Day 37 18th May
Today we left the lodge and headed back out of the National Park to take a view from a different perspective back into the mountains. We started the walk from a lodge with a magnificent view down into the valley.It had been designed with a minimalist feel that let the view do the talking rather than the building. All mud brick and blond timber with big spaces and a beautiful wide verandah. We decided to have lunch there after our walk.
The walk took us down to a vantage point where you could look into the valley and up at the hills behind-“absolutely stunning-‘as our guide Jeshua would say to parody tourist talk
We then walked back to the lodge through a forest that made me do a double take. I say that because I could have been in the Aussie bush. Surrounded by eucalypts and the air heavy with their scent it was weirdly familiar ten thousand kms from the normal setting. According to our guide an Ethiopian King Menelik ii had visited Australia and decided that because of their fast growth they were a good idea. Apparently this story is not uncommon nor is it true!
“How and why Ethiopia came to be abundant in eucalypts is explained to us in a little story by one of our guides. Menelik II (1844-1913), one of the last emperors, visited Australia in 1898 and was shown Australia’s fast- growing gum trees. He reasoned they would be beneficial to replace the denuded forests around his newly founded capital, Addis Ababa. So he stole some seeds and hid them in his turban.
Never mind that eucalypts were first planted on Mt Ontoto, “the lungs of Addis”, in 1894 on the advice of Frenchman Casimir Mondon-Vidailhet …and Emperor Menelik never visited Australia.”
From the West Australian
https://thewest.com.au/travel/africa/ethiopias-cultural-heart-beats-amid-mountain-ridges-ng-ya-111639
Pity about their water consumption in such a dry land!
We finished our walk and said goodbye to our guard Mas who had looked after us for the past two days. Not a word of English but a lovely smile and friendly manner, shared his lunch with us and basically watched over us. There are a variety of reasons why the government insists on tourists having the guards including protection against leopards and wolves. I tend towards the employment opportunity argument-but frankly given the average wage for a guide is fifteen dollars a day (and he would have been getting less) he was a good guy to have around.
The odd discomfit we both feel when confronted with how excessive our lifestyle must appear to these guys was only compounded at lunch. The food was great but double in price for a meal in a local place.
Time to say goodbye to our guide Jeshua-a young man with a dream to use local tourism to ensure economic benefits for local people. Then back to Gonder before leaving for Lalibela tomorrow. I spent the afternoon walking around the Royal enclosure with another Mas who had taken Mel around earlier in the week. A great story teller and a picturesque World Heritage site with seven different castles of the Gonder dynasty in the 17th century. An informative and interesting discussion ranging over all kinds of issues.
