Friday evening 8 p.m. the flight with Austrian Airlines from Zurich to Vienna is fully booked whereas the Ethiopian Airlines plane from Vienna to Addis Abeba has lots of free space. The Corona crisis slowly but steadily takes position.
07.03.20Arriving at Addis Abeba, German and Italian citizens are required to take their temperature whereas other foreigners are just asked whether they have been in a Corona affected country during the last 14 days. Apart from the health check, we pass customs fairly quickly since we have filled in the electronic-visa at home. We have prebooked the free shuttle service of Momona hotel. Hence they pick us up. Arriving at the hotel in the early morning we instantly get a room for no extra costs and have a short sleep. At 11:30 a.m. we are planned to have an appointment with a travel agent (Teddy Zion) to discuss a 7 day's tour to Omo valley which shall start Sunday in a week. Nobody turns up. The WiFi is currently not working. So we just can't get into contact with the guy. Fortunately there is a travel agency attached to the hotel. Anna from Ethiopia Traditions Travel Tour makes a proposal for 130 EUR driver with car (Toyota Hilux) a day. We agree at 120 EUR. We also book driver and car for half a day excursion in Addis Abeba. Costs us 50 USD and turns out to be worth the money. The driver's name is Bamlak. He is also an excellent guide. First we visit two churches on the Entoto hill, then have lunch at a fruit stall, later visit Mercato, the infamous market. After having a traditional coffee at a coffee-stall we get back to the hotel. In the meantime an agent of Teddy Zion has been looking for us. She thought the appointment was at 11:30 local time, which in fact is 5:30 p.m. In Ethiopia the day starts at 6 a.m. rather than 12 midnight.
08.03.20Our flight to Lalibela takes about an hour. Everybody's temperature is checked before leaving the airport. A driver is awaiting us, even though we haven't prebooked transport. It takes roughly 30 minutes from the airport to town. Before checking-in we are invited to a welcome coffee which is a ceremonial act in Ethiopia. We sit around a coffee pot, which is heated on a fire. Straw is spread out on the floor. A young lady serves the strong coffee. Close to the fire-place myrrh is burned to perfume the air and keep the moskitos away. Sora lodge is located at the outskirts of Lalibela and provides a tremendous view over the canyon. Our room has a balcony. The buildings are typical roundhouses with thatched roofs. The estate is environed with tropical plants such as bananas and papaya-trees. There is still some time until sunset so we head to the ticket office of the rock churches and buy our entry cards for 50 USD each. Quite expensive. At least they are valid for 5 days. We refuse to take a guide. We prefer to explore the churches on our own and start with the Western complex. First observation: The churches are roofed with an ugly steel construction. Later we discover St. George's church which is situated further South. The most photographed site has no steel-umbrella. From the top you can see how people at the time have caved the rock and built the monolithic temple in the shape of a Greek cross. Back at the hotel we enjoy a wonderful sunset at the outdoor bar.
09.03.20Our second day in Lalibela. After an excellent breakfast we walk to the rock churches. Followed by kids we arrive at St. George once again. This time we descend and enter the church. The inside is dark, decorated with thick curtains. A group of believers and priests are singing psalms. After St. George we visit the Eastern complex. The first church is perched high above a cliff. A tunnel connects the house of bread with Merkurios church. It is not allowed to use any kind of lamp. So we move in complete darkness. A scary experience. Most interesting of this cluster is the house of Libanos. The sun is shining on its facade. Priests and believers in festive robes are walking in and out. An excellent spot to take pictures. In the afternoon we plan to visit the cave church Neakuto Laab which is located outside of Lalibela. We take a bajaj to get there. Entrance fee is 30 USD per person. A complete rip off. We return without visiting the site. Back at the hotel we have a rest and go for the sunset drink later in the day.
10.03.20The third day in Lalibela is probably one too many. In fact we've had enough time for the churches. However we visit the Western complex once again. The priest who guards Uraiel's chapel shows us the Axumian cross and lets us take some pictures. In fact, he shouldn't do so.
11.03.20Our flight to Gondar is planned right after lunchtime. Early take off, early landing. After the Corona quick check we take a taxi to the Inn of the Four Sisters. The driver proposes to give us a lift to Bahir Dar the next day for 70 USD. We agree. It is 4 p.m. two hours left to visit the famous palaces of the Gemp. The buildings resemble Scottish castles. We take a guide, who turns out to be an excellent story teller and photographer. Before sunset we take a bajaj to the moated castle. No water in the pool. Interesting are the fig trees with their massive roots which embrace the surrounding wall. Accompanied with the hotel guard we walk to the Four Sister's Restaurant where we have dinner. The location is trendy and quite busy with people. The night guard picks us up again after dinner.
