Mustapha Aminu
9 December 2007
opinion
When you think Addis Ababa or Ethiopia, the last thing that will come to your mind is flowers. This is because of the image of famine associated with the country.
The name, Addis Ababa, given to it by Emperor Menelic in 1887 means NEW FLOWER in Amharic language. Our decision to stop over and see this city was as a result of a trip to India on Ethiopian Airlines. It is always good to touch down, enter and go on sight-seeing when you are on a transit in any city.
Upon taking the decision to stop over, obtaining the Ethiopian visa became very easy, thanks to my buddy, Mr. Raphael Udeogu of Motorola, who introduced me to his Ethiopian friend, Mr. Bekele. Bekele was managing Reltel network in Lagos. He [Bekele] personally took me to the Ethiopian embassy, in Victoria Island to obtain the visas. The flight to Addis Ababa from Lagos was smooth and both the ground and in-flight staff of the airline were very courteous. On arrival, the transiting was also handled professionally. Nothing went wrong, except for the weather. It was cold, and we weren't prepared for it. This was also as a result of the mindset that I had about the country. We had to observe the temperature as predided by meteorologists.
On completion of the airport formalities, we were driven straight to the GION, where the airline accommodates its transit passengers. Looking at the view as we approached the hotel, there seemed to be more gardens and flowers than buildings in the premises, and, indeed, there were. To date, I can't remember staying in a hotel that has better and more species of flora. I am saying this because it was totally unexpected and I was caught off guard. On the first day, we couldn't go anywhere, because we arrived late in the evening. Besides, we were tired from the almost six-hour journey, so we just checked into our rooms, freshened up and came down to do dinner and make enquiries on where to go and what to see the next day.
Before I let you in on the places we visited, let me give you a brief on the capital city and Ethipia. Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city in Ethiopia. With a population of about 2.7million people, it is one of Africa's largest inland cities. It is the country's political, commercial, manufacturing and cultural centre. It is situated in the centre of the country at an altitude of about 2400mts above sea level, on a plateau that is surrounded by hills.
This explaines the cold that hit us on arrival. However, most of the country itself lies on a plateau deeply divided by valleys and lakes that are home to large numbers of fish and crocodiles. The country is also home to the Blue Nile, which flows to the Sudan, where it merges with the White Nile to form the mighty Nile River. There are places in the country that rise above 4500mts above sea level, one of the highest peaks in the continent. There are, indeed, areas that experience very low rainfall. [Less than 20 inches].
On our second day, we woke up early after a good night rest and went out for breakfast in a restaurant with an exceptionally and unforgettable view of a beautiful garden. The Ethiopian waitresses were courteous and obviously happy to be of service to their guests. They were well-dressed in their predominantly white with colour edges traditional pure cotton attire. They looked well-trained in the art of hospitality.
Done with breakfast, we moved outside to the grounds to take in the early morning aroma of the flowers and familiarise ourselves with the environment, but not before arranging for transport at the reception. We drove out some 30 minutes later in a taxi. The cab was driven by a friendly young man who, on arrangement, agreed to serve as our guide also. Arrangement concluded, we said to him,"Kaine wuka, kaine Nama, and sai inda ka kaimu." This roughly translates to "you are now in charge,' draw our itinerary". The young man suggested we started with driving around to get a general picture of the city, to which we agreed. We were pleasantly surprised to see Addis Ababa as a sprawling city, well-planned, with lots of trees lining its broad avenues.
There are modern tall buildings sitting side by-side with traditional ones, thanks to good town planners. The climate was mild and pleasant due to the high elevation, but this, unfortunately, made it difficult for people that are asthmatic or with high blood pressure to function well. In fact, an embassy staff I met told me one of their staff had to be re-deployed because the high elevation was making life difficult for him.
The first place we stopped in the course of our tour of the city was the African Hall, which was the venue of the first African Heads of State meeting in 1963. The meeting metamorphosed into the establishment of the 52-member OAU [now AU]. It is a huge structure with manicured lawns, and an impressive display of African states flags. I found the glass windows on the building depicting the "self-inflicted" suffering African very sad to behold. But the impressive collection of African artwork inside lifted my spirits. Next, we visited the Addis University, established in 1950. It has an impressive display of architecture. From there we went to the Emperor Melenic palace, which contains several museums with an equal collection of art and archeological items. The furniture and clothings used by the emperors, including Haile Salasi were on display there.
One thing that caught my attention in one of the museums was an old wooden ship It kept reminding me of Noah's Ark. I cannot exactly remember now the history associated with it, but I know that it is a significant archeological find, judging from the way tourists inscribed their names on it. Trust me, we did engrave ours. Done with the museum, we proceeded to a lion zoo in the middle of the town Addis has whole pride of lions, including their cubs.
