Langano Trip

Sunday morning we set out on our only family trip. We headed to Sabana, a new resort on Lake Langano - sorry, I don’t have a map to show you where it is, but you can look it up. It’s about 200km from Addis Abeba, the city where our house is. Langano is one of the seven lakes that I believe were formed from seismic plate movements that resulted in what’s known as the Ethiopian Rift Valley.
We were supposed to set out on our trip around 7am, but as you all probably know by now, MST (minority standard time) is not as prompt as we would like it to be. With the help of Khalid, our driver, my brother Mikhael loaded up our Toyota ‘mini-bus’ as they call it here, and we hit the road around 8:45. It was a perfect morning. The sun was out, but it was a little windy, hence my scarf, so don’t make fun!
Anywho, once we got outside the city limits, we saw many peasants and farmers sporting their ‘Gary’ (horse and carriage...sometimes donkey and carriage) - it would be really funny to have the name Gary in Ethiopia. We took a pit stop in Zewai. The kids wanted to go on a Gary ride...well ok, the kids and I wanted to go on a Gary ride. Garies are also used to Taxi people around, so we rented one from an old man. He said his horse’s name is Guracha, which means Blackie in Oromomigna - the Oromo people comprise of the majority in Ethiopia, they also are known for having vast farms and gold mines...my mother is Oromo - Gogo kept screaming ‘I can’t believe it...the horsie is going so fast...I’m going to get one for my birthday’ - he was cracking everyone up.
After our little stop off in Zewai, we drove straight to Langano. The view was breathtaking in person, although I fear that the pictures might not do the real thing justice. There are a few other resorts on the river - Bekele Mola, Bishangari, Wabishebele, but I think Sabana is by far the cleanest and best designed resort in the area.
I’m writing this on the way back to Addis in the car, so I best keep it short. We saw some wild dogs chomping on a dead cow. They were surrounded by vultures. I just realized that I forgot to take a video!!!!
We stopped off in a small resort right outside the city on our way back, but apparently it’s for members only. The facility looked absolutely fantastic though. I guess I’ll have to go there on my next trip. There were bunnies and small dear like animals all over the place. I think they were domesticated by the resort folks. The place is called Kuriftu if you want to look it up.
I only have two more days left here in Ethiopia. As much as I’d like to add one more post, I don’t think I’m going to have the time. Well, goodbye for now. I’ll see most of you when I’m on State side. I’ll be putting together a video of my trip when I get back to Portland, so stay tuned!

ps. Most of the shots that you see are a glimpse what rural Ethiopia looks like. For a more complete city and lifestyle view, you should check out Flickr. I don't want you guys to think that Addis, Mekele, and some of the other cities in Ethiopia are like these pictures.

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Here is my link to more shots from our trip: http://gallery.me.com/thedopestethiopian#100008
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