Chris_GA_Atl

I am happy to say that I have finished going through our Ethiopia pictures, and now all five galleries are up -- one each for Bahir Dar, Gondar, Axum, Lalibela and Addis Ababa.

There are a few bird pictures, especially in the Gondar gallery, of some birds that I would appreciate any assistance identifying.

Now I am turning my attention to our pictures from Ngamba Island, so those should go up in a few days.

All the pictures are at www.pbase.com/cwillis. I hope you enjoy them!

Chris

matnikstym

wow! great pictures Chris! I especially liked Gondar at first light and the girl at the falls, what a beautiful face! Thanks for sharing!

Chris_GA_Atl

Thanks. One of the really amazing things about Ethiopia is the number of extremely attractive people you see there. It seemed like they were everywhere!

Chris

maxwell

Enjoyed your pictures Chris...eagerly awaiting your trip report!

Chris_GA_Atl

Thanks, Linda, it won't have quite the excitement and color that yours did, but I will try to be comprehensive -- I have already written about 8 pages on it, but then I got sidetracked trying to deal with all of the pictures.
Chris

thit_cho

Chris, thanks, those are excellent and really comprehensive. I'm currently putting together a trip for 2008, which will take me to Asmara (Eritrea), Djibouti, fly to Dire Dawa to visit Harar (if Djibuout Airlines is still operating this route then), then to Lalibela, one other stop on the northern circuit and Addis (so I'm only considering two stops on the traditional northern circuit). I need to spend a lot more time reviewing your photos to help plan my itinerary, but how would you rank the stops in the northern circuit?

Thanks, Michael

Chris_GA_Atl

Michael, that is a really easy question. Here is how I would rank them in order of how much we enjoyed them:
1) Lalibela
2) Gondar
3) Axum
4) Bahir Dar

I say it is an easy question because we thought Lalibela and Gondar were head and shoulders more enjoyable than the other two we visited. Axum was worth visiting, but has only a very limited number of things to do/see, although it has the allure of being the site with the most ancient ruins. Bahir Dar was definitely our least favorite.

If you have any designs to go trekking, you might consider Gondar for that as well, as Gondar is the jumping-off point for the Simien Mountains.

My wife just mentioned to me yesterday that she wants to plan our next trip to Africa for July 2008 so that we can be in Cape Town for the peak of great white shark season. That is a big piece of unfinished business for us, so I am excited to be planning that.

Feel free to ask any other questions that might help you in planning your Ethiopia visit.

Chris

moremiles

Beautiful photos-thanks for posting. Now I'm even more excited about Rwanda, if that is possible, and know what Francois looks like so maybe we can get him as our guide.

thit_cho

Thanks, very interesting. While I had Lalibela in the No. 1 position, I would have thought Bahir Dar to be No. 2 (as the jumping off point for the lake monasteries). But, in the end, it may depend on how the flights work in conjection with getting to or from Lalibela (which is a "must&quot. Anyway, I have plenty of time to plan.

The great white trip is a "must do" -- I have visited Cape Town twice, and the shark dive was the primary reason for both trips.

Chris_GA_Atl

At the present time, getting to any of the other cities from Lalibela is quite easy. Ethiopian airlines runs a daily "northern historical loop" service that flies from Addis to Bahir Dar, then Gondar, then Lalibela, then Axum. Then in the afternoon they do the exact same route in reverse. So you just hop on the plane when it arrives and stay on until you arrive at wherever you want to go. The flight times are short, as the cities are all relatively close to one another.

We visited Cape Town in September 2003 and went out to Seal Island, but that is not the peak season for white sharks, so we saw a couple, but we couldn't get any interested enough in hanging around the boat to put the cage in the water. So next time, we will hit the peak season and devote more than one day to it. We are also considering splitting our shark time between Seal Island and Dyer Island if we go back.

Chris

Leely

Love this latest set. Eagerly anticipating the report.

Thanks, Chris.

thit_cho

I have only visited Dyer Island, and saw several sharks, including one from the cage, during my last visit (August 2002).

Chris_GA_Atl

Michael, did you use White Shark Ecoventures? That seems to be the most popular/respected cage diving operator that goes to Dyer Island. We went to Seal Island with Rob Lawrence from African Shark Eco-Charters, having seem Rob and his partner Chris Fallows on a bunch of National Geo and Discovery Channel specials, including "Air Jaws," which was filmed from the same boat they take tourists out on. We saw three seals attacked by sharks, including one unsuccessful but prolonged attack, but then we anchored and chummed for about 5 hours with no luck at all.

thit_cho

Yes, I went with White Shark Ecoventures (it was four+ years ago, but as best as I can remember, my guide was named Robert Cope, and he was great -- I'm 100% sure about his first name, but much less certain about his surname).

ilovetotravel29

Beautiful pictures! thank you so much!

waynehazle

I have always wanted to see those stone churches. This may be as close as I get for a while.