I finally arrived in Addis, a little tired, but no worse the wear for my 72 hour stint of traveling. Brian, my aunt Akale, my uncle Fisseha and my aunt Eleni were all at the airport to greet me, and take lots of pictures. Since the last time I was in Addis, they've built a huge new international terminal at the airport, which made arriving much smoother than I remember.


Brian assured me I looked great after 72 hours of traveling...

The day after I arrived, Brian and I hopped on another plane to Bahir Dar, the home of Lake Tana and the source of the Nile River. Because Brian only has 4 days in Ethiopia before he heads to South Africa, we decided to only go on one excursion outside of Addis Ababa. Bahir Dar won, because it has both historical sites and the naturalist appeal of the Nile falls.

The scenery there was amazing, we saw some incredibly old books at monasteries that were in the middle of Lake Tana, and the hike up to the Nile falls was breathtaking. Our tour guide wasn't the greatest, but then again, we both would have been up a creek without someone there to help us communicate, so we appreciated him being around. This was my second trip to Bahir Dar, and I enjoyed it even more than the first, which is a good trajectory :)


The path towards the falls



This is the falls at 15% strength. Just imagine 50% or 100%... The falls are diverted to a hydroelectric power plant, which generates 100 mW of energy for the northern areas of Ethiopia. The unfortunate side effect of this is that the flow of the falls is reduced when the plant is running. Our guide told us that the plan is to build additional power plants on less touristed rivers, so that this one can eventually run only at night, and people can enjoy the beauty of the falls by day. We also learned that Ethiopia is becoming a net exporter of power to other countries like the Sudan and Djibouti, because it is so rich in river resources. It's pretty ironic, isn't it, that so many people around the world imagine Ethiopia to be a dry, desert-covered country, when in reality it is so green and fertile?



Brian told me I should stand on a rock so I could look taller... Unfortunately, it's still pretty clear that I'm height-challenged when compared to him.