106 - Simien Mountains - God's own playing ground!

Finally, we were on our way to the Simien mountain viewpoint. The drive was as scenic as it gets. As we started climbing higher and higher, the air got crisper, and we could sense and feel the mountains, literally. 

Picture courtesy https://pixabay.com/photos/ethiopia-mountains-road-valley-sky-1960539/

Some of the most spectacular mountains surrounded us! Jagged and abruptly arising from the surroundings. Before we could admire one set of mountains, another would appear and gone before we could saviour them. The entire tour party had fallen silent.

The drama that was unfolding in front of our eyes was as spell-bounding as an Imax 3D movie. We can watch an Imax 3D movie again, but a trip to Simien has to be captured in the hearts and treasured!

The mountains were not bare. They were bathing in shades of yellow, purple and green. The yellow colour was from the Meskel flowers, and the other predominant colour was purple. The purple flowers were small but made it up by their enormous volume.

They were simply a riot of colours! Surprisingly some of the mountain slopes and meadows had dark yellow flowers, and some had light coloured ones. Throughout our drive, we could see either dark yellow or light yellow flowers. Never a mixture of light and dark yellow Meskel flowers together.

Anasuya aunty got overcome by the visual tapestry unfolding in front of her eyes, “The yellow colour reminds me of the turmeric that we had pound for Satish’s (Padma’s cousin) marriage”. Not to be outdone her daughter, Padma piped in, “Yes Mom” she exclaimed, “the vast yellow and purple colour in-between reminds me of Dhup-Chaav (double colour) sarees ”.

I groaned internally. Women! They immediately have to associate the scenery with marriages and sarees!!!. But the grandeur was such that it gave people ideas, even to the very practical Padma.

The van screeched to a halt, and a check post beckoned. Swiftly we got out, and an officer took a roll call. The government officer quoted an astronomical permit fee. By now we knew the game! Mulugeta feigned disgust and threw in a barrage of Amharic. 

We could not understand the conversation but could get the gist of what he was saying. He was uttering the words Astamari (teacher) and Abessa (a native of Ethiopia and not a foreigner) quite frequently. He was telling the government official that we were a group of teachers who have come to Ethiopia and that we were not foreigners but were residents and that we had R.P's (Residence permits).  

The government officer wilted like a tired rose faced with such eloquence. He meekly asked us to show our residence permits and grudgingly agreed that we could pay the Ethiopian fee to enter the Simien Mountain National Park. I think the fee was 20 birr per person and the fee was around 20 U.S. (170 Birr) dollars for a foreigner. The difference was quite astronomical.

But the government official had the last laugh. Mulugeta returned to the group. His demeanour was down, and he looked crushed. Semien Mountain National Park was a protected area, and it was quite common for tourists to tease and harm the wild animals.

The national park was also home to many wild animals including the unpredictable Galada baboons. We had to hire the services of a guard, and the guard came with a fee of 250 birrs (almost 30 U.S. dollars). It was a shocking price. At that time our secretary in the management department at Bahirdar University salary was 250 birrs/month.

We had no choice. Either we take the services of the guard, or we had to turn back. Faced with an ultimatum, we caved in and meekly paid the 250 birrs. The guard appeared. He was a lean non-discrepant Ethiopian man, quite frail. He didn't inspire any confidence or had aggression that would frighten a band of thieves or a group of marauding monkeys (Galada baboons).

Picture Courtesy https://pixabay.com/photos/ethiopia-africa-national-park-2980034/

The guard sensed our scepticism. He went to an Almirah and whipped out something nonchalantly. And in his hand appeared – a shining mean as mean can be AK 47 gun, fully loaded and ready to take on the bad guys and the badder Baboons!

Pranav was mesmerized with the AK 47. He had (in fact all of us had) seen AK 47 guns only in movies and seeing one in real life, and that too in such proximity was an experience in itself. The guard turned out to be a lovely person. Quiet and friendly he later allowed all of us to handle his gun (of course with the safety catch on). We took keepsake photographs of us brandishing the AK 47 gun, the Simien Singhams! 

