Bale Mountain Horse Trekking, November 17-21

I have been putting off writing this post all week.  Partially because it has been kind of a busy week and once Brent and I wrap up our evening responsibilities it never feels like there is enough time to get much done on it.  Partially because it seems a bit daunting - a big portion of our trip with lots of pictures, and partially because it wasn't my favorite part of the trip even though it was an amazing experience.

Most of you know by now that Brent and I spent 7 months traveling around Southeast Asia 5 years ago.  It was the trip of a lifetime and a monumental chapter in our relationship together.  If I was the same person that I was then when we went to the Bale Mountains, horse trekking would have been one of the highlights of our entire trip.  It has all the right elements - mind blowing natural beauty, off-the-beaten-path adventure, good food, and the opportunity to really connect with some amazing Ethiopians.  However, as I have mentioned in past posts, our trip to Ethiopia, for me, was purely about our kids - meeting them and learning as much as we could about them.  For some reason, I couldn't get past that while we were in the Bale Mountains.  I couldn't fully enjoy the experience because there was always part of me that wanted to be trying to connect with our kids on some level, either by spending more time with them or trying to see more places specifically related to their life experience.  The Bale Mountains are in the Oromia region of Ethiopia - neither of our kids are from Oromia.

Brent loved this part of the trip.  He was able to see it for what it was and really embrace the entire experience.  I wish he would write this post so you really get the sense of how amazing it was, but he's not so into this blogging thing, so we'll just have to hope he provides some comments at the end.

I do have to say, and Brent will wholeheartedly agree, that the BEST part of the entire trip was our guide, Yusef.  Not only was he an exceptional guide in the traditional sense of the word, but his openness and willingness to really share and help us understand Ethiopia - politics, the psyche, cultural norms, lifestyle, and more simple day to day experiences - and his desire to really understand America quickly made him a true friend.  If you ever go to Ethiopia and want a guide for any part of the country, we recommend Yusef with 100% confidence.  And if you see our pictures and want to go horse trekking, please ask us for his contact info. - you won't be disappointed.  He has a degree in sociology, but is currently trying to establish himself in Addis Ababa so he can complete a 1 or 2 year course in tourism so he can work for one of Ethiopia's premier guiding outfits.  They have already promised him the job if he can get the certificate from the tourism course.  He has taken tourists around much of his country already and the insight and attention he provides is so personal that I really just can't imagine you wouldn't be pleased.  He dreams of owning his own tourism company one day, and I have no doubt that he will do it.

Our guide, Yusef.

Ok, let's get started.  We learned about the Dodola Eco-Tourism Tour Guide Association from our Lonely Planet travel book.  Since I am the one that usually reads the travel guides from cover to cover, I was actually the one that suggested we might take a trip in the Bale Mountains.  After visiting their website, both Brent and I were convinced so we emailed them to reserve some dates.   A day or two later, we got an email back from Yusef introducing himself as one of the guides and confirming our trip.  He also let us know that they were having problems with their internet connection, so we shouldn't worry if we couldn't get a hold of him.  He gave us his personal cell phone number and we were set.

The day before we headed south with Ayele from Addis, we called Yusef to confirm that our trip was still on.  Not only were we confirmed, but he was in Addis and suggested that we meet him in Sashemene once we were finished exploring Sidama so we could travel to Dodola - the starting place for the horse treks - together by local bus.  When we originally made arrangements with Ayele he told us that he would not take us all the way to Dodola because the road was too bad, so we had agreed to let him drop us of in Sashemene so we could catch a bus to Dodola.  I was very comforted that Yusef would be with us on our first trip by local bus, especially because the Lonely Planet made it sound like it would be a long, uncomfortable ride.  So the morning after we traveled through Sidama and visited the stelea fields, Ayele drove us to Sashemene.  We met Yusef at a coffee shop, and we all, Ayele included, had our morning macchiatos and got to know each other a bit.  Once we were done with our coffee, Ayele drove all of us up the road to the bus station.  We said our goodbyes to Ayele and followed Yusef onto the bus.

