Our Ethiopian odyssey (14): conclusion
Our flight back to London was an overnight one, so Dawit took us out for our first non-hotel meal. It was to a place called the “2000 Habesha Cultural Restaurant”. In fact. It was not like a restaurant at all: a large rectangular room had buffet food at one of the narrow sides and a stage on one of the long sides. The food was divided into fasting and non fasting food, the difference being that fasting food uses no animal products and is consumed by those observing the Ethiopian version of Lent.
The stage was the platform for a performing troupe which consisted of five musicians playing traditional instruments, two singers (one male and one female) and six dancers (three male and three female). The music was quite repetitive but the dancing was immensely energetic. Traditional Ethiopian dancing makes most use of the upper body with jerky movements of the shoulders especially. Naturally individual dancers came down among the audience and invited selected individuals to emulate their moves and naturally Roger had a go in the interests of international relations.
So, another holiday abroad is over. How should we assess this one?
Well, a holiday in Ethiopia is not for everyone. The country scores among the lowest on the globe in the World Development Index and in terms of GDP per capita. It was humbling to see such abject poverty and to appreciate just how privileged we are and a real pleasure to find how friendly people are and how much young people want to practice their English.
Ultimately, however, for the tourist who wants something different and is prepared for some challenges, Ethiopia is a great destination. The exotic names of places we visited were themselves magical: Addis Ababa, Axum, Lalibela … But the history was so rich and fascinating, whether it was the skeleton of Lucy, the stelae of Axum, the rock churches of Lalibela, or the castles of Gondar and the terrain was awesome whether it was the mountains of the Simien National Park or the waters of Lake Tana. In fact, four of the locations we viewed are World Heritage Sites.
Although this was only a trip of two weeks, it involved six flights and seven hotels, not to mention some long road journeys and some difficult walking. On the road, there are generally no service stations or cafes suitable for foreigners. A couple if the hotels were excellent, while the others were adequate but often lacking in the sort of services that are common in most countries, such as decent lighting, space to hang clothes, and Internet access which is not continuously absent or lost and that is not slower than we remember from dial up.
At one level, we never had to worry about food and drink because breakfast, lunch and dinner for every day were included in the tour arrangements and price, the food was aimed at a western palate, and we were constantly supplied with bottled water. At another level, we were anxious about food because hygiene levels are low and two of the group had very serious diarrhoea. Vee never has stomach problems on holiday and Roger was fine until the last day. In fact, the food was much better than we expected, if unspectacular, but the service was invariably very slow and a bit hit and miss.
The holiday was made by our tour guide Dawit. He was immensely knowledgeable and resourceful and coped very well with some difficult individuals and situations. He has a great love for his country’s history and culture and communicated this clearly and passionately.
Although, for Roger & Vee, this was probably the most challenging holiday of our lives, we loved it and were inspired by it. We feel sure that Ethiopia has a real future as a tourist destination for the discerning traveller and we were delighted that we had visited before it becomes popular.