The Moon Magic:

The Moon! That was the first thing I noticed in Ethiopia.

Umm, actually not! The first thing that I noticed after landing at the airport early morning was that Addis reminded me of India of the 80s. Old models of cars (think Fiat and Ambassador) spewing vehicular smoke in an otherwise clean and clear air, road-side shops selling clothes, shoes, vegetables, and other stuff before liberalization made it all about brands and malls, bricks and cement stacked up against walls of houses for construction work, small buna coffee or tea places dotting market areas, old style wood chairs and tables in cafes (similar to those which still exist in few places in Kolkata and parts of Mumbai), load-shedding, gasoline shortage, rationing of sugar and butter, spurious items, community-bonding, living with the larger (joint) family, and an unmissable languid pace of life. Add to this India’s ‘soft’ exports – yesteryears’ Bollywood movies (like Haathi Mera Saathi and Disco Dancer!) and blue and white tuktuks (a slender and cuter version of our lovable autos) – and the picture was complete.

“Now you know why I am so nostalgic about the 70s and the 80s!” – I told my young friend G with glee and finality. G, whose childhood was spent in the 90s and out of India, is now working in Ethiopia and totally in love with the country.    

Ethiopia is a very poor country, but unlike India, and like Nepal, people do not wear their poverty on their sleeves. There is a quiet dignity to their state of living. Decades of political upheaval and instability meant that work on basic infrastructure, creation of jobs and other ways of livelihood, connectivity between towns and regions, tourism etc. are still at a nascent stage. Like India in the 80s, domestic tourism is only related to pilgrimages (Ethiopians dislike travelling!), and hence geared largely towards western travellers making budget travelling for people like me a big problem.

One of the Rift Valley lakes in the distance. Photo: Bipasha M

Apart from travelling back in time, there were few other things which made Ethiopia special for me. With varieties of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian local cuisine, yummiest avocado juice, the light honey wine Tej and an even lighter tea, the country was an absolute food heaven for me. However, chewing chhaat leaves, having buna coffee, and eating raw meat were not for this 'faint-stomached' Indian, though G has clearly acquired a taste for the first two if not the third.

On the way to Afar region. Photo: Bipasha M

Ethiopia is also the region from where humanity evolved and spread around the world. This is the place of our ancestors. Travelling across its now arid and craggy hills, salt pans, sulfur geysers, and endless plains, it was easy to imagine how nature might have been when sapiens had lived here.

But the most special reason was the magic of the moon! The brilliantly sparkling city moon was the second thing I noticed in Addis. It drew me in, into some ancient world, into another dimension. Our journey to the crater of a live volcanic lake in Afar region through a series of mind-blowing and alien landscape followed a waning full moon. We slept outside on charpoys in the vast open land, directly under the influence of her glorious moonlight. I trekked over lava beds and rocks in the dark (night trek) without headlamps to reach the crater, intuitively knowing where to place my feet. And when the huge orange moon rose from the top of a smoking volcano, it was spellbinding. In that golden glow, across ancient lava beds, I felt the Spirit of the Earth herself calling out to me, welcoming me home.