This past weekend Laura, Sarah and I took a two day trip to an area south of Addis Ababa, about 300 km/185 miles away, destined for the city of Awassa.
We journeyed through a portion of the Ethiopian sect of the Great Rift Valley, which in its entirety extends from the Sinai Peninsula, Lebanon to be more specific, to its southernmost boundary in central Mozambique in East Africa. The northern Sinai portion actually contains many Bibliographical landmarks including the source of the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee in Israel, the Dead Sea, and the Red Sea.
Once passing through the Sinai Peninsula, the Great Rift Valley enters East Africa, where it contains some of the deepest and largest lakes in the world. From this point onward, I will be focusing on the Rift Valley in Ethiopia; however, if any more information is desired on the Great Rift Valley as a whole, it can be found here.
Although there are eight major lakes in Ethiopia's portion of the Valley, we saw only two on our trip. The first and apparently safest in terms of parasites was Lake Langano. There was a resort there, the Sabana Resort, where we enjoyed a couple hours of sight seeing and had lunch. One source that Laura (our all-encompassing researcher) had found stated that in spite of the lake's murky appearance, there have never been reports of parasite infestation in humans. Nonetheless, we did not venture into the water to swim like some others who were enjoying the beach to its fullest. A few pictures from our time there are below.
After leaving Langano, we continued on to Awassa where we would be staying at the Lewi Resort that sits on Lake Awassa. This lake is the smallest of the Rift Valley lakes, but contains a plethora of bird species. I'm actually not all that interested in birds, but I could clearly see why this would be a bird-lover's paradise. At any given moment, one could see five separate species at one glance out a window.
Also as a side note, Haile Gabre Selassie (not to be confused with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie), the Ethiopian Olympic athlete who has won two gold medals (1996 and 2000 Olympic Games) in the 10,000 meter race and possibly one of the greatest distance runners of all time, owns another luxury resort on Lake Awassa, simply named the Haile Resort. Needless to say, it is very popular.
We took a short boat ride, complimentary of the Lewi, to see the Awassa fish market from the lake. While we were out, we took in sights of the fishermen still gathering their catches for the day and of some locals bathing and laundering their clothes on the lake bank. There are supposed to be hippopotamuses in Lake Awassa as well, but we were told that we likely would not see them as they have migrated somewhere else. I was a bit melancholy at this news since hippos are some of my favorite animals despite their deadly reputation. Nonetheless, I will have more opportunities to see them during my stay here in Ethiopia. Not all was lost this time.
We took a very brief tour of Awassa on our way to leave the city. It is much smaller and quieter than Addis Ababa, which is indicated by the mere presence of auto-rickshaws, whose coming to Addis has not yet been adapted due to the insanely disorganized and crowded traffic status there. I enjoyed my very brief time there as well as the long ride to and from that city. I've added a few pictures of Awassa and the journey below.
On the way home, we stopped at a park where Lake Shala, the deepest lake in Ethiopia, is located. The lake itself was a bit far into the park, so we did not actually get to see the it. However, we took a brief safari through the grounds and saw some animals that I've only ever seen on The Discovery Channel or animated in The Lion King. There we saw ostriches, gazelles and a wart hog. We did see some baboons closer to Awassa, but I was unable to get their pictures.
One thing that struck me during my time in the Rift Valley was that the scenes there were much closer to what I had in my mind as typical to Africa, the weather as well. The sun was very hot and the land was drier and sandier than what I've become accustomed to in Addis. It was a nice refreshment from the high altitude of our Ethiopian hometown.
One final thing about the Great Rift Valley and Ethiopia in particular is that it has served as the location of the discovery of many of the remains of pre-human ancestors. In my first blog entry from Ethiopia, I highlighted my visit to the Ethiopian National Museum where the skeleton of "Lucy" was being shown. I remember hearing the Fr. Mark Gruber, O.S.B. lectures about the Rift Valley in my Physical Anthropology class at St. Vincent, but never thought that I would come face-to-face with the place or the bones of which he spoke. Surely enough, I've gotten myself into the position to see the bones and to walk close to the very land where these bodies had once dwelled. My experience here continues to stagger me.
