94 - Finally at Tiss Abay Water Falls - Ethiopian Journey

The lazy lunch was consumed but we were reluctant to move. Sensing the mood, we decided to slow the pace. I posed the question to the group. Which was the best part of the trip so far? As usual Pranav was off the mark, even before the question sank in by quipping “of course throwing stones into the river!!!”

We had come across Abay river, the birth place of the great Nile river the cradle of modern Egyptian civilization. Kuldeep and me agreed too. The river was not very deep and we hopped into the middle of the river. It was slippery but we did it. Padma the ever adventurous got to the center of the river and she was carrying Sahithi in her arms. Aunty, Krishna Kumari and Shilpa watched her in astonishment! They could not believe their eyes.

The locals were petrified. They started waving their hands. We need not know the language, the message was clear!!! “get out as fast as you can”. Safely back on the river bank, I was quite annoyed at being dragged back so soon. “What was the bloody hurry?” I grumbled “What will happen, would an Anaconda swallow us?” I asked sarcastically. The movie anaconda flashed into my mind. But the science student in me reared up his head. Anacondas don’t exist in Ethiopia!

Suresh who was talking to the locals came up. He was definitely worried, “Sir” He exclaimed “hundred times more dangerous. The waters are infested with hippopotamus”. “That missed me, totally!” I told myself. Languid, robust and appearing to be lazy, Hippos are viewed as safe and harmless. But they can be deadly dangerous and  aggressive and many cases of hippos goring people to death have been reported from throughout the world including, Ethiopia.

We recited the incident to others and everyone got cautious. Dare I say, Overcautious. Pranav and Sahithi started looking at any sudden movement with alarm and apprehension. Pranav was on his guard from the hippos. He almost expected hippos to jump out of a bush and gobble him up!

But we all agreed that the best part was the very green surroundings and the hills around which accentuated the effect. It was like walking in the valley of flowers in Himachal Pradesh, India.  It was pleasantly cool and there was a carpet of grass where ever we looked. The show man in me took over “Do you know what this carpet is made of?”. “Oh yes, it’s a carpet of grass”. “Ha, ha” I said, “You are wrong, this is not grass, it is made up of lakhs and lakhs of young marigold plants”.

The entire group bent down and checked. Yes it was tiny marigold saplings all right. They were growing like weed. We all imagined the sight of lakhs and lakhs of marigold plants and crores of marigold flowers when they bloomed.  It would be a spectacular sight. Now a days when we moan the lack of fertility of our land, this incident comes flashing back. How I miss Ethiopia where we dumped marigold saplings by lakhs from our garden. They were a nuisance!

Suitably fortified both mentally and physically we ventured out of our picturesque lunch spot. As we walked to the end of the meadow, we realized that we were not on a meadow, we were on a plateau, a plateau that tapered off into a small slope that led to the base of the water fall. 

As we reached the end of the plateau the noise turned deafening. The entire area was smoking – no wonder Tiss Abay in Amharic meaning great smoke/ smoking waterfall or waterfall that emits smoke or fog. The water from the waterfall was chocolate brown and was tumbling down the 45 metres fall effortlessly. It was like watching a giant chocolate fountain in reverse.

Watching any waterfall is always an awesome sight. Water is the elixir of life and water tumbling down a slope somehow makes us bow our head in reverence to the might of the nature.

We went down the slope and as we went down it was apparent that we were descending into the lap of nature. The waterfall slopes were wet and clinging on was moss of myriad colors. The rocks were glittering with drops of water like the sweat on well-toned muscles of a superbly fit athlete.

There was a rock right in front of the waterfall and we took the customary keepsake snaps. Yes, it was a very satisfying experience. We climbed up and wanted to go back. But there was a twist in the tail. There was a boat that could take us to the other side of the river and that could cut the journey time by half. 

We were delighted at the turn of events. We all crowded the small motor boat. The driver could speak English. He greeted us politely “20 birr, 20 birr” We did a double take. “20 birr for all of us” we asked hopefully. “No” he confirmed “20 birr for each”. We haggled “the distance is short” we argued “we can see the other side”. But he was adamant. “20 or walk” was his dictum.

