Ethiopia 8 – An unexpected Bus Ride

A trip to the North

Bahrdar -The start of the Nile, and Lake Tana, Gonder and the SImien Mountains,  Lalibella and back to Addis – the next ten days.

If only we had known we could get half price flights on all internal Ethiopian airlines, if we had flown into the country on Ethiopian airlines. The Emirates airline was comfortable but this could all have been a lot cheaper. This is turning out to be an expensive phase of the trip. However this is a trip of  a lifetime and we don’t know when we will be coming back to this country, so decide to do it anyway…serious cutback time somewhere else.!

We treat ourselves to a few days at the lovely Kutiftu resort. We feel we deserve some indulgences, after our challenging trip in the south. This is the most tasteful hotel, done in tukul style houses, with terraces and fireplaces. It gets surprisingly cold in the evening. Hot showers – Hoorah – I force everyone into hair washes and string a  few undies up on our washing line across the bathroom. We set up the lap top and watch Toy Story, all cosied up on a bench in front of the fire on the terrace together. I have never seen it before, I feel like I am watching it in double vision, as the children excitedly brief me on the film as it spins out!!

We get up at 5am (not an easy task – the children don’t think a waterfall is worth getting up early for, so we drag them out of bed) to drive for an hour to the start of the Nile. This waterfall is significant , particularly now during the rainy season.  The sound, the volumes of water falling over this precipice is significant. The Ethiopians are wise enough to have set up a hydro electric plant here. For the next 6,853 Kms this water (that’s the Blue Nile, as opposed to the White Nile), will travel all downhill through Ethiopia, Sudan, and finally Egypt until it gets to the Mediterranean Sea. This was worth an early start.

On the way back to our hotel, we have to stop to let the water subside. Oh no – does this mean we will miss our fantastic breakfast back at the hotel, last orders 10am! We don’t get back till 11, but no problem, they set up a table for us outside on the terrace and cook our favourite eggs and juice. We are happy punters.

Then onwards by public bus to Gonder. This drive is spectacular. The bus comes to collect us from our hotel – we pay for 5 seats. Next we stop for 1.5 hrs at the bus station to pick up the rest of the passengers. It’s New Year the following day, it’s a big celebration in the whole of Ethiopia, so there is much to-ing and fro-ing, people loading their luggage on top of the buses. People seem to travel everywhere with a mattress – a bit like a sleeping bag in the uk, only these are big and a lot more comfy than your average sleep mat. Our bus fills up with people, we are now really squeezed in our seats, people are looking at the children’s bottoms firmly seated,  as if to say, put that child on your lap they are taking up too much space.The bus should hold 10 people and 2 in the front- by the time we leave we are 16 …and there’s at least one chicken on the roof, destined for the new year’s cook pot no doubt.

Off we set at last, but oh no, we stop around the corner, someone on the bus wants to pick up some shopping on the way, so we stop at a shop or rather a stall, then the same person wants to drop something at her house. No-one thinks this is odd, so we stop and wait, no-one seems particularly bothered that we are not getting on with the journey… and at last off we set.

We climb out of the valley, higher and higher, stopping off to deliver crates of cokes to the driver’s mates’ business along the way… the scenery is beautiful, lush green , rice mixed with tef, on terraces. Wow, I thought the west and south was beautiful, this is STUNNING. And now flowers, yellow ones every where. We are told these are New Year flowers – they only flower once and it’s now and children are selling them, bunches of them at the road side. there’s a happy celebratory feel in the air.

The minibus slows down and my neighbour gets down to have a pee. Suddenly, all the men on board get down to pee including my boys too – funny that – what is it about this curb in the road that everyone needs to relieve themselves? Then my neighbour on the seat next to me crosses the road quickly to the other side and starts scrambling up the rocks, picking lots of yellow flowers till he gets a great big bunch, all the men start doing the same, even the bus driver. It’s a lovely special quirky moment. They return satisfied, gifts for their loved ones at New Year.

Then we carry on the winding roads, it’s hot, all the windows are open the children are plugged in to gadgets watching a film, and the people on all their sides, including over the shoulder are also watching, they can’t hear but they are glued to these little screens as the journey speeds by.

Warning: Not for the faint hearted,

The next incident is a less happy one. I am sitting next to the large open window and I see a crowd assembled on the side of the road. The bus slows down. I think a cow has been run over, and the crowd must be deciding how to resolve this accident. However as we get closer, I get a better view. Oh goodness, this is not good. A person has been run over, and is looking pretty dead . They have been covered in a thin piece of material. The crowd is weirdly silent on either side of the road. There are no policemen, nothing has been cordoned off. Its a lonely silent moment, no-one seems to know this person, there are no tears, no wailing. I can’t see how this accident happened – there is no sign of a vehicle involved. Then I see for 50 metres what looks like the innards of a chicken spewed across the road. It is one of the  most stomach wrenching, raw moments I have ever experienced. Of course the bus slows down and I am shouting in my loudest voice “DON’T SLOW down!”  I don’t my children to witness this – I want to protect them from this horrific scene. Fortunately they seem to respect my wishes, and we manage to weave through the crowd quickly. I have to get this image out of my mind. The children lift up their heads, ask a few questions and I manage to get away with giving them limited information.

The journey carries on and everyone is now silent in the car. I imagine the family of the dead person , the mother who has lost a don/ daughter. The children they may be leaving behind.

I don’t take any photos today. I just don’t feel like it.

We wend our way to Gonder – within 20 minutes of our arrival, the whole bus is on their mobile phone, presumably letting their relatives know that the bus is due to arrive.