Almost as soon as I got off the plane, in Addis Ababa, ETT had me embark on a two-day trip to Awasa (also spelled Hawasa) by car. Due to the long flight, I was already very tired, but if I was to see all the things I wanted to see, there was no time to be wasted.
When we did, finally, arrive in Awasa, my room was on the fifth floor, and the elevator wasn’t working. On top of that, there was no water in my room. Not even cold water. A normal tourist would have been outraged, veins popping out of his forehead and waving his arms wildly. Instead, the following morning, I told the staff that if one of them sat down with me and tutored me on reading Amharic, all would be forgiven. I’d like to say that this lesson culminated in my being able to read Amharic well by the end of my trip. But I’m still working on it.
What of the two-day trip itself? I saw many things, so here are a few of them. I’ll follow up with one or two later posts.
Some 50 miles south of Addis Ababa lies the town of Tiya. On the outskirts of Tiya is a collection of monoliths, which is a world heritage site:
According to my local guide, these are ancient tombstones, and the swords depict the number of enemies killed by the deceased. The guide also claimed that the people who erected these monuments were Semites. He said that this marked the border between the Semitic world and other language groups, such as Omotic and Cushitic.
We visited a large lake called Lake Shala. Near its shores are numerous hot springs, as you can see here:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsLi9Zr3AMM&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhGI1dKFsfI&w=560&h=315]
The lake water is high in sulfur, but nearby villagers have only this water to use. I was told that the discoloration in this boy’s teeth is a result of the sulfur. Feel free to correct me if you know otherwise:
Here are some views of the Ethiopian Rift Valley:
Maybe you should have tutored the locals in plumbing while they were tutoring you in language. LOL. I would say to tutor them in fixing elevators too, but that might be a little too dangerous.
When in Africa, you’ve always got to be prepared for “TIA” moments!
I think they stuck you on the fifth floor with no elevator or running water because they were betting you would offer them money for a better room.
I was with a white British woman, and she got a room with water. Also, I wasn’t paying for the room directly; it was included in my package. I don’t think it was intentional.
You actually visited lake Shala. Lake Abiyata is a smaller lake just a couple km to the north.
As a child I lived about 10 km southeast of lake Shala and visited it a number of times. I have revisited the area as an adult. While reading what you posted above I suspected that you actually visited Shala which I confirmed upon seeing the photos and videos you posted.
We lived along a small river which flows down from the highlands into lake Shala almost half a dozen km south of the area you visited.
Shala is a fairly large lopsided dumbbell shape. You visited the eastern shore along the larger section of the lake which sits in a deep caldera of the extinct O’a volcano. This explains the escarpments and ridges surrounding most of that part of the lake as well as the hot springs. The dark color of the lake is due to several factors related to its great depth.͏
Abiyata is a rather bright bluish green, shallow lake of varying size, although much smaller than Shala. It is surrounded by 0.5 to 4 km of barren salty mud flats and rather sparse vegetation of most shrubs & acacias beyond the flats & beaches. Significant numbers of flamingos occupy the lake along with other water fowl. There is a slight ridge along the east side of the lake and a mountain at the southern end.
The tooth discoloration is very common among the locals, but it is actually dental fluorosis due to deposits of fluoride compounds in the region and water supply. Sulfur may also be a contributing factor.
Thanks for the correction; I’ll fix the post in the near future.