded as one of the most important Stone Age sites in Ethiopia. There is an informative site museum where numerous Stone Age artefacts that have been unearthed from the local Awash River are on display. The site is also an important source of fossils of extinct mammal species. Following this after another 40km we visited Tiya which is a field of mysterious engraved stelae. Little is known about the origin of these stelae or of the meaning of the symbols that are carved upon them.This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which comprises 45 stones of up to 2 m in height We arrived in the town of Weliso and arrived in our hotel for the night, Negash Lodge which by coincidence we had spent a few days at Christmas.The next day we drove along a dirt road for about 30m to Mount Wenchi, a massive extinct volcano which reaches an elevation of 3386m. The main attraction is the picturesque caldera which is settled and densely cultivated, and encloses a 560ha lake doted with small islands. We walked around the rim, some took horses particularly on the climb back up but we walked both ways. This is a most beautiful spot and protected by Wenchi Eco Tourism which also seems to provide huts around the rim for walkers to stay overnight. The locals also sell delicious honey. Eventually after another 30 km we arrived in the town of Ambo at an altitude of around 2100km for lunch at 4 pm.Thursday our last day we drove out of Ambo for 13km west away from Addis to the town of Guder and the Guder Falls which carries an impressive volume of water and is set in green grounds inhabited by a variety of birds. We then returned to Ambo and sampled the therapeutic hot springs and accompanying swimming pool. This was a wonderful end to our trip which was full of amazing variety over the last 2 weeks.