Voyage Sagas

The Other Side of Langano (Part 2) … Everyone here, from the village children who waved and ran to us to the lodge staff, is so friendly and welcoming. It has been so long since I came across simple, down-to-earth people happy to host me and share what they have. The chef was quite a character. He introduced himself so graciously and asked for our names. His charisma was very charming, and despite his relatively old age, the man was very youthful and energetic. He stuck up a conversation with me and started to open up spontaneously. He told me he was from Sudan and had stayed here for decades. I could see the wisdom in his eyes, and he sensed something positive about me, claiming I was a humble and light soul. I was flattered. He divulged a hobby and played a video of him singing on his phone. I wasn’t a record label exec or headhunter, but it felt like my opinion mattered so much at the moment. I was very honored, and I applauded his passion. I knew he was the type of gentleman I coul...

The Other Side of Langano (Part 1) Local travel has always been an underrated delight for me growing up in Ethiopia. I tended to glorify international travel more, but the gems scattered in my vicinity will always remain priceless. Lake Langano was among the few places we visited frequently. It is ingrained in so many of my dear memories. We used to stay at a private bungalow by the shore on weekends or for up to a week. It is a family-friendly place where anyone can feel at ease, which made it a popular tourist destination over the years. For those unfamiliar with this destination, Langano is one of the Great East African Rift Valley lakes found beyond Ziway, just next to Lake Abjatta and Lake Shalla. It is roughly 205 kilometers from Addis Ababa and has a diameter of around 15 kilometers. The murky, brown hard water is surrounded by gray sand beaches. It is one of the cleanest lakes despite its possibly off-putting muddy color. What makes it so clean is what makes it brown, not soil ...

Ankober to Debre Sina (Part 2) … After a quick breakfast and a slightly late start, we hiked down the face of the same mountain we had climbed the previous day. There was growing confidence following the last challenge. Team chemistry was also helping lift our spirits as we learned more about each other. Temperatures rose as soon as the sun peeked at us from above the nearest peak. You would expect the landscape to become familiar after a while, but it is quite the contrary. Every twist and turn reveals more spectacles that overwhelm the eyes in their varied transitioning beauty. There was such varied terrain it looked like a mosaic of patched fields with a charming off-set order. It sometimes looks like the rice paddy fields of Indonesia or tea fields in Sri Lanka. Cattle herders and shepherds, along with their livestock, enjoyed their boundless resting and grazing spots. It was something out of a fairytale as we continued our quest for hours, seeing multiple streams, small churches, ...

Ankober to Debre Sina (Part 1) Backpacking is a physically demanding activity involving hiking and carrying necessary gear, sometimes food, for an extended trip. This would be my first time backpacking, and I was last to board the bus after being picked up near the northern A2 highway exit via Legetafo. I requested the van’s passenger seat, and it was saved for me. I hopped in and began to take in the distant views of the countryside just beyond the city area. It was a beautiful Friday morning, the perfect time to escape the city chaos. We passed by plenty of schoolchildren and workers heading into the city while we went in the opposite direction. We drove by the old settlement of Sendafa, then Aleltu and Sheno, crossing multiple checkpoints (both reasonable and unreasonable), with officers inquiring about our intentions and destination. We started to get a grip of the landscape beyond here and ventured further into Northern Shewa. The pace of life began to slow down the longer we drov...

Dejen and the ‘Abay’ Gorge (Part 2) … Chancho, Muke Turi, Fiche, and Gebre Guracha are among the drive-by small towns. These used to be pit stops for tea and bathroom breaks back in the day. There's less need for them now. We fly by them as if they don't exist. In all honesty, there isn't much to them; and there's almost nothing new. They're the same old "sprinkles of the Oromia region," I call them. Frantically established congregations along the opposite sides of the transnational highway roads. They're linear and align everything by the roadside. The crown jewel of my memory at these stops is a very underappreciated beverage called 'Lewz Shay.' Arabic speakers might guess this, but it translates to "Peanut Tea." And that's just what it is, a hot, rich, creamy peanut drink. It is one of the most warming and nourishing things I have ever had when done right. It's a shame that this isn't a commonplace drink in the city...

  Dejen and the ‘Abay’ Gorge (Part 1) "Abay mado … fila’w sir  yalèw bèré, na na gèbèré" – Anonymous So goes a timeless classic folk song. It is a warming song honoring farmers, whom Ethiopian society has an admiration-despisal perception towards. This hook grossly translates to… "Beyond the Nile underneath the reeds, is a bull in sight, farmer hurry and look." Translating the original language, Amharigna, to English is challenging as these two languages have almost no common root. Ignoring the funny outcome of this attempt, I want to emphasize one word I recently learned. 'Fila,' from my brief research, is a name for the group of tall, herbaceous, rhizomatous plants known as Cattail or Bulrush. It is a perennial plant of the Typha genus with an affinity for water that grows around water bodies like ponds, lakes, and rivers. I once saw these plants around the fringes of the Aledeghi Wildlife Reserve in Awash, Ethiopia. Maybe another time in the Nile Delta d...