Ethiopia Days 8 and 9

We hit the road the next morning, after the kids took a quick dip in the hot springs pool again.  I regretted that I didn’t wear my bathing suit as the water was much warmer and cleaner in the morning than it was the night before!

Sharing the road

 

Countless donkey drawn carts like this in the country

 

Sugar Cane–we saw lots of children chewing stalks of it

As we approached Bishangari Lodge on Lake Langano, our next destination, we passed another lodge called The Wenney Eco-Lodge.  Alex suggested we stop in for lunch and we were thankful we did as we ended up changing our reservation to stay here instead!  It was less expensive than Bishangari with very similar amenities.  I actually thought the rooms were nicer than Bishangari and the food was outstanding.

Our room at the Wenney Eco-Lodge

As the afternoon wound down, we ventured out to the rocky beach where we watched the hippo pod, as they were very close to the shore.  The noises they make would be hard to mimic but they were very loud and guttural.  It was strange to hear them “talking” and we kept hoping they would venture in closer (they did a little).  L and Buddy decided to brave the water as Lake Langano is supposedly the only safe lake in Ethiopia to swim in.  One of the staff from the lodge came out and we tried to converse with him (he knew a little English).  L asked him if there were snakes in the lake and he said, “No snakes but pyson.”  L kept trying to figure out what he meant by “pyson” and then he finally put two and two together and realized he was saying, “PYTHON!”  I’ve never seen two people jump out of a body of water so fast!  Later as we were sitting by the lake, we did in fact see a head above the water, moving just beyond where they had been swimming, that looked pretty much like a big snake!

 

 

After dinner, we came out to the rocks again to see if the hippos had moved inland more into the grass (which they eat) but we didn’t see or hear anything.  It was so dark and I was honestly a little spooked, not knowing how fast a hippo can run if they feel threatened and not wanting to find out, especially with the kids!

The next morning, we hired the lodge’s bird expert and took a 3-hour hike with him outside the confines of the lodge’s land.  It was incredible.  He was very knowledgeable with the names of birds and he also led us to Baboons and Colobus monkeys.  The children of the area were right in step with us and followed us a good bit of the hike.  Our guide would sometimes sound like he was scolding them and they’d scurry away, only to gradually make their way back to us over the next few minutes!  It was a long hike and the kids eventually started complaining about how tired they were so L and I alternated carrying them on our shoulders and backs.  They definitely need to toughen up a little!

We hiked through a tiny village

And shared the road with lots of livestock

 

 

More new friends 🙂

 

The animals in Ethiopia broke my heart

 

They are all carrying oodles of tilapia!

 

So many birds at this lake!

 

Beehive waaay up in a tree

 

The baboons were so big!

Donkey Express–loved it!

After our hike, we had lunch and I honestly can’t remember what we did the rest of the day–I don’t think much, which was kind of refreshing after being on the go all the time for over a week!  That night, we went to the dining area and played Uno, Checkers, and read some, and then had another great dinner.  The food at Wenney was outstanding!

A Bee Eater Bird–they were so cool looking!

We talked to Alex about extending our trip outside of Addis before heading back and he suggested we head to Awash National Park.  We decided it was worth the extra driving to stay for 2 nights, and we planned on heading out the next morning to start the journey.  Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men….