Into The Tribal Region - South Ethiopia
Ethiopia Continued...
Up again at 5:00 am to arrive at the Lalibela Airport two hours before flight time. A short flight back to Addis that took most of the morning. Stops at Axum, Bahirdar, finally landing at Addis. Met by Henok who would be our guide and Yidneck, the cook, for the next 10 days, we loaded up the 4WD and were off for the five-hour drive to Wenney's Ecolodge on Lake Langano.
The drive passed through the Great Rift Valley a 6,000 mile crack (fissure) in the earth's crust. The rift runs runs from Northern Syria to central Mozambique. It was formed by violent subterranean forces that tore apart the earth's crust causing huge chunks of the crust to sink and force up molten rock in volcanic eruptions. These plates split the older Ethiopian highlands into halves. You can still see volcanic activity along the rift in numerous hot springs. I vividly remember seeing the rift on a long trip through Jordan where the southern end of the Red Sea marks a fork in the rift.
The twin lakes of Abiata and Shala form part of the Lake Abiata-Shala National Park. Shala sits within a volcanic caldera while Abiata rests in a shallow pan. Lots of Flamingos who come to feed on the algae in Abiata while Lake Shala has the scenery and an abundance of birds. My favorite bird has always the industrious Weaver Bird. During nesting season (which this wasn't) they raucously and industrially build nests for the female's approval. If she doesn't like his job, the poor male has to rip it apart and start all over.
A good road until the last hour when we turned off towards Wenney's. Now on a very bad road, past little villages, Agave plants with yellow flowers and unusual Muslim graves. (Tequila is made from Agave and we had fun suggesting a new enterprise for Henok and us. Making Ethiopian Tequila!)
Finally arrived at Wenney's close to 7:00 pm, totally wiped out after a very long day. Shown to our own cute little cottage, we ate dinner and went to sleep never imagining that the road sights would become more and more interesting every day.
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