It was pretty funny because there were two busses leaving soon for Dodola - they seem to leave when they are full (and I mean full) rather than on any particular schedule - and both were trying to get our business.  The fullest bus had two other farangi sitting in it, and the kids trying to persuade us to get on that bus kept pointing at them to tell us, "see there are other farangi, don't you want to join them on our bus?"  We let Yusef do the negotiating.  He at first declined the bus with the other farangi and we were headed toward the other bus, but then someone changed his mind and we all piled on to the already full bus, doubling its count of farangi.

Shortly after piling on the bus and cramming our backpacks on our laps (much to the dismay of the woman sitting next to me), we were off.  Ethiopian music blared from peoples' cell phones and the men chewed chat, Ethiopia's drug of choice (and of course offered the unsuspecting farangi some as "food"- but I already knew what it was and politely declined, telling them that I knew it was chat and wasn't interested).  From what we understood about chat, it is illegal, but no one enforces it and everyone chews it.  It is supposed to be a stimulant and make you more talkative.  Yusef, who happily chewed it the entire bus ride after making sure I didn't mind that he was chewing it, told us, "the French have wine, the Germans have beer, and Ethiopians have coffee and chat."  One thing anyone deciding to travel in Ethiopia by local bus should know is that people seem to have a deep-rooted fear of moving air.  Despite being packed in the bus like sardines with temperatures climbing, everyone refuses to open windows, and anyone that tries is reprimanded.  Be prepared for long, hot, stuffy rides.

A pleasant surprise on our bus ride was that the road was brand new.  We were expecting it to be horrible.  Here's what our Lonely Planet said about it, "The road that runs east from Sashemene is one of the country's worst.  If you sit above the bus's axel you'll be bounced off your seat.  The locals say the road had been improved, although its difficult to see how; its little more than a series of interconnected potholes."  Ayele's refusal to take us to Dodola only confirmed the Lonely Planet's assessment.  However, roads are being built in Ethiopia right now like crazy, and the road to Dodola was brand new, except for the last 2 kilometers, which was smoothly graded gravel.  Rather than the bone-jarring 3-4 hour trip we were expecting, we sailed to Dodola in about and hour and a half.

The only other thing of note about the bus ride was that since it left the station full and then some, it did not have room for any additional passengers.  When it stopped in a few small towns along the way to Dodola to drop people off, waiting passengers in these small towns would mob the doors and try to force their way in.  The guy collecting the money and letting people on and off the bus did his best to not let anyone else on but a few always managed to push their way past him.  There was often shouting, from the bus driver, the money collector, other passengers, and the people trying to get on, but I never felt unsafe - that just seems to be the way things work on the local busses.

When we arrived in Dodola, Yusef took us to the Tourism Office and we signed our agreement and paid for our permit to enter Bale Mountains.  Our horses were already waiting for us, but we had to buy food for the trip first.  Of course, Yusef was there to help.  He led us to several local shops where we picked up pasta, tomato sauce, tuna, sardines, bread, peanut butter, honey, and some fresh avocados and oranges.  We also bought some water, but were told that there would be filtered water at the huts were were going to stay at for the next few days.  Yusef did the bargaining for us - usually saving us a few birr - and made sure we got the highest quality food Dodola had to offer.  One word of caution - if you decide to go horse trekking out of Dodola and buy food for your trip there check the expiration dates.  We had no problem finding food that was not expired, but some of it was.

Yusef bargaining over our food supply purchase.

After buying our supplies, we all decided we needed to eat before we got started, so we followed Yusef to a local restaurant.  We had this great local dish with all sorts of stuff piled onto a plate of injera.  We didn't pay too close of attention when it was brought out though and didn't notice that one of the things piled on the plate was raw meat - an Ethiopian delicacy.  I accidentally ate a little bit, and upon tasting it looked closer to realize what it was.  I did my best not to worry that I hadn't just set myself up to be a very sick horse trekker, let Brent know to avoid it, and finished my lunch.  Fortunately, I didn't eat much and had no problems.