We showed him our work permits. Told him that we were not tourists and that we were working for his people and that we were residents of Ethiopia. But to no vail.  After lot of front and forth finally we agreed for ten birr for each one of us including Pranav and Sahithi. We had no choice. We grudgingly paid. It was painful to pay 10 birr each.  The locals were paying only a birr. They were grinning ear to ear seeing our discomfort.

That is how the cookie crumbles throughout the world including India. For example, in Hyderabad, for entry into Golconda fort the locals are charged Rs 10/- and the foreigners are charged 25 US Dollars. Same is the case at Taj Mahal. The rates for locals and foreigners differ. But the issue in Ethiopia is quite different. The amount that was charged is not fixed by the government. Tourism is not state controlled and is in the informal sector. I am sure that for white tourists the same guy would have demanded 10 US dollars, equivalent to 85 birr!

The apathy of the government to tourism was apparent. There were no sign boards. Nothing to explain the uniqueness of the site and no souvenir shops. That is how tourism is run in third world countries. Tourists are left to fend for themselves and have to manage on their wits.

As we were exiting, a government official magically appeared out of nowhere. “100 birr” he exclaimed pointing to my video camera. “100 birr!!!” I gasped. “Why didn’t you tell us when we went in?”. It was too much for this government official. He kept repeating “100 birr, 100 birr” in a monotonous charade.

It was quite clear that he meant business. We paid him the 100 birr but there was bitter taste in the mouth. First of all, we did not even know whether he was a government official in charge of tourism. He could be any government official who was stationed at Tiss Abay. He did not give us a receipt.

Worst of all, why did he not tell us about the charge when we were entering? Why not a simple board about the fees and the dos and don’ts. What is permitted and what is not. Tourism is a Russian roulette in Ethiopia.  You never know which one of the six chambers of the revolver has the bullet! It is a guessing game for all, including the government officials themselves!!! 

93 - Tryst with Tiss Abay Water Fall - Ordeal by wet Mud - Ethiopian Journey

The tryst with the tourist guides, we thought was done and dusted. Oh boy! We were mistaken and How! The motley crowd of wanna-be-guides were not to be discouraged. They were made of sterner stuff! They followed us just like the children following the Pied Piper of Hamlin. Hamlin’s Piper must have had it easy.

The children following him would have laughed and giggled, not our Ethiopian lot. They were noisy and made many comments. And the entire crowd would howl away to glory. We were used to it but the experience unnerved aunty. She is from United States, where privacy is respected and valued. Privacy in Ethiopia was in short supply. You take a turn and the crowd is in your face.

There were many other wanna-be-entrepreneurs among the crowd. Some were selling handloom items of dubious lineage, some were selling small baskets and some were marketing long sticks!! why sticks we wondered?

Few minutes later, we understood the reason. It was the peak rainy season and the route was sticky and quite slippery. The mud had the look of a slippery goo. So slippery that walkers would slide helplessly and fall head or butt first right into the wet, slushy and sticky Ethiopian clay soil.

The locals had made rickety bridges with the logs which they must have taken from the surrounding forest. The smart entrepreneurs plonked themselves next to the rickety bridge and demanded 10 birr per person for the privilege of using their ‘golden gate bridge’. “If you don’t, you are welcome to eat the fine Ethiopian mud (when you fall)”.

Then there are the smart kids who would politely offered to hold our hands and guide us. These are the second generation entrepreneurs who are great at offering services instead of products. For a birr they would hold your hands and allow one to cross the bridge. And the third generation entrepreneurs are those who sell a steady stick that we could use to walk in the muddy terrain and the cost was cheap - 10 birr at the least.

Our mathematics teacher, Dr. Kuldeep Singh’s eyebrows were furrowed so deeply that they almost disappeared! ‘Ah, ah’ he exploded “10 birr for the stick, at least 3 birr for using the bridge and another 1 birr for holding their hands. That is a total of 15 birr!!!”. “By the time we reach the falls I will have to pay my entire salary to them”. His indignation was a sight. We did not have smart phones at that time. Otherwise we could have had a price winning photo opportunity.

The Ethiopians used the stampede technique. They would crowd us and create claustrophobia. We resisted their ploy but the going was tough. Every one slipped and fell. It was like the coming of age initiation ceremony.