I was a bit scared, standing close to the king of the jungle uncomfortable despite the strong iron fence between us. I made sure we kept a comfortable distance, despite the assurance of the keepers that it was okay to get close. You need to lock eyes with the king to really understand what I mean. Late in the evening we drove back to the hotel through one of the broadest thoroughfares in the city, named Churchill Avenue.
On arrival at the reception, we were informed of a traditional ceremony to take place at one of the restaurants in the hotel that night. We were invited, if we had the time. I looked at the receptionist and said to myself, 'are you kidding me?' Then blurted out almost immediately, 'we would be glad to attend. This must be our lucky day,' I thought, and told my wife. We went upstairs and prayed, then descended and made our way to the venue of the event.
There were people of different nationalities already seated by the time we got there, with a live band playing good music. The music and performance was so good that I had to ask one of the waitresses about the musicians. She said the name of the baud's leader name was Abonish Adinaw. I bought his tape at the airport before I left Addis Ababa. That was the first time I was introduced to Ethiopian music, which is quite popular here now. After some time, the volume of the music was turned down, and dinner was served in traditional Ethiopian dishes, which added to the taste. It was more music and dance. We almost gave in to it, then the coffee ceremony.
To me, the most interesting experience of the whole show was the coffee ceremony. I will tell you what it is. Immediately you finish dinner, a waitress would usher you on to a wooden staircase that leads to an elevated wooden platform in the middle of the restaurant, with coffee leaves spread on the floor to serve you strong traditional Ethiopian coffee. We sat and reveled in that atmosphere along with some tourists from Philippino who were equally ecited about the culture. The strong aroma of the coffee mixed with that of burning incense created nice a smell that I would have captured in a bottle, [like a genie] if it were possible to do so. I would be releasing from time to time whenever the nostalgia of the event arose, or when an atmosphere is fouled.
The smell that comes out of the corridor linking the coffee shop with the perfumery section of Gazzaz at the Cornish in Jeddah is the closest example I can give you. That's if you have been there. On our third and last day in this land of Bilkisu, the queen of Sheba, we visited three more places of note. The first is the octagon-shaped saint George Coptic Christian cathedral, an architectural masterpiece. Here, I kept thinking of the first set of Muslims sent by the Holy Prophet (SAW) out of Mecca to seek asylum/sanctuary, which was granted by the then Christian Ruler. The second is the Addis open air market. This vast market, which they call "MERCATO", located in the western part of the city, is the largest open air market in Africa. Items traded ranged from leather, metal and textile goods, along with agricultural products, such as coffee and diary items. They also have very good Gold.
I remember, my wife saw some along with some unique scarf's that she wanted to buy and I discouraged her, saying there might be better ones in India. To date, I still regret that I did not allow her to purchase it because I too admired them, turned out that we never saw anything similar to the materials in Delhi. That was the reason I decided that would buy anything [affordable] that catches my fancy immediately, henceforth. The third place was the Sheraton Addis. I was in Africa. That much I confirmed when we set our eyes on the edifice. Whenever you find yourself in Addis Ababa make sure you go do lunch, or just take coffee by the pool side at the Sheraton, even if you don't get to stay there. You will love the experience. In the evening, we took a stroll to the Hilton which wasn't far away from our hotel, and stayed into a traditional Ethiopian coffee/dance place. The staff wanted us to witness the proper ceremony, but we apologised and said we couldn't due to time constraint.
The undulating terrain and the stunningly beautiful scenery are reasons enough for one visit Addis, but, to me, the true attractions are the flowers, and the birds. [The country is a haven for birders] You know, Ethiopia is home to over 800 bird species [10% of the worlds bird specie], some of which you can't help noticing flying above early in the morning if you pay attention.
Watching the birds will also remind you of "Alhudahuda", the bird that informed Prophet Suleiman[AS] about this land and its Queen Bilkisu, as narrated beautifully in Surat Naml of the glorious Qur'an. Linking your journeys to events and peoples that deserve mention by the Almighty, [whereever you go] would always make you thankful to Him for giving you the opportunity, or for putting you on the list of those destined to see such places before returning to Him, [there is a list, ,you know].
This informs my quest to traverse such places of very early historical significance. We came back to the hotel late in the evening, checked out and rushed to the airport to catch our flight to Delhi, which turned out to be the bumpiest and most uncomfortable I had ever taken, to date. I will tell you about it in due course, insha Allah.
Mustapha Aminu is a businessman who contributed this travelogue from Kaduna
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