12.03.20The driver is going to pick us up at 11:30 a.m. Hence we have time to visit the famous church Debre Berhan Selassie. It is located on top of a hill. The wall-paintings in the nave are phantastic. The entire bible seems to be painted on the wall. Later we visit the palace of Ras Mikael. Nothing extraordinary after having seen the palaces of the Gemp. The journey to Bahir Dar takes about 3 hours. Before arriving at the hotel a colleague of the driver boards the car. He introduces himself as tour guide and offers a trip to the Blue Nile falls as well as a boat tour on lake Tana for 95 USD all together. We check in at Winn hotel and think about the deal. Since there is no alternative we give Degu, the guide, a ring and make the appointment for the next day. We then go to the agency of Abay bus to buy tickets to Addis for the day after tomorrow. The bus leaves at 5 a.m. which is somewhat uncomfortable. However we decide not to fly this leg and experience a bus journey. Bahir Dar is overpopulated, is dusty , is noisy, is unpleasant. We go to the pier at the lake where we have to pay a small entrance fee. People just sit on a row and watch the lake.
13.03.208 a.m. Degu our guide is waiting in the lobby. The first part of today's program is visiting the Blue Nile falls. The journey by van takes almost 2 hrs. The road to Tis Issat, the town at the falls, is a bumpy gravel track. We feel like being in a shaker. Ethiopians call it African massage. At arrival a local guide joins us on the walk to the falls. First we cross the Portuguese bridge. There's not much water at this time of the year. At least we are lucky that the power plant is out of order. Therefore the amount of water falling over the ridge is just fine. We cross a suspension bridge and walk down to the bottom of the falls where we get wet from the spray. Kids follow us and want to sell their handicrafts. The view from the camp site on the upper part is as stunning as from below. Before we finish the circuit we cross the Nile by ferry. At around lunchtime we are back in Bahir Dar. At a fish market we have fish for lunch. Before we get on our boat, we spot a fisherman on a traditional rawing boat made of straw surrounded by dozens of pelicans. Our afternoon program consists of hippo watching followed by the visit of a monastery at peninsula Zhegie. We spot three to four hippos somewhere near the effluent of the Nile. They emerge to draw breath and disappear again. We can just see the top of their heads. We leave them in peace and cruise direction Zeghie. After an hour we arrive at the pier. The path to the monastery leads through dense jungle and is lined with stalls. Locals sell all kind of handicrafts. The church Ura Kidane Meheret is famous for its wall paintings. Dozens of bible scenes, similar to those we have seen at Gondar. They have been painted especially for illiterate people, the majority of the population at the time. On the way back to Bahir Dar the air becomes very hazy caused by a sandstorm far in the North-West. At the end of this interesting trip we say goodby to Degu, a guide we can warmly recommend.
14.03.20Slightly concerned we check out from the hotel at 4 a.m. There are no taxis in town, so we have to take a bajaj to the bus station. There are some bajaj drivers at the side street of the hotel sleeping in their vehicles. The porter wakes one up and luckily both of us including our two suitcases fit in the bajaj. It takes 3 minutes to get there and the driver asks for 100 bir which is a lot. My wife wants to argue but I just pay. No bus around. We take our baggage to the Papyrus hotel, which is nearby and ask the porter to let us wait in the lobby. Half an hour later the busses arrive, about 10 in total, all from different companies. They all start at the same time of the day to the same destination: Addis. The road is in a good condition. First stop is at a forest. Passengers disembark to do their business. The most interesting section of the trip, which almost takes 9 hours, is the Nile canyon. We descend more than 1000m, cross the river and ascend on the other side. Groups of monkeys along the road. At some place the bus stops for lunch. The toilets are in a terrible condition. At the next forest-stop we get out as well for wee-wee. We arrive at Addis at about 2 p.m. and take a cab to hotel Momona. The staff receives us with a friendly "welcome back, how was your trip". We spend the rest of the day in our junior suite and at the pool and spa. At 6 p.m. we meet the owner of the Ethiopia Traditions Travel Tour and pay the fee for the next 7 days.
15.03.20Salomon, our driver is awaiting us in the hotel lobby. He will take us to Omo valley on his Toyota Hilux. On Ethiopia's one and only motorway we arrive at Mojo and have a coffee at a food stall. They sell khat, a drug which is produced in Ethiopia and consumed mainly on the Arabian Peninsula. Later we stop at lake Koka. Fishermen are surrounded by marabous, ugly but photogenic birds. Before arriving at our destination Shashemene, we visit the Abiyata-Shala national park. A ranger guides us through a fenced area where we spot a gazelle, an ostrich, and a warthhog. Still in the park we drive on a trail down to lake Shala. A tire bursts half way. Salomon quickly replaces it with the spare one. Flamingos populate the shallow shore of the lake. After visiting some hot springs we drive back to the gate. At Sheshemene we stay at Haile Resort. In the late afternoon we spend an hour at the pool. Kids have fun in the water and screem "Corona, Corona" while pointing at us. We don't want to scare them and remain on our deck-chairs. Ethiopia has reported their first Corona-case. Schools are going to shut down the next day.
