On Monday we set out for Lake Langano. We rented a Toyota Corolla. About 30 minutes into our trip the tire started getting soft. We pulled into a gas station in Debre Zeit, just outside of Addis, and realized that our jack didn’t work. We put air in the tire and kept driving. Our professor knew someone in Mojo town, another hour or so away. We munched on cold lentil samosas in the car and admired the scenery. The drive would have been great if it wasn’t for the truck exhaust. Thick black smoke spewed from the back of every truck that we came up behind. We would pass them when we could, but it wasn’t long before we were behind another. We got to Mojo and changed the tire, and then turned right towards Lake Langano.

On this leg of the trip, the trucks weren’t bad - but we had to watch out for animals and people in the roads.  Cows, donkeys, horses, sheep, and goats just stood in the road, doing God knows what. We swerved around them, hoping they didn’t jump out into our path. The scenery was beautiful, flat now that we were in the Great Rift Valley, with acacia trees and livestock dotting the landscape. Every now and then we would see a lake or stream, but it was a pretty dry area. Small round huts were surrounded by tall shrubs, to keep in the animals at night (and to keep out the predators). Luckily, we had arrived just at the end of the short rainy season, so everything was lush and green. When we came to small villages we had to slow way down, since people filled the streets. That was the first difference that I noticed about Ethiopia, even in Addis Abeba. People are everywhere. In the US, people keep to themselves, and come out of their homes once in a while. In Ethiopia, people are constantly out in the streets visiting, relaxing, working, etc.

We stopped for dinner in Ziway, a small town on a lake by the same name. There, an old man brews his own alcohol. We were told that people come from all around to visit this man, whose alcohol has medicinal purposes - diabetes, high blood pressure, digestion problems, arthritis, etc. I tried a little sip and couldn’t drink anymore, but our professor and driver threw back half a bottle of the stuff. The man’s wife cooked us dinner - fresh homemade shiro, a dish made from peas, with lamb and fish straight from the lake. 

By the time we left, it was starting to get dark, but we were only 20 minutes from Lake Langano so we drove anyways. When it gets dark in the Ethiopian countryside, it gets dark. There are no street lights, only the moon if it is the right timing and weather. It was nearly impossible to see other vehicles on the road, let alone cows and people. But we made it safely, with our little Corolla bottoming out a few times here and there. We were practically the only people at the Wabe Shebella resort; there was one other family camping. We checked into our room and then had a campfire. The acacia wood has an amazing fragrance, and the occasional eucalyptus leaf that we threw in the fire only added to the aroma. We had some beers around the fire and listened to the bullfrogs. We heard hyenas too, but the most dangerous thing around was the mosquitoes. Thank goodness for Malarone and Deep Woods Off.

We didn’t get much sleep that night because we were fighting off the mosquitoes. The government-owned resort was beautiful, and our suite had three bedrooms and a living room, but there were no mosquito nets. I was trying not to be a spoiled American - I put up with no hot water in the shower - but it seems like mosquito nets are a necessity in the malarial Great Rift Valley.

We woke early the next morning to a beautiful sight. The sun was beaming, making the lake nearly too bright to look at. The beach was sandy, but the sand was black - Langano is a volcanic lake. The water was brown, not with mud but with minerals, and it felt slimy, almost soapy. We had a swim and then ate breakfast overlooking the water. Because we were the only guests there, the service was amazing. We went for another swim; this time, a local girl who was out swimming came to shore to meet us. She grabbed my hand, and then grabbed my friend’s hand, and led us out to the deeper portion of the lake. What a sight we must have been - two bikini-clad white girls on either side of a local Oromo girl wearing a dress, walking into the sun with the mountains in the distance… I wish someone had taken a photo. We swam with the girl for a while, and then went back in to shore. We tried to say thanks in the little Amharic that we knew, but the girl only said “Yes” in response. It wasn’t until later that we realized that we were in Oromo country, where Amharic isn’t the main language.

After a makeshift surgery to get an acacia thorn out of Brigette’s foot, we were on the road again. We drove to Shashamene, the location of the Rastafarian settlement. Just outside of the village, we pulled into the headquarters of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, one of the four churches of Rastafari found in Shashamene. Over the next few days, we spent countless hours interviewing and observing, visiting the headquarters of all the churches, seeing construction sites, visiting the school, and just chatting with members of the community. The Rastafari were amazingly hospitable, especially Sister Joan, an angel in the form of a Jamaican expatriate. If anyone has advice on relocating to another country, it is the Rastafari, who moved from the West Indies and Americas, and some from Europe and Asia, to find Zion. The moves started nearly 30 years ago for some, and have been increasing in the past decade.

For the duration of our visit to Shashamene, we stayed in a hotel in Awasa, about 30 minutes away. Awasa is the unofficial capital of southern Ethiopia, with a University and a small city on a lake. Because our daylight hours were spent with the Rastafari, we didn’t actually see the lake, but it isn’t safe for swimming anyways. 

After our research was complete, we wanted to travel further south to a place called Arba Minch. It is a city in between two lakes, and is supposed to be full of wildlife and natural beauty. Because of the election, our driver was worried that violence might break out and we would be stranded, so we headed north again instead. On the way out, we stopped at Wendo Genet, a natural hot spring about 20 minutes from Shashamene. It was amazing; being my first visit to a hot spring, I might not be objective, but I thought it was beautiful and the water felt wonderful. After lunch and some amazing views of the Rift Valley, we headed on to Nazaret, where we spent the night. 

Despite some crazy traffic and some near-death experiences, we made it back to Addis Abeba safe and sound.  We spent our last days shopping for jewelry and textiles. Ethiopia has incredible cotton blankets - soft, thin, but warm. The scarves were beautiful too, and so cheap, considering they are all hand-made. We bought our souvenirs, we saw the nightlife, we soaked in as much of the culture as we could, but it was unfortunately time to come home. 18 hours later, our flight landed in Washington, DC, and the trip was just a distant memory.

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