Finally, it was late afternoon and time to get started.  It seemed like we were in Dodola forever.  Another piece of advice for travelers to Ethiopia is to not stress about timing.  You'll leave when you are supposed to leave and everything will work out fine.  There is a different sense of time and timeliness in Ethiopia and you'll have a much more enjoyable trip if you just go with it.  Our supplies were loaded onto our pack horse and we mounted our trusty little ponies.  The first bit of the ride was through the town of Dodola, and Yusef and the horse handlers kept a close eye on us to make sure we knew what we were doing.  Once they were confident in our abilities, we got to gallop through the outskirts of town after Yusef.  Brent did a good job of faking like he knew what he was doing (I grew up with horses) and managed not to fall off his horse despite flopping around on its back like a crazy man.  If you are interested in this type of trip, but not comfortable with horseback riding, don't worry.  They will take it as slow as you need to go.  The horse handlers can even keep the reins as if your horse is on a leash and you can just sit on the horses back as it plods along.

The outskirts of Dodola.

Our pack horse with one of our horse handlers.

The ride to our fist hut, Changiti, was pretty short and easy.  We crossed through flat fields of teff before  climbing up and around the side of a hill on which Changiti was situated.  Along the way, Brent had gotten off his horse and then attempted to get back on by himself.  As soon as he got his foot in the stirrup and was almost on top of the horse, it started moving.  He fell straight off the back of the horse, landing on his back.  None of us saw it - he was on his feet before we had a chance to figure out what was going on.  I didn't even realize that he had fallen off.  Fortunately Unfortunately, when he fell, he landed on our day pack which held his super ugly sexy sunglasses he had bought on the streets of Addis.  After taking in the sheer beauty of the Changiti tent camp at dusk, we had a good laugh about Brent's horsemanship and snapped a few photos to commemorate our fist day of horse trekking.

Brent Safranksi, master horseman.

When we woke up the next morning we were able to see how beautiful Changiti really was.  Perched on a hillside at the edge of the forest, surrounded by fields of teff and small villages with the Bale Mountains in the backdrop, it took our breath away.

Sunrise at Changiti.  Brent got up early; I chose to stay under
the warm covers of my bed.  We had dinner and sat around a
fire in the hut pictured the night before.

One of the tents at Changiti.  Each tent has four beds which
are made up with lots of heavy warm blankets when you arrive.

Ready for a breakfast of fresh bread with peanut
butter and honey and tea.

After breakfast our new set of horse handlers got our new set of horses ready.  While trekking in the Bale Mountains your money supports local villagers.  Each day a new set of villagers rents you their horses and provides horse handlers to help you on your journey.  In addition, a local family care-takes each of the huts and is paid for their services.  This way, tourist dollars are spread through out the small communities dotting the Bale Mountains.  It allows villagers extra income so they don't have to cut down all the lumber in the forest to sell to people that live in the valleys below.  In addition, a portion of your money supports local schools and clinics.  All in all, we spent under $30 a day for our guide, the huts, our horses and our horse handlers - a very reasonable price, especially considering the level of service.  Once our horses were ready, we began our journey into the forest and on to our next hut.

Oh, I should also mention that Brent was not the only one that fell off his horse.  My first attempt at getting on my horse that morning didn't go so well.  The saddle was too loose and as I swung my leg over the horse, the saddle swung right along with me and I ended up on the ground on the other side.  It was pretty funny and no big deal.  I got right back on afterwards and had a great day, but since I shared Brent's fall its only fair that I share mine as well.

The pace of the horse treks is very mellow.  You can walk whenever
you want and there are lots of breaks.  Sometimes you are required
to walk because the terrain is too treacherous to ride, but its never too far.

Taking a break as herds of cows pass by.

Our next hut was Wahoro.  We arrived in the early afternoon and were happy to stretch our sore legs.  Wahoro was my least favorite hut.  While it was in a beautiful location with a friendly local family looking over the place, it was pretty dirty.  It was a big challenge mentally to crawl into bed at night.  I am really glad that we brought our silk sleep sheets to keep any of bed bugs that might have been there at bay - Brent did end up with a few bites, possibly from fleas.

Relaxing on the porch after the horse ride.

At Wahoro we were able to try the local staple food - kocho,
or enset with stinging nettles.  The enset is a spongey bread
made from the enset, or false banana tree.  It is fermented
underground for quite sometime before the bread is made.
It has more of a smokey and sour taste to it than injera.
The nettles tasted like steamed spinach.  It was actually quite good.

