Ethiopia with Exodus Travel

In contrast to the rather organized (for a third-world country) north, with its hotels, Christian churches and towns, southern Ethiopia is rural and tribal and has few amenities for Westerners. In the south, the majority of the people are Muslims or animists. Distinctly different from the north, it is a very African place.

This was my destination on a trip with Exodus Travel (in the US, contact Adventure Center, Emeryville, CA; 800/843-4272, www.adventurecenter.com or www.exodus.co.uk), Aug. 10-23, 2008. Including all meals, the land cost of the tour was $2,420, twin share. (I paid an additional $30 to have a tent of my own!) Airfare from Washington Dulles to Addis Ababa on United was $2,388.

Nine of us (seven were Brits) plus a tour leader and drivers explored the Rift and Omo valley regions in three well-used Toyota Land Cruisers. We traveled near lakes, through national parks, into the mountains and through valleys on roads ranging from passable to impossible. And the roads were used by everyone and everything: trucks, motorcycles, donkey carts, pedestrians, cows and goats.

The Omo Valley has been called “Africa’s last great wilderness.” There we saw hippos, crocodiles, monkeys, baboons, zebras and kudus.

We wandered in the markets and visited the tribal compounds of the Mursi, Hammar and Konso. At the Black Lion Museum in Shashemene, we talked to the current leader of the Rastafarian community, a Jamaican gentleman with patience for our questions and a nice sense of humor.

We camped four of our 14 nights. Hotels were generally rather basic. St. Mary’s in Konso was awful; I don’t think it had been cleaned since the Italians were expelled in 1940. In Addis, the 5-star Ghion Hotel had meticulously maintained grounds and clean rooms (and hot water!).

Although the Italian colonizers were expelled by the Ethiopians, their influence remains in their cuisine; pasta was available everywhere.

Incidentally, I paid eight birr (about 80 cents) for the taxi ride from the airport into Addis in a cab that was sad, bad and reeked of gas fumes. On the trip back to the airport, in a cab arranged by the hotel, I paid only six birr for a ride in a nice Benz. Go figure!

JO RAWLINS GILBERT

Menlo Park, CA