Gondar, Ethiopia
Added on Monday, May 26th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Gondar school children
The dusk sky in Gondar has the quality of blue washed by rain. Once the former capital of Ethiopia it is now a thriving city that has immense charm. I liked this place so much I decided to forgo time in Addis Ababa to stay one more night. Cities with their noise and sullenness no longer attracted me and the friendliness of Gondar made the decision simple.
I have a confession to make and it is this: I believed what I’d read in the papers about Ethiopia. I believed that it was a place of famine and warlords. Not only was I wrong but so were the papers.
An old world biker friend of mine, the late Robbie Marshall told me otherwise. He had travelled there many years ago and I’d forgotten his tales. Robbie had an accident on his bike and either that, or maybe he had simply seen all he needed to see, but he killed himself without leaving a note.
When I entered Ethiopia it was poor. A school I passed by sang for me and it choked me. They had nothing, not even pens and paper. Border areas are at the entrance and exit for trade so should have some prosperity. In Europe and the USA border areas are a hotbed of energy, illicit and otherwise, but in the countries I have crossed so far, they subsist.
I leave for Addis early in the morning and then south to Moyale. There are reports about this area being a bandit area along an eternally poor road, perhaps worse than the desert because it may be mud and wet. I am not relaxed and will be glad when I have got through this area.
