New pictures of Ethiopia

Hi Friends,

Yesterday I uploaded a selection of pictures from my recent journey to Ethiopia. I arrived there on 21 December 2005 and spent 4 fantastic weeks in the country. I travelled by bus through the Northern part of the country, partly on what they call the "historical route" (I skipped Aksum and the farther North) and visited also the East (Harar) and some 200 km area South-East of Addis Abeba.
As you can see from the pictures I posted, there are lots of natural highlights in Ethiopia:
- The Simien Mountains (North of Gonder) ranging from 2800 meters up to 4600 meters height. I spent 5 days there, sleeping under tent at freezing temperatures. It was a great experience with nature. There were incredible landscapes and a lot of wild life including the gelada baboons.
- Lake Tana, the biggest lake of Ethiopia. It is well known for its magnificent island churches and monasteries with unique paintings. On my boat trip on the lake I enjoyed also bird and hippo watching. Yes there are even hippopotami there bathing in the shallow water.
- Lake Hayk and lake Ziway. A lot of wildlife in both places. For bird lovers, the lake Ziway is a paradise with hundreds of different bird kinds. It is just unbelievable.
I spoke before of the so-called "historical route". Ethiopia is for culture lovers also a not-to-be-missed country with many cultural wonders:
- Lalibela, with its world-famous rock-hewn churches. I visited it just before Xmas and the small town was full with thousands of pilgrims from the whole country.
- Lake Tana churches and monasteries
- Gonder castles
- and many other places that I had no time to visit this time!

Enjoy the pictures!
Roland