A safe country for tourists, well
managed with a young educated workforce and a culture that runs much deeper
than old headlines suggest
Photograph: Getty Images
I’m crazy about Ethiopia. It’s
exciting and elegant and stuffed full of history and drama. It offers vast
distances between its remarkable tourist sites so, for a traveller like me who
wants to get lost in the journey, it’s a fascinating place to visit and one
that’s rapidly changing. It’s six years since my last trip here and change is
everywhere.
I’m in a minibus heaving with
European journalists, cutting down through the Ethiopian section of the Rift
Valley towards the Bale Mountains. It’s an eight-hour drive from the
capital Addis Ababa, if we don’t take pit stops – but that’s unlikely in a
country as surprising and eye-catching as this.
There are deep blue crater lakes to
explore, buzzards flying overhead, lush pastures and dark forest alongside us
and great restaurants and brand new vineyards to visit. And that’s before we
make it to the mountains themselves and all that they offer.
Ethiopian tourism is expanding
rapidly and the country is working hard to contain it. The whole world seems to
want to be here right now. Two of my travelling companions work for Lonely
Planet and the Rough Guides. Both publications gave
Ethiopia their vote of confidence recently, putting it among the top tourist
destinations in the world you need to see right now.
Beyond tourism, countries such as
China, Turkey, the US, the UK and others are investing heavily in a country
that is stuffed full of potential. The hotels of Addis buzz with the sound of
business being done.
It’s a safe country for tourism,
well managed and with a young, educated workforce striving to educate the world
that there’s a country and a culture that runs much deeper than old headlines
might suggest. After all, 30 years and a lot of political and economic change
has washed over Ethiopia since the famine of 1984.
Ethiopians are proud and relaxed.
Men of all rank and association walk hand-in- hand in the street. A shoulder
bump, that I couldn’t quite master, is the greeting of choice among friends,
male and female.
Some say their natural pride comes
from the fact that as a country they were never colonised like their African
neighbours, others from the fact that they can chart their history back to the
birth of man. More again claim it’s just the Ethiopian way – elegance comes
from within they say: simply enjoy it for what it is.
The main goal for the engine behind
tourism right now is increasing the standards in accommodation, guides and
transport infrastructure. Ethiopian Airlines operates an extensive
internal flight network making it easier to travel around this country of 90
million people – an essential service since the distances to be travelled can
be vast and the roads network still developing. The airline has also recently
partnered with Ethiopian Holidays to offer tailor- made packages with
experienced guides and great accommodation. There are also many independent
tour companies with extensive experience such as Ethiopian Quadrants, run by
Irishman Tony Hickey.
The standard of resorts is
increasing quickly. Back on the road to Bale we overnight in the Kuriftu Resort and Spa Debra Zeit, one of
a group of luxury resorts clustered around one of the crater lakes that make
this part of the country so attractive.
Our individual bungalows are
thatched and huge while the swimming pool and restaurant overlook sapphire-blue
water where pelicans drift slowly behind fishing boats on the lake. It’s a
remarkable location, calm and lush with incredible food and wonderful staff.
The next day we travel onward
towards Bale and take a pitstop in Bekoji – a small Ethiopian highlands town
that has produced some of the greatest distance runners in the world, including
Tirunesh Dibaba, Kenenisa Bekele and Derartu Tulu.
Traffic passes and children stare
and I try to figure out why so many Olympic medals have been brought home here.
The high altitude helps and the great coaching, but the story of Bekoji and its
track record is bigger than that. Perhaps, like Ethiopia in general, the people
are simply ambitious enough to win, or maybe they’re destined to do so.
The sun is setting as we finally
cross into the Bale mountains national park, casting triumphant colours across
the horizon. We’re in the Ethiopian highlands surrounded by some of the highest
peaks in Africa. A magnificent lightening storm is chasing us from a
distance and as night falls and the terrain gets rougher the sense of adventure
is palpable.
Thunder snaps in the air as our
driver navigates a route across the plateau shaped by rains and deep crevices.
The rainy season in the mountains lasts from June to September creating a
colder climate than you would expect and you’ll be glad you packed warm
clothes. Bale is a biological hotspot in Africa. There are more than 280 different
bird species, 82 different mammals and 1,600 plants, 10 per cent of which are
endemic to Bale.
While Ethiopia doesn’t claim to
compete with its neighbour Kenya for tourist access to wildlife, there is a
huge amount to see and experience and we were heading to the very best place to
help do that: the Bale Mountain
Lodge.
This is a luxury eco-lodge nestled
among virgin forest and high peaks. It was opened by Englishman Guy Levene in
late 2013 and is a good example of how to build sustainable tourism facilities
in the wild. There are only eight guestrooms and in fact they’re not just
rooms, rather individual bungalows, each isolated from each other at various
heights and looking out on the forest. Some have outdoor showers, some have
glorious balconies and all offer five- star accommodation.
Not surprisingly, there’s an Irishman
involved. Mark Megarry, a Belfast man, is the lodge manager. He has spent two
years away from his usual home in Uganda managing the building of the mountain
lodge. The pride of everyone involved is great to see. Local people are trained
to work in all aspects of tourism and local materials are used for all
building, bringing us closer to understanding our surroundings.
This isn’t a lounge-by-the-pool
resort. It’s a get up close to nature and breathe it all in kind of place –
although there’s a beautiful natural pool under a waterfall in the forest if
you do feel the need for a swim.
Our roundtrip the next day takes us
back across the plateau. We spot an Ethiopian wolf, one of only two wolf
species living in Africa and one of the rarest canids in the world. Families of
warthogs, antelope, mountain nyala and, later in the lower grasslands, families
of monkeys flank our route. The views are exceptional and wild.
We finally arrive at our last stop: Haile resort in Hawassa, a low- rise
resort-style hotel owned and managed by the great Ethiopian runner and
Olympian, Haile Gebrselassie. It surprises us all with its international
style and warm welcome. Standing on my balcony I can look out on the
magnificent Halesse lake, packed with wildlife and try to spot the families of
hippos that live there.
Human life here is rich with
adventure. A wedding party pass on horseback. The bride, veiled and dressed in
vibrant colour, is led up one side of a hill to meet her husband for the first
time who approaches, also on horseback, with a party of men from the other side
of the hill. Churches and mosques dot the landscape, shantytowns and cafes,
farms and schools. Children run along the road calling out, families till the
land around us. Crowds throng the cities, cinemas fill and empty, music is
everywhere. People eat and walk and dance and live their lives like every
country in the world.
You can find poverty in Ethiopia, of
course, but look a little deeper and you’ll find there’s a great richness too –
cultural, historical and human. You can ignore it but you might come to regret
it. Seek it out and I’d suggest it will pay back forever.
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