‘Thou shall fall atleast once’ Tiss Abay waterfall seemed to whisper in our ears. And pronto people would fall, seemingly obeying the command of the naughty Tiss Abay.  Finally, it was only me and Padma, who did not bite the dust. Padma was carrying Sahithi in her arms.

She turned to aunty and said “No mummy, it is all about balance. You need to step gingerly and not firmly”. By this time she had the attention of the entire group “Like this, mummy“ She demonstrated. “One step at a time and you would never fall”. Our very own PhD ‘in slippery mud walking” was prophesizing.

Aunty turned, her eyes full of admiration. She wanted to take a look at her spider woman daughter who had a vice like grip on the slippery ground.  But where was her dear daughter!!!???? Nowhere to be seen!

Padma was sitting heavily on the ground. Just as she was prophesizing she slid rapidly and landed almost ten feet away. She was like an ice skater, totally out of control! Her breath was knocked out. She was not hurt but her pride was! We all had a laugh of our life time. Sahithi who was in Padma’s arms had a jolt of her life and she did not like it one bit. She started wailing indignantly. All for may be 30 seconds.

Our entrepreneurial lot had an opportunity of their life. All of them started crying in a falsetto. Incredibly all of them were imitating Sahithi. It was eerie to say the least! The sound was like 1000 banshees wailing! Sahithi had a shock. She had never been teased so mercilessly. She shut down as tight as a clam!

But the crowd would not stop. It was a party time. Even I could not avoid the Tiss Abay trail by Wet mud. My foot got stuck into the most annoying “try as you might” can’t take it out mud. I tried a lot but my shoe would not budge. I had to stick my hand into the nauseating and quite smelly mud to extricate my foot and yes my shoe too. I had to spend an exasperating ten minutes trying to get the mud off my shoe and then from my socks and foot too!

Nothing more annoying than trying to dry wet socks and wetter shoes, that too in humid conditions and in rainy season. Finally, I put my wet foot into an equally wet shoe and the shoe made sickening squeaky sound every time I walked. It was like walking forever in a field full of wet mud. The mud seemed to want to grab and hold me down. My shoes were squeaking like a badly made musical shoes of a one-year-old toddler.

By the time we reached the meadows our spirits were down and we were snapping at each other. The sight was majestic. We could see the majestic waterfalls in full flow in the back ground.  We sat down to eat. We had blankets but they too were soggy and wet. But they were much better than the beastly wet ground. As we started to eat, a melodious sound wafted towards us. It was the most incredible sound ever.

We were transported back to the times when Krishna frolicked in Dwaraka along with his friends. It was a heart touching flute recital by a cow herder. This kid wearing an angelic smile played on his rustic flute and as long as we had our lunch.

We beckoned him. He refused to eat Indian food but gleefully accepted the 10 birr note that we gave him. God Bless you dear cow herder. Hope that you made it big in life and are touching many other people’s lives – the way you touched ours and got permanently etched in our minds. 

15 - Reaching the destination - Searching for roots - Blog post no - 15

Ethiopian Music, soft, haunting and unforgettable 

On the fourth day morning the good news that we have been anxiously waiting for, arrived in the form of the representative from The Ministry of Education. He told that our flight was on the next day. We were elated At the same time, we were sad as we would be missing the other sixty eight fellow Indians who travelled with us from Mumbai.

The next day morning, the ten of us who had to fly to Bahirdar were taken to the airport. We boarded a smaller fifty  seater plane. There was no beautiful air hostess on the plane. Instead we had a hefty, strong and a silent air steward. The air steward gave us a customary nod, served us some cake and coke and went off, never to be seen for the entire flight duration of one hour!

Small  planes for Internal Travel

As we were waiting for the flight to take off, our ears were filled with the traditional Ethiopian music. Ethiopian music is very lyrical and has that soft soothing touch that would mentally relax frayed nerves. Ethiopian Music when played in its rawest form in the rustically beautiful Ethiopian country side back drop is an experience that has no parallels anywhere in the world.  

Later we were told that whom we thought was a steward was not an air steward! He was an air marshal or a security Officer! There was an attempt to kidnap an Ethiopian plane on 9^th June 2002 just six months before and the Ethiopian airlines hit upon an innovative idea. They hit two birds with one stone. They appointed air marshals and at the same time took off the air hostesses. This would not only mean less pay out as salaries but also meant that the weight of the air craft would be optimal. 

