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Ethiopia
in a wheelchair
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Short
story
of our trip to the Blue Nile Falls - an offroad
wheelchair journey
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The
beauty of us having our holiday photos on a website
is that you can flick through them as fast as you like
and we'll never know! However, it's recommended that
you can have a good look at the friendliest and
one of the most beautiful countries we've ever visited.
There are also a few sound files attached, so turn up
your volume and enjoy!
Gordon is C5/6 (complete) quadriplegic, injured in 1998.
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You
can see Addis Ababa in the middle of the country. We flew into
Addis and spent a few days there acclimatising (it's the world's
third highest capital city) before flying north to Gonder.
Click
here for detailed map of the north
From Gonder, we drove further north to the Simien mountains,
spectacular home of several endemic plants, birds and animals.
Gonder sounds like it belongs in 'The Lord of the Rings', and
is indeed surrounded by historic castles and churches, many
in surprisingly good condition. After about a week, we began
to head south. We drove around Lake Tana to tropical Bahir Dar,
where we stayed two nights, taking a (slightly scary) trip to
the Blue Nile Falls.
Click
here for detailed map of the south
From Bahir Dar, we flew back to Addis then hired another Land
Cruiser for the two day drive south into the Great Rift Valley.
We based ourselves for the last week in Arba Minch, at the edge
of an escarpment looking onto Lakes Chamo and Abaya. From there,
we visited Nechisar National Park and the highland villages
of Chencha and Dorze. In Arba Minch, Meselech invited us to
her house for a traditional coffee ceremony & Ingrid astounded
the family with her injera making skills... |
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Opinion:
There are regions of Ethiopia where people continue to suffer
drought and starvation. To visit is not ignoring this fact.
Ethiopia needs our business (like any nation does) and avoiding
the country can only increase the hardship for those dependant
on its fledgling tourist industry.
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A
few wee points of interest...
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Amharic
is the official language, although over the population of
almost 60 million people, there are more than 80 languages.
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In
Ethiopia, the day begins at sunrise (~6am western time). Therefore
1 o'clock Ethiopia time is our 7am and so on...
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There
are 28 endemic mammalian species in Ethiopia, and over 800
species of birds!
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Ethiopia
was never colonised (the Italians left a few pizza shops but
not much else...)
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At
more than 4,600m (15,000'), Ras Dashen is Ethiopia's highest
mountain.
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About
5 times the size of the UK, Ethiopia is Africa's tenth largest
country.
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Ethiopia
has easily the richest history in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Ethiopia
has it's own calendar - it is now 1997 there.
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The
Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia's Lake Tana.
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Coffee
originated in Ethiopia.
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All
text and images Copyright © Able-Travel
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