Wahoro hut from afar.

A local spiritual spot where a large celebration is held once a
year in remembrance of a sheik that used to live at the base of the
cliff and brought the local villagers much prosperity.

A couple hours after we arrived at Wahoro an older German couple joined us.  They were the other farangi we had seen on the bus the day before.  Their guide Kasim also joined us.  After cooking us dinner, Kasim, Yusef, and some of the men that lived in the hut adjacent to Wahoro lit a fire and sung us local religious songs.  Villagers in the Bale Mountain area are largely Muslim, but the songs were mainly about life in the countryside - harvest, etc.  They were very excited to share their songs with us, even though they hadn't had much practice performing in front of a live audience.  We also sang Bob Marley songs with Yusef, who loves Bob Marley and Eminem, and each of us, the Germans, the Ethiopians, and the Americans sang their national anthem.  Those of you that know Brent and I know that we aren't really the type to go around singing the national anthem, but it was all in the name of sharing culture.  Brent stayed up late into the night laughing hysterically with Yusef.  They were quickly becoming great buddies.

Yusef and Kasim cooking us dinner.  I think Kasim was
jealous that Yusef got the tourists that loved berbere.  The
Germans always thought our food was too spicy.

The next day we decided to take the long route to our next hut so we could get above treeline and see a new ecosystem.  It was a LONG day of riding - I think we traveled nearly 25 kilometers.  It was also probably the most beautiful day.  The day began with a steep hike up the mountain behind our hut at Wahoro.  It was too steep to ride the horses - we gained quite a bit of altitude in a short time, but the pace was very manageable.  At the start the horse riding, my horse was acting up, so I got the pleasure of just sitting on its back while the horse handler led it along.  I was kind of bummed at first, because I like riding and felt ok on the horse once we got going, but it was also nice to be able to not pay any real attention to the horse and just take in the amazing scenery.

Morning from the porch at Wahoro.  We would be trekking up
and over the mountains in the background.

Packed up and ready to go after resting pretty peacefully
in our dirty room.

Breakfast with the Germans.

Finally above tree-line.

Local cow herd.

On this day we would eventually cross between the 3 volcanic
peaks in the background, down a valley on the other side,
up another mountainside, and down another valley
before climbing one last hill to our hut.  It was a LONG day.

Local "road" that takes people from Dodola to other mountain
villages known for their honey and goats.  Obviously people
travel this road by foot and horse.

Heading down the valley on the other side of the volcanic peaks.

And up another hillside.

After we climbed the hillside above we reached another hut, Angafu; however, we didn't stay there.  In order to make our way out to Dodola and on to Wondo Genet 2 days later, we had to push on to the next hut, Adele.  We rested for a half hour or so at Angafu and enjoyed a soda before hopping back on our horses and making our way to Adele.  We shared Adele with Kasim and the Germans again, although they had taken a different route to get there.  Adele was cleaner than Wahoro and generally just was a nice place to be.  Unfortunately, we didn't seem to take any pictures of Adele.

Adele was looked after by a wonderful family with two older sons, Adam, who was 16, and his older brother, who was 18 but who's name escapes me.  Adam was especially sweet and really seemed to enjoy Yusef's company so we spent quite a bit of time with him.  He provided us with milk from his family's cows as well as green onions from their garden for our dinner, which was pasta and sauce, and also included thyme we had picked earlier in the day during our trek and lots of berbere.  Since I haven't said it already, I should mention that Yusef was a very good cook.  He was able to concoct a different meal with seemingly the same ingredients each night and it was always very tasty.

Adam is Oromo and, apparently, all Oromo children grow up carrying spears.  They used to be used for protection when they were out with the family's cattle and goats, but are now just more of a tradition.  Just because they are more of a tradition doesn't mean they don't know how to use them.  Adam could throw a spear 50 yards and hit whatever target he was aiming at.  Brent was impressed, so he gave Brent a lesson with some bamboo sticks that were lying around.  At one point, Yusef was trying to throw a bamboo "spear" at Adam and Brent from across the field.  Brent, being himself, bent over and showed Yusef his backside, taunting him to hit it.  Apparently this was one of the funniest things Adam had seen because he literally rolled on the ground laughing for quite some time.  All in all, our time in Adele was enjoyable mostly due to the wonderful people we shared it with.