We spotted a grand waterfall snaking its way through the majestic mountains. The waterfalls, the colourful mountains and the foggy and dreamy weather made the sight of water gushing through the fall made for a great view. 

The foggy weather and the low slung clouds made the drive surreal. It was as if we were driving among the clouds. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Simien Fox, Simien Fox”.

The van screeched to a halt. We poured out. The spotter was damn sure that he saw the elusive Simien fox chasing an Ibex, the beautiful Ethiopian mountain goat. But the foggy weather meant that we could spot neither the cunning fox nor the doughy Ibex.

Ibex are incredible climbers and can climb any mountain cliff. They are such good climbers that they can climb even the most vertical cliffs and graze in a matter of fact manner – as if they are on stable ground.

As we were climbing to the viewpoint, I explained to the group “Ras Dashen the highest mountain among the Simien mountains is close. But the non-motorable road means that it takes a seven-day trek to reach the summit and come back. The trek is arduous, and only the most experienced trekkers can endure the trip. And the mountain top at Ras Dashen can be biting cold”. 

101 - Tearing The Indian Community Apart – Ethiopian Journey

Choosing the places to visit was quite easy. We wanted to travel to places that were close by and we wanted to finish off the trip in five days. The places selected themselves. Gondar, as it was only 175 kilometers away and it had Fasil Ghebbi, the fort and Fasilidas bath, another huge attraction.

We could not miss out Lalibela the 8^th natural wonder of the world. Not visiting Lalibela after staying in Ethiopia is like visiting India and not seeing Tirupati or visiting Saudi Arabia and not seeing Mecca.

We were all nature lovers including Anasuya aunty and we wanted to see the Majestic Simien mountains and see for ourselves ‘Gods own chess pieces’. The legend is that gods played chess with the mountains shaped like chess pieces. 

We also wanted to see the endangered Simien Fox, Gelada Baboons and the Ethiopian Walia Ibex, all majestic animals.

 Sadly, only 500 Walia Ibex are left in Ethiopia and most of them are in the Simien mountains. Of course we wanted to experience an ambience that is unparalleled in the world. Simien mountains has a mystique that we were told had to be experienced. It can’t be described.

We had to travel by road and there was no way we could travel by air especially to Simien mountains. Of course all the three places, Bahirdar, Gondar and Lalibela were connected by air but from Addis Ababa. Bahirdar – Lalibela was not connected by air and Bahirdar Gondar were so close that the travel has to be by road.

There was no reliable road transport service and once we planned to visit Simien mountains we had only one choice. Make it into a package tour and then it becomes viable and feasible.

Deciding to travel, was the easy part. Where do we get information about fixing a package tour?  Luckily for us Mansoor Ali Khan, my colleague from the management department had a known contact in Ghion Hotel. Ghion hotel was right at the edge of mango park and it was also close to the jetty that took tourists to the island monasteries.

Kuldeep and me went to Ghion hotel and met Mulugeta. Mulugeta told us that the trip was possible and that it would have to be a five-day trip. He promised us a 22 seater bus. The bus charges were fixed and the night stay would be at Gondar, Lalibela and one night would be at Simien National Park.

Five of us were certainties. Our family of four and Anasuya aunty. We first mooted the group travel idea in Kable 7 and it was received with great enthusiasm by Kuldeep and Shilpa, Dr. Neelima and Tasneem. Dr. Srinivas Inguva had gone to India and Dr. T. N. Murthy was not interested. We had eight (not counting Sahithi) in the kitty and wanted 14 more.

We were quite choosy in whom we wanted to invite. We knew by now that the cursed ‘Indian stretchable Time’ concept had travelled to Ethiopia too. Some Indians would take inordinate time to dress and arrive at the starting point. Especially we wanted to avoid TSFM (telugu Speaking faculty member) whose family was famed for late coming.