16.03.20Today's destination is Arba Minch. First we visit Awassa which is half an hour away from Shashemene. Foreigners have to pay not only an entrance fee but also a guide to enter the fish market. We take pictures of the fishermen, pelicans and marabus. A monkey shows up from a nearby tree. From Awassa it takes about 3 hours to get to Sodo, where we stop for lunch. The road is new and in an excellent condition. After Sodo the vegetation changes from dry savannah to tropical and humid. Banana and Mango-plantations along the way. Lake Abaya is the second biggest in Ethiopia. Its colour is golden brown. Short before Arba Minch we turn right and take a gravel road uphill to a Dorze village. We are about 1000m above Lake Abaya. The view is just breathtaking. Dorze houses are very special, asymmetrical, five to ten meters high, covered with leaves of the false banana tree. They have two doors, one on the front side and the other on the back. The guided tour costs around 30 USD for the two of us and takes about half an hour. Very interesting how they produce a kind of flatbread out of the false banana tree leaves. We are invited to bake a bread and taste it together with a shot of home-made schnapps. At Arba Minch we stay over night at Ezana International Hotel. Our room with lattice door and lattice windows makes us feel like in a prison.
17.03.20It was raining heavily all night long. Switzerland declared shutdown and asked all its citicens to travel back as soon as possible. Morocco has closed all its airports. The corona crisis is getting worse and worse. We take the decision to cut our journey short. We'll drive as far as Konso and skip the Omo valley tribes. It is just unpredictable whether and how long international flights will keep operating and countries keep their boarders open. According to Salomon the trip to Konso will take about an hour and a half. In fact it takes us more than 2 hours to get there. Bad road conditions and cattle slow us down. The visit of the Konso village is somewhat different to the one at Dorze the day before. Dorze was sort of a showroom presentation. We had no insight of a real village whearas at Konso we enter the town. It consists of thatched roundhouses in clusters surrounded by stonewalls. The footpaths are lined with walls. The big roundhouses are reserved for the tribal leaders. At some places wooden figures guard the deceased. Cattle and children can be seen, adults hide from visitors. Entrance fee for the two of us including guide is 30 USD. The tour takes about half an hour. On the drive back we have late lunch at Arba Minch. The route is the same as the day before. At about 7 p.m. we arrive at Awassa where we stay over night at Lake View hotel. The receptionist wears a face mask and rubber gloves and treats us like highly infectious sick. In fact I have a bad feeling in my stomach. I spend the night in the bathroom. Either the fruit juice at breakfast or the injera meal at lunch was contaminated.
18.03.20We are the only foreigners in the hotel apart from an elderly English man. We order breakfast at 7 a.m. Tee and coffee are served arount quarter to 8. The waitress just does not care about their guests. The journey back to Addis takes about 5 hours. Before arriving at the hotel, we stop at the Ethiopian Airline office. Our plans were to stay at the Seychelles for another 5 days. We want to cancel the trip and get back home if possible tonight. The agent lets us know that Swiss citicens are not allowed to enter the Seychelles any more, all flights to Europe are fully booked for the next couple of days, except the one to Rome tonight. He recommends to go to the airport as early as possible and change our airline tickets there. Somewhat concerned we go to Momona hotel and say goodby to Salomon. The hotel staff are very friendly once again. They provide us an upgrade to the superior suite where we stay for a couple of hours. At 6 p.m. we check out. The staff wish us good luck. However we might come back and stay for another night if we don't get a flight. The agent at the sales desk first says that our only possibility is to fly via Rome, which for us would be the least prefered option, since Italy is a Corona hotspot. But then he mentions that the flight to Frankfurt has space. For us better, since we might take the train to Basel. However he is able to book an onward flight with Swiss Airlines to Zurich. We check in, pass through customs, security and Corona virus check. The transit hall is packed with travellers. Short before midnight boarding starts. The flight is completely full. All staff wear face masks. As the flight takes off I feel sort of relieved.
19.03.20We arrive at Frankfurt at 5 a.m. on time. Before we enter the transit hall, police men ask for the passports. All non German passport holders have to hand in passports and tickets. Every foreigner who has no onward ticket has to go back to Addis Abeba with the same aircraft. Germany is closed for non residents. And we thought we could take the train to Basel. Lucky us to have an onward ticket to Zurich. The Swiss flight is fairly empty. Maybe 20 passengers are on board. Arriving at Zurich the police receives us. The procedure is similar as in Frankfurt. Since we are Swiss citicens we can enter the country. We are back home, about 10 days earlier than planned.