One caution with air travel in Ethiopia. It is always better to be in an airport much ahead in time. Ethiopian airlines is known to take off ahead of scheduled time if all the passengers arrive and board the plane. That would ensure time saved for each flight and that could mean that they schedule an extra flight and get extra revenue. Smart thinking Ethiopian airlines!

Usually the air-hostesses are the ones who are friendly and chat with the passengers. The pilots are silent and talk only if it is absolutely necessary. They would talk in a dry terse clipped tone. They bark into the microphones that have a strong static “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to ……… airlines. Right now we are at 30,000 feet from the mean sea level. We should be landing at our destination in 55 minutes”. Regretting their eloquence, they would lapse into silence, never to be heard again. Some of them would honour us by mumbling “we have reached the destination and we at ………….. airlines thank you for your patronage and hope that you will give us a chance to serve you again” He would end his speech grudgingly. Clearly communicating with the travellers is not their cup of coffee!

Scene from Air!

But in our flight to Bahirdar the air stewards were totally silent. But the pilot (I suppose this guy was just out of training school) was chirpy. He kept talking to us. He would suddenly say “ladies and gentleman look at the beautiful carpet of greenery from your windows’. He would cheekily add “of Course we will not be landing but enjoy the view”.

Nile Gorge 

He told us to watch out and observe the crossing the spectacular Nile  gorge and also asked us to look left to see the best waterfalls in Ethiopia – The Tiss Abay (Great smoke) waterfalls. He ended the narrative with a speech that I can never forget. It is still etched in my memory. The pilot said “ladies and gentleman and kids. We are coming in, to land at the historic Bahirdar city. As we go down for the landing observe the lake that will appear. This is the Lake Tana, the biggest lake in Ethiopia. It is also the place from where the great Nile river starts. I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed your journey and hope that your stay in Bahirdar would be great and eventful”. Yes, Sir, It was a great trip and thanks for making it so memorable.

Tiss Abay Water Falls

With that we landed in one of the smallest airports that I have seen. ‘Ginbot Haya’ or May 20^th Airport. It was maybe quarter the size of Begumpet airport (Begumpet airport itself is a very small airport).

The scene was typical of the movie ‘Gods must be crazy’. There was skeletal staff and ours was the only flight, may be for the day!

Suresh Makkena

We were received by Suresh Makkena, Bala’s friend. Suresh would be our life line as he had come a year before and knew Bahirdar like the back of his hand. All ten of us were bundled into a Bahirdar university bus and we headed out to the city.

Bahirdar Country Side 

The scenery outside was out of a national geographic African documentary. There were metal roads and we could see vast lands, small huts, villagers, many children and small and quite dilapidated houses and many small shops. The city it seemed, had very few vehicles. People were either walking, riding donkeys, or simply herding their cows. We could not even see one buffalo. As we started approaching the main city there was a proliferation of bicycles. Seeing our bewildered faces, the driver burst out “Ethiopian helicopters”. The locals refer to their bicycles as helicopters!

Bahirdar

We were dropped off at Ethio Star, a three star hotel in Bahirdar. My heart sank at the sight of the hotel. It was a very pretty hotel but it had no lift. My worst fears were realized when the receptionist announced “Dr.Aneel and family (This doctor term seems to be haunting me, It has made its ghostly appearance in Bahirdar too) room no 401, fourth floor”.

Ethiostar, Bahirdar

We had four suitcases weighing 40 kgs each and 4 hand baggage weighing 20 Kgs each. How do we get them to the 4^th floor? My heart sank! Suresh our saviour had a great idea. He went outside and brought in 5 grinning Ethiopian boys! Any guess as to who they were? Who else but the omnipresent Ethiopian Shoe shine boys.

Omnipresent Shoe shine boys

These wiry boys effortlessly carried all our luggage smilingly to our room. They would have been happy with 10 birr but I gave them 50 Birr. 10 birr I was sure was their daily income but I liked their attitude. They wore their heart and smile on their sleeves. That 50 birr was a great investment. It made me quite famous in that locality and I would get huge smiles and extra “Firanj and babuji” ribbing by the very sporting Ethiopian kids. I was branded fair and easy game!