Nature nerd fun

Saturday May 4th, 2013

Wow what a week. The roller coaster continues this time I’m at a peak. Monday started off with a big tree planting organized by the Agriculture office in a rural area to try to protect a big hillside from eroding. It was neat to see some women from the office trekking up the hill in their skirts and little plastic shoes to plant the trees. When we first arrived the men of the surrounding community were chanting a song to help them dig the holes for the trees. Planting went quick and I hope some of the 4,000 seedlings we planted survive. Afterwards we were invited into the community leaders home to eat cultural food- gunfo (a sticky paste made of ground flour with melted local butter-kinda gross), chicko (a different paste made of barley-kinda tasty), and irgo (chunky sour milk- very gross). But it was a lot of fun and I made a complete mess of myself trying to juggle all the food that was handed to me.

Wednesday I hoped on a minibus to Dinsho a town about 45 minutes away to help Matt, another PCV, experiment with making fuel briquettes out of local materials. The aim is to make a briquette that uses all local, free materials that can be easily made and work as a substitute to charcoal or wood taken from the few remaining forests. We made different batches using leaves from the Koso and Eucalyptus tree, wood chips, and paper. The trick is making them compact enough to hold together while allowing enough air to keep them burning. We used a press that had been made following a model used in other developing countries that makes hockey puck sized donuts. It will take a few weeks to dry then will be the fun part of burning them. While making the briquettes a huge hailstorm poured down making the water in the mixture freezing cold. Our hands were numb by lunch and we sloppily tried to eat our lunch of byaynat- injera with a mix of different wats (lentil, potato, beet sauces). Oh the challenges of eating with your hands!

Friday I again hoped a minibus to Dinsho, 10 birr and a pretty ride, this time to go hiking up into the national park. Following a dirt track that went up the valley past several cow dung mud hut homes and chunkily plowed fields we slowly ascended into another world. Spikey “Fire Poker’s” were just starting to send up their long red flower and the landscape turned into an open valley surrounded by big rocky cliffs. A dark cloud hovered above sprinkling rain which added to the mystery. (Yay for being raised in the NW and having rain gear!).  After about 10km we entered a huge open field that was pockmarked with mole holes- homes of the endemic Giant Mole Rat (about the size of a large fuzzy guinea pig).  At the edge of the field Matt spotted our objective- the endemic Ethiopian Wolf- the most endangered canine in the world, an estimated 400 are left. Although technically a wolf they look more like a fox with long legs and reddish fur. Very beautiful. They primarily hunt the giant mole rat and perched from a rock overlooking the valley we watched a wolf stalk then pounce on several plump rats. So fun!

Sadly a storm came in with bone chilling wind so we had to hit the trail back to Dinsho. Hiking in the park was a beautiful inspiring day of seeing all sorts of exotic plants and birds. It made me excited to come back and explore more. It also made me realize I need to hike more- I was plum tuckered after hiking at least 20km in one day. After the minibus ride back to Goba I hobbled to my home and immediately went to sleep. Dreaming of course of Giant mole rats and Ethiopian wolves.

PS- I was also thinking of my family especially Mom and Rachael, and my dear friend Heather on their birthdays! Hugs to all!