Ethiopia Bird Trip_06_Some Other Stuff

Ethiopia is a large and diverse country with lots more than just birds. It is a predominately Christian country and the demographic is biased to the young end of the population but still living in a subsistence farming society mostly in the countryside. There was little evidence of power and water infrastructure. Everyone had a mobile phone so connectivity to the rest of the world and expectations that come with that would be raising hopes that the infrastructure probably cannot fill at this point in time. Lots of younger people are moving to the big towns but there is little or no employment opportunity. It is hard to get a non-existent job if your skill is herding the cattle to and from pasture every day or being an expert on getting the household water from the community water point.

Modes of Transport: Many and varied!

Countryside: We were there at the end of the dry season when animals and people are all congregated around water points. Although there were plenty of skinny animals to be seen, we seldom saw one that would be the focus of a Failure To Feed welfare complaint in Victoria. Thus we hardly saw a piece of green edible vegetation.

Bale Mountains Sanetti Plain: This was where we saw the Ethiopian Wolf and the Lammergeier. At 4.000+ metres, it is a cold and dry place, certainly not barren but hardly abundant. The only abundant things were the buses. Average speed is 10kph (or less) but that sure beats walking.

At one point we followed a trail of oil on the "road" and came across an army vehicle broken down. Help had already been sent for so the lads just had to sit it out! Not much shelter from the cool wind.

Despite the state of the roads, Meseret and his 4WD van got us everywhere pretty comfortably. The accommodation and food was excellent. 

 Make sure  you buy shares in Cocoa Cola Amatil Ethiopia! Still in glass bottles and a big employer!