We extended invitations to Clara, Rajani, Mansoor’s family and Azaz Ahmed’s family. During one of our discussions, Management department’s HOD, Addis Gedafaw evinced interest to accompany us. But almost immediately Mansoor and Ahmed said NO.

They had young kids and did not want them to get diseases. Even though Adnan (Ahmed sir’s son) and Shagufa (Mansoor’s daughter) were Sahithi’s age, I respected their decision. Mansoor later told me that as they were Muslims, they were not keen about visiting churches. He said that he was planning a trip to Harar, the third holiest site for Muslims in the world. That left Clara, Rajani, Addis and a Russian Mathematics teacher named Alex. Alex volunteered by himself and said that he was coming, period. Possibly four more from PEDA campus.

From POLY, invitations were extended to Dr. Naidu, Suresh and his wife, Balakrishna and to Jeevan and his wife. Jeevan and his wife had come to the island monasteries along with us. They enjoyed themselves and we were sure that they would enjoy the five-day trip.  We had invited 6 from POLY campus.

So 4 from our family, 4 from Kable 7, 4 from PEDA campus and 6 from POLY campus, added up to eighteen. Yes, 22 would make it better and the cost would come down but we were quite worried about big numbers. I thought that things were moving smoothly.

The die was cast and the Indian community gossip mills of Bahirdar went into the overdrive. The Indian community was buzzing with curiosity, amazement, hurt and apprehension.

‘How dare Anil plan such an audacious trip? No one earlier has even attempted such an outrageous event? Who would want to go to “dangerous places”. He is risking lives of everyone including his wife and children? Why would he risk the life of his poor mother-in-law? He has lot of money to blow, is it? Why are we not included? How can he be so selfish? He is inviting Ethiopians, Russians but not Indians? Is he trying to curry up (maskafy) his HOD?! After all his contract will come up for renewal’

Rumours were flying thick and fast everywhere. The entire area of Simien mountains was totally lawless. Some explained “Lalibela is full of mosquitoes, waiting to take the blood out of the tourists”. This one in particular sounded very strange. It was as if the mosquitoes of Lalibela were blood sucking bats waiting to suck the blood out of the poor tourists.

Somehow this one got struck like glue. The rallying cry was resounding everywhere. Lalibela is full of mosquitoes waiting to give malaria as the gift for all tourists.  They were battle ready to ambush the audacious group of Indian teachers from Bahirdar who have ventured out into the bad world of travel and tourism, inspite of severe warnings.

Bets were being laid and punters were laying out odds. The odds were stacked against me. The stakes were so high that 3 birr bet on the trip being successful would return 10. And the trip not being successful was at 9:10. The verdict was out. Our trip was doomed to fail. Even though it is quite amusing now, at that time it was quite disheartening. I knew how people, who think differently were searched out and targeted.

A group of Indian elders paid a visit to my house. They were solemnness personified. One could mistake them for a team of United Nations on a peace brokering mission. Such was their earnestness. Their mission was crystal clear. ‘Call off the trip. It is a bad idea. Why do you want to spend so much money? This proposed trip is tearing the Indian community apart’. “Such a trip has never been attempted before” they exclaimed in horror.  

Their earnest argument, holier than thou attitude got me rankled. “Sirs” I said “I understand your anguish. This is not a trip of the Indian community. It is a private trip and I have the right to invite people, I like”. I gently reminded them that the Indian community in Bahirdar already had many sub groups like POLY Faculty group, PEDA Faculty group, Telugu group, Tamil group, North Indian group, Family group, Bachelors group, Vegetarian groups, Non vegetarian group, Boozers group and so on.

Seeing my eloquence on the topic, the Indian Bahirdar Elders got up, and left reluctantly. I burst out in laughter when I saw their stiff disapproving backs. It was rip roaringly funny, but it was the lull before the storm. The Tsunami was about to strike!!!.