The only problem that arose at Adele was we ran out of water.  Yusef had told us that there would be water at Adele so we only bought one bottle of water from the caretaker at Wahoro.  When we got to Adele, the filter seemed not to be working.  Yusef boiled us a small kettle of water for our hike the next day, but it was from the stream, brown, and cloudy and we had a hard time trusting it despite the fact it had been boiled.  We had bought a Steripen with us, which is supposed to disinfect water using UV light, but apparently it got too cold in Adele (there was frost on the ground when we woke up in the morning since we were at 3300 meters elevation) and it didn't work.  We still had 2 days before we were supposed to end our trek in Dodola and things weren't looking so good - it looked like we might have to make another long day the next day to get all the way back to Dodola.  However, the Germans shared some of their water with us and we were able to continue our trip as planned.  Another note to anyone considering horse trekking in the Bale Mountains: just take all the water you will need with you.  The horses carry it anyway so its not that big of a deal.

The next day we started out back to Changiti, the tent camp we stayed at the first night of our trip.  The majority of our trek was downhill, so we only hired one riding horse that Brent and I could use if we got tired of walking.  Honestly, it felt great to walk after 3 days on horseback and we walked most of the way.

Shortly after we left the hut at Adele, we got to visit a local school supported by the horse trekking system.  The school administrator was there and proudly showed us around.  Apparently about 300 students attended the school, which had dirt floors and hand carved desks and benches, and offered grades kindergarten through sixth.  Many of the students walked close to 5 kilometers to get there.  The school was free to local children and survived on the proceeds from horse trekking and donations.  Had we known about it before arriving, we would have brought some school supplies with us to donate to the school.  Instead we left a monetary donation.

Adele School.

Side of one of the school buildings.  Note the lessons drawn on
the outside - plant and human anatomy.

Our walk back to Changiti was really enjoyable and I was happy to be returning to Changiti's clean beds.  The last stretch of the hike was a pretty long and steady climb up the hill that Changiti rested on top of.  Somehow I ended up on our one horse and Brent made the climb on foot.  He definitely earned his dinner on that hike.  Along the way he took some photos of a cemetery he passed by.

We got back to Changiti in the early afternoon and lounged in the sun until another trekker, Jeremy, an older man from London, joined us.  Jeremy was a seasoned traveler and we enjoyed swapping travel stories with him.  The story on how he got to Ethiopia in the first place was great.  He had intended to go to Bali in Indonesia, but at the last minute realized it was the wrong time of the year - it was right in the middle of the rainy season.  So he went to work and told a colleague he was looking for a good place to travel.  His colleague went home that night and told his 9 and 11 year old kids to do some research and figure out where Jeremy should travel.  They came up with Ethiopia.  He did some quick checking around and bought his plane tickets.

The next day we hiked out to Dodola.  We only hired a pack horse since the hike was short and all downhill.  As we approached the outskirts of Dodola we came across many nicely dressed people heading the opposite direction.  Yusef told us that they were on their way to church.  Since he grew up in Dodola, Yusef knew many of them and many of them were interested in meeting us.  On top of the predictable "You, you, you, farangi," calls from the children, many people wanted to stop and shake our hands.  Those that spoke English were quick to welcome us to Dodola and ask us how were were enjoying Ethiopia.  We probably shook at least fifty hands in 20 minutes or so.  We even got to meet the Police Chief who made sure to make quite a show of welcoming us to his town.  It was the warmest welcome back to civilization I have ever had coming out of the backcountry.

Once we arrived in Dodola it was time for macchiatos and to say goodbye to Yusef.  Fortunately, it was only a short goodbye because he was traveling back up to Addis and we made plans to meet back up there.  After coffee Yusef helped us get on a bus back to Sashaemene where we planned on catching another bus to Wondo Genet where we hoped to enjoy a hot shower (we were filthy after 5 days of horse trekking) and to relax a bit before heading back to Addis.

Our guide and our friend, Yusef.