EVA Travel

This blog title wins the prize for the things I never imagined I would be saying. But as it happened, I took the long way round to Ethiopia stopping off in Tanzania for a few days to visit our team working on their project in Moshi. Air Kenya offered me an upgrade to Business class in exchange for my points so I took it and looked forward to shorter queues and a seat in the Lounge.

Once on the plane I was seated alone in Row 2 until just before takeoff when a man bustled into the seat beside me. I smiled but he grimaced so I figured I’d get an hour of silence. However as the plane reached the altitude where the seatbelt sign is turned off he turned to me and asked if I was going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. My internal reaction was 'dude, do I look like I could climb Mount Kilimanjaro?' but I silenced that voice and answered that I was going to Moshi. He didn't know where that was so I told him it was about half an hour this side of Arusha. He was going to Arusha he said, but asked what I was going to Moshi for.

You only ever have to ask once so I gave him chapter and verse about the EVA Community, the work we do in Moshi and other places and the joys of give back travel. In the spirit of fairness I asked why he was going to Arusha. 'I am the Somali Foreign Minister' he replied. Now I'm not often struck dumb but I definitely had to think of a mature and intelligent reply. 'Do you still have a problem with the pirates' was the best I could manage. That was under control now, I would be happy to hear. In the on-going quest to sound sensible I asked him what the biggest problem facing Somalia was at this point in time.

And this is where it went slightly sideways. I heard him say that the main challenge in Somalia was tourism and of course I jumped on it. I saw endless opportunities for give-back adventures in this developing country so naturally I immediately offered our full support and assistance. We could meet the Minister in charge, see if there were wildlife sanctuaries, orphanages- the list was endless. The Foreign Minister coughed (choked?) just a little, turned to me with a bewildered look and said- 'You would like to help us with our terrorism?' I was never so glad for a short flight and the chance to escape and recover just a little! Tourism/ Terrorism- easy enough mistake to make surely?

Ethiopia itself was a fascinating country and experience. Prior to covid, it was becoming the most popular African destination and they are proud of the fact that they offer a full range of experiences and landscapes. There are parts of the country that can't be visited right now, but I saw enough in my 4 days to know that this would be a great place to go.

I visited the Gurage Tribe located about 4 hours southwest of Addis. Now before I write any more, I want you to know that I am just recounting my experience here in rainy season and that any tour we organise will be authentic but maybe not quite as authentic as mine. The drive was pretty uneventful while we had roads, but that didn't last the whole way and part of the drive was on rocks. The village was about 15 minutes walk from where we parked and as it was raining it was slippy and very slidey. I had a couple of tiny mishaps including crushing my finger in the door of the jeep and falling face down into the mud.

But we had arrived and I declined the offer of a 3-hour walk. I was ready for a nap although that didn't happen. The guest house is very basic with plastic sheeting on the floors with mattresses in the corner. There's a couch, filtered water and sleeping bags supplied. But that's more or less it. There's a long drop toilet outside but overnight there are 'arrangements' made.

It was quite an experience for me, sitting on the floor feasting on food cooked over an open fire with my fingers. And the food was surprisingly delicious and very different to anything I have eaten before. We ate a lot of curd, cabbage and eggs cooked in a variety of ways.

The bread that is used is made from the false banana tree. This tree is vital to life in Gurage- they use the leaves to cover food and cook with it, the fibres from the trunk are stripped off and woven into mats and the pulp inside the tree is buried, curdled and used to make that bread.

The village elders all came out to meet me and once again I was humbled to receive their thanks. They are so grateful that anyone comes to visit, it's almost enough for them. But they did bring me to the local school and showed me what they are dealing with, The floors are just loose dirt, the mud walls are brown and unpainted and the children share one book between every 7 students. I was so moved and touched by seeing the conditions I really wanted to do something but I never make promises that I don't know if I can keep.

If we decide to do a tour of Ethiopia it won't just be based in Gurage. Before covid this country was one of the most visited in all of Africa and its easy to see why. We would stay a few days in Addis, visit Bale National Park for game drives and stay in a Lodge. We'll visit artist studios and women's cooperatives. But we will return to the Gurage people because maybe more than anywhere else I've been so far, they deserve a helping hand.