I can’t believe the good luck we have been having with the weather. Despite the forecast we received before leaving Addis Ababa, we have not had any rain yet whatsoever during our journey into southern Ethiopia, and unlike the past two days which were largely overcast, today was actually sunny for most of the day.
When we woke this morning (at 5:45 am), the electricity blackout had started again after a meagre few hours of power during the early morning. That made showering uncomfortable, and dressing involved quite a bit of tripping over things on the floor. It also meant that certain items were not available for breakfast, but despite that, we did enjoyed very much. The food in this part of Ethiopia is full of flavour and always fresh. We had freshly baked, crusty, coarse, lightly toasted bread with jam, accompanied by a superb cheese omelette (for me) and a mortadello omelette (for Andy) that used mushrooms rather than Italian sausage (not that Andrew actually had any idea whatsoever what to expect – he was just fascinated by the name).
In many ways, Arba Minch is a bit of a frontier town. As you can see by the photo above, its streets are wide and dusty, and perhaps less sophisticated than one might expect of a town with about 80,000 people. However, its location between two Rift Valley lakes is superb, and it makes a great jumping off point for some very interesting things to see. The two lakes are quite different in appearance; the northern lake (Lake Abaya) has a distinctive reddish-brown appearance that is caused by high levels of ferrous hydroxide (no - it is not the result of the crocodiles’ feeding frenzies on the local cattle). The southern lake, Lake Chamo, on the other hand is a more normal blue colour - despite having a huge population of crocodiles :-) But more about that later.
The focus of today was the natural environment around Arba Minch. During the morning we visited the Nech Sar National Park, which lies on the narrow, mountainous strip of land (known as the Bridge of God) that separates Lake Abaya from Lake Chamo. The park is quite small (just 514 square kilometres), and is apparently seldom visited. This morning, for example, the only cars in the park were ours plus one other. That is a pity, as the scenery and the wildlife are magnificent. My guess is that there are two reasons that so few visitors go to Nech Sar National Park. The first is that the number of travellers in southern Ethiopia (especially at this time of the year) is extremely small. The second reason is probably the extremely rough, bone-jarring roads that traverse the park. The round trip we undertook this morning was 49 kilometres, and this took us about four and a half hours - you can do the maths to calculate our average speed. The road is one that is best attempted with stable bowels, a strong bladder and an even stronger back!
But the rewards for the rough travel were certainly abundant. We began to encounter wildlife soon after we entered the park, with a slightly aggressive group of baboons blocking our road. The first section of the drive passed through thick bushland, which provided protection for the very shy, miniature gazelles which we saw in great numbers, usually scampering off into the undergrowth to hide (see photo above right).
The more distant section of the park comprised open acacia woodland and savannah grasslands - in fact, the name “Nech Sar” means “white grass” in Amharic in recognition of the plain’s bleached savannah grasses. It was here that we saw large numbers of Burchell’s zebra (see top photo) and various types of antelopes, as well as great flocks of birds that including soaring eagles. There were also squirrels and monkeys of various kinds. With the fine weather and clear conditions, together with the prolific wildlife that was clearly visible, the visit was a photographic feast for both Andrew and me - a morning to remember for a long while.
We returned to the hotel for lunch. As usual, there were surprises in store. I noticed two items on the menu, ‘Chicken Hunter Style’ and ‘Chicken African Style’. I asked what the difference was, only to be told that they were the same thing. On that basis, I chose the ‘Chicken African Style’, and enjoyed it very much, just as Andrew also enjoyed his Grilled Nile Perch.
This afternoon, our focus was on the aquatic environment of Lake Chamo.
We drove a few kilometres to the edge of the lake, where we hired a boat and driver to go out onto the lake. The vessel was a small steel 6 seater (or thereabouts) motor boat, although the boat had to be pushed by pole out beyond the reeds that were growing along the edge of the lake. We were worried for quite a while that the motor might not start, but after the 273rd (or thereabouts) pull of the rope, the engine finally spluttered into life.
The boat trip lasted a couple of hours, during which time we saw pelicans and many other types of water birds, some huge crocodiles, and a few dozen hippos (well, the tops of them anyway, because they spend most of their time almost completely submerged). We were blessed with superb weather, as the skies were blue with just a few high, wispy clouds, and a gentle breeze was blowing across the lake. By the time we returned to shore, the afternoon sun was casting a beautiful golden hue on the green reeds and blue waters of the shoreline.
Driving back from the shoreline, we had another encounter with a group of baboons. One of the baboons, presumably the alpha-male, was very active in trying to communicate with us, running from side to side of the 4WD and making all sorts of unintelligible gestures. Our driver mentioned that sometimes baboons spring up and jump into cars through their open windows, and some have even been known to assault female (human) passers-by.
Dinner tonight was on the hotel terrace, and was quite a different experience to last night as there was electricity. With lights turned on, the dining terrace took on quite a pleasant appearance as the last rays of the sun faded over the two lakes that could be seen from our table. Both Andy and I chose the steak with hot sauce this evening - it is great to be in a country where a well-done steak with lots of charcoal on the edges is the norm.
