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| Ayalew and me |
Ethiopia is the one country I didn't manage to visit during the four years we lived in South Africa. I was planning on it, the next year in 2016 as a matter of fact. But a sudden change in plans precluded "next year in Ethiopia."
You see, we moved and our departure from South Africa was fairly rapid. Even though we had just signed up for another three years in Africa about a month earlier, an opportunity to move to Asia presented itself unexpectedly in autumn. There would be just enough time for us to scout for a new apartment, process the necessary paperwork to move, pack up our belongings, vaccinate and fly our dogs to a quarantine facility (where they would have to spend a month immigrating from anywhere in Africa!) and physically move before joining heading to the USA for our already planned Christmas holidays. Absolutely no time to sneak in a last-minute trip to Ethiopia. Then once we arrived in Singapore, sprung the dogs and set up house, I found myself with a new continent to explore. Ethiopia was put on the back burner. But while the fire was extremely low, it never really went out as i would find out a few years later in 2020.
A discussion on how and where to celebrate a big anniversary that year led to us finally settling on a trip to Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Suddenly the back burner sputtered. I mean once you're in Egypt, it is only a comparatively short flight to Addis Ababa, I argued. We made our plane reservations, booked our hotels and hired private tour companies to make our anniversary dreams come true ... and it looked like I would finally make my Ethiopian dream come true as well. And then disaster struck. Covid19 forced us to cancel our entire trip. Then more disaster - a civil war broke out in Ethiopia in 2021. Honestly, at that point I have to admit the Ethiopian back burner flame went completely out.
But now it was 2022. Discussions about where our family should spend the Christmas and New Year holidays ended up with our dusting off that cancelled itinerary for Israel, Jordan, and Egypt at least. We tweaked it here and there to add some holiday touches like Christmas Eve in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and we replaced our marriage renewal ceremony in Cana with a trip to the crusader tunnels in Acre.
And then just as I was about to book my return flight to Singapore, I got a Whats App message on my mobile phone. It was from Ayalew, the local guide I had engaged in 2020 to help plan my original trip to Ethiopia. We had been checking in with each other off and on during the pandemic and civil war but I had not heard from him in some time. In fact the last thing I heard was that Lalibela had been occupied by the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Moreover Ethiopia was still on the US State Department's No-Fly list. I hadn't even though about adding Ethiopia to our itinerary.
"Are you ever going to come to Ethiopia?", he asked. "Is it safe to visit?", I replied. "What about the civil war?" Ayalew said there was a ceasefire and now, most of the Ethiopia was safe once again for travel. His timing was perfect and the flame completely rekindled. And about a month before our trip, the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan leaders signed a peace accord making it official.
NB: I highly recommend Ayalew Setegn to help you plan your dream trip to Ethiopia. He is an expert guide, hires the best and safest drivers, chooses excellent hotels and is a master at getting you up front at the biggest festivals in Ethiopia. Contact him through https://hiddenethiopia.mystrikingly.com/. He can also be reached by Whats App (+251 91 284 4474) or email (ayalewsetegn@gmail.com).