I've entered a video to round out this entry about finding "Lucy" in a place close to Hadar, Ethiopia. Enjoy!
We journeyed through a portion of the Ethiopian sect of the Great Rift Valley, which in its entirety extends from the Sinai Peninsula, Lebanon to be more specific, to its southernmost boundary in central Mozambique in East Africa. The northern Sinai portion actually contains many Bibliographical landmarks including the source of the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee in Israel, the Dead Sea, and the Red Sea.
Once passing through the Sinai Peninsula, the Great Rift Valley enters East Africa, where it contains some of the deepest and largest lakes in the world. From this point onward, I will be focusing on the Rift Valley in Ethiopia; however, if any more information is desired on the Great Rift Valley as a whole, it can be found here.
Although there are eight major lakes in Ethiopia's portion of the Valley, we saw only two on our trip. The first and apparently safest in terms of parasites was Lake Langano. There was a resort there, the Sabana Resort, where we enjoyed a couple hours of sight seeing and had lunch. One source that Laura (our all-encompassing researcher) had found stated that in spite of the lake's murky appearance, there have never been reports of parasite infestation in humans. Nonetheless, we did not venture into the water to swim like some others who were enjoying the beach to its fullest. A few pictures from our time there are below.
After leaving Langano, we continued on to Awassa where we would be staying at the Lewi Resort that sits on Lake Awassa. This lake is the smallest of the Rift Valley lakes, but contains a plethora of bird species. I'm actually not all that interested in birds, but I could clearly see why this would be a bird-lover's paradise. At any given moment, one could see five separate species at one glance out a window.
Also as a side note, Haile Gabre Selassie (not to be confused with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie), the Ethiopian Olympic athlete who has won two gold medals (1996 and 2000 Olympic Games) in the 10,000 meter race and possibly one of the greatest distance runners of all time, owns another luxury resort on Lake Awassa, simply named the Haile Resort. Needless to say, it is very popular.
We took a short boat ride, complimentary of the Lewi, to see the Awassa fish market from the lake. While we were out, we took in sights of the fishermen still gathering their catches for the day and of some locals bathing and laundering their clothes on the lake bank. There are supposed to be hippopotamuses in Lake Awassa as well, but we were told that we likely would not see them as they have migrated somewhere else. I was a bit melancholy at this news since hippos are some of my favorite animals despite their deadly reputation. Nonetheless, I will have more opportunities to see them during my stay here in Ethiopia. Not all was lost this time.
We took a very brief tour of Awassa on our way to leave the city. It is much smaller and quieter than Addis Ababa, which is indicated by the mere presence of auto-rickshaws, whose coming to Addis has not yet been adapted due to the insanely disorganized and crowded traffic status there. I enjoyed my very brief time there as well as the long ride to and from that city. I've added a few pictures of Awassa and the journey below.
On the way home, we stopped at a park where Lake Shala, the deepest lake in Ethiopia, is located. The lake itself was a bit far into the park, so we did not actually get to see the it. However, we took a brief safari through the grounds and saw some animals that I've only ever seen on The Discovery Channel or animated in The Lion King. There we saw ostriches, gazelles and a wart hog. We did see some baboons closer to Awassa, but I was unable to get their pictures.
One thing that struck me during my time in the Rift Valley was that the scenes there were much closer to what I had in my mind as typical to Africa, the weather as well. The sun was very hot and the land was drier and sandier than what I've become accustomed to in Addis. It was a nice refreshment from the high altitude of our Ethiopian hometown.
One final thing about the Great Rift Valley and Ethiopia in particular is that it has served as the location of the discovery of many of the remains of pre-human ancestors. In my first blog entry from Ethiopia, I highlighted my visit to the Ethiopian National Museum where the skeleton of "Lucy" was being shown. I remember hearing the Fr. Mark Gruber, O.S.B. lectures about the Rift Valley in my Physical Anthropology class at St. Vincent, but never thought that I would come face-to-face with the place or the bones of which he spoke. Surely enough, I've gotten myself into the position to see the bones and to walk close to the very land where these bodies had once dwelled. My experience here continues to stagger me.
I've entered a video to round out this entry about finding "Lucy" in a place close to Hadar, Ethiopia. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment