Lake Langano

When I told one of my colleagues yesterday that I would be staying in Ethiopia for another week, he immediately picked up the phone and planned a weekend away for me. So I am now at Lake Langano, an excellent bird watching spot. I hired a car (an SUV no less) and a driver and we leisurely made our way up here today, stopping off as I pleased to take photos, look at commercial floriculture ventures or look at birds.

We stopped off at Lake Koka in the town of Ziway to check out the birds (and the hippos). I saw quite a few birdies, but no new ones for my list. But don’t worry, the stop was hardly mundane. I watched a Pied Kingfisher catch a fish and then beat its head on a branch until it was dead before swallowing it. Right after that, I saw a Squacco Heron catch a fish that was bigger than its head and then take about 3 minutes to swallow the thing alive. Who says that bird watching is boring.

My driver, Getu, is an interesting guy. He started off the trip by telling me that Ethiopia will never get ahead until there is a change in government policy. And then he referred directly to the massacre a few months ago of 36 or more citizens who were protesting the latest election results, believing they were rigged by the governing party. Since the massacre - which the government says was a necessary response to a crazed mob - the government has banned all protests. A month ago was the Meskel holiday* a major Ethiopian Orthodox Christian holiday to celebrate the date that they believe the true cross - that on which Jesus Christ was crucified - was brought to Ethiopia. (I witnessed it when I was in Ethiopia last year.) Thousands of Ethiopians gather in the main square of Addis Ababa named Meskel Square to celebrate. This year the opportunity was used to gather people together to voice their dissent. According to Getu, they protested the President, the party, and even the Pope. This Thursday is Eid, the Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. Ethiopia is about half Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, and half Muslim. I was told that there will be a large crowd in the National Stadium on Thursday to pray and celebrate and that there is some concern that there could be violence. The joke going around Ethiopia is that the Government has decided to extend the fasting period of Ramadan in order to avoid Eid. Let's just hope that will be praying for peace in the stadium on Thursday. (Ethiopian and Eritrean relations have also taken a recent turn for the worse with ambassadors withdrawn and arms buildups on both sides – all over a border dispute over a small patch of wasteland. They previously fought for 5 years over the same issue with 70,000 lives lost).

On a lighter note, and sort of related, as we were driving down the road today, Getu interrupted a period of silence by stating, “We call those Al Quaida”. He was referring to a mid-sized industrial Isuzu truck. I had to ask him to repeat himself because I really was not sure if I had heard him correctly. He explained that they got the name because they killed so many innocent bystanders. Their drivers have a reputation of chewing too much Chat, a locally grown and consumed stimulant, which obviously is not conducive to good driving. The joke gave a little bit of insight into how the Ethiopians perceive their more radical Moslem brethren.