Rwandan Ramblings

A visit to Ethiopia has been one of the Cultural highlights of the last few years. It was very exciting to visit a country so full of tangible history, where the religion is still a very living part of every day life and where the people still follow traditional customs and practise hospitality with a natural ease and graciousness.

Alas! In two weeks one can only visit a small part of the country which is huge. We decided to do the historical tour of the North which involved a flight to Bahar Dar on the shores of Lake Tana. Here we strolled along the lakeside looking at pelicans and joining the locals who were sitting watching the sun go down and chatting over a drink or cup of coffee and dined under the stars in the restaurant of our hotel which was built around an enormous baobab tree.  The next day we took a boat and visited 2 monasteries -both in very peaceful sites with beautiful trees growing round them and colourful birds flitting around. One monastery had some lovely ancient manuscripts and the other some wonderful paintings depicting Ethiopian Saints- some rather obscure and quirky, including a cannibal who was allowed into Heaven because he once gave a beggar a drink of water! There's hope for all of us!  Every church has a copy of the Ark of the Covenant kept in the inner part where only the priest can go.

We went on to Gondar by local taxi bus and stayed in a friendly and clean back packer guest house. Here we visited another wonderful church - surrounded by a wall and pepper pot sentry boxes (made of stone) although legend has it that a swarm of bees protected the church from being desecrated by infidels! More wonderful bright paintings here including a ceiling entirely covered by angels, splendid medieval portrayals of hell and Mohammed riding a camel! On our way back from the Church we took shelter from the rain under the overhanging roof of a house and were invited in by a charming old lady who then gave us a cup of tea. the house was very simple with an earth floor and minimal possessions. We spent a happy hour talking to her delightful grandson who spoke good English and  showed us the way back to our hotel.

Gondar is Africa's Camelot and we spent the next morning being guided round several wonderful castles. The main one built by King Fasildas in the 16th century and incorporating elements of Arab, Indian and Portuguese architecture. I was especially taken with the ebony floors and an impressive saddle shaped roof. We were given detailed descriptions of the preparation of the mortar/lime mix used to construct all these magnificent buildings and the fact that they are still in fairly good condition bears witness to its effacacy!

Fasildas also built a VAST swimming pool with a mini castle in it just outside the town where he would go to chill out when affairs of state become too much. this was a beautiful spot surrounded by lovely trees and more pepper pot guard houses or sentry boxes set in the encircling wall. That night both annemiek and I were rather sick which somewhat delayed our departure in the general direction of Filakit - a very remote town, of which no-one had heard, quite near Lalibela, which was to be the start of our eco-trek.