Posted by Kate from Lake Tana Feb 27.
Robert Louis Stevenson said travel for him is, "to get off this feather bed of
civilization, and to find the globe granite under foot and strewn with cutting
flints." When I read that I thought, "Wow, that is so right, what a good thing
for someone else other than me to do." In case you can't tell, we are back in
the metaphorical feather bed. The plan (revised for not trekking) was to stay
at this resort on Laka Tana for a few days and then leave the resort, go to the
hotel we originally planned on using near Lake Tana and go back to being
independent tourists. Once again, however, communication issues got in our way.
We checked out of the resort and its super fancy room. We walked the 2 km to
the new hotel. That reservation we had made? There was a mistake. There was no
room. So, Andrew left me there, got in a tuktuk and came back to the resort to
see if there was still space for us. He came back, picked me up, and we are
back in la-la land. It is lovely. We have a standard room, which is much better
then the silly silly suite we had before, and we negotiated a discount for
staying for so long.
The bird tree
The resort sits on Lake Tana, the third largest lake in Africa. There is a patio that juts out over the walking path and butts up against the lake. Next
to this patio is the bird tree. Before coming to Ethiopia I was not interested
in birds. Old people, with big bellies and unfortunate traveling vests are into
birds, not me. The last few weeks have changed all of that. There are so many
birds here, and they are so striking, and so varied that I have become obsessed
with finding them. (Partly this is because I am sick of looking at churches,
and looking for birds gives me an excuse not to pay too much attention to the
churches) This morning, I noticed a tree with little green fruits hanging from
it. When I looked closely there were little green birds, that kind of looked
like the fruits all around the tree.
Every night from 6-7pm (or 0-1 Ethiopian time) the resort hosts a cocktail hour
on the patio. They have one kind of cocktail-- it is a fruit juice thing with
some white wine, I think, and some snacks. Our first night here, when the hotel
was full we meet interesting people at the cocktail hour. Now the resort is
empty and we do not share a common language with any of the guests. Instead we
spend cocktail hour watching the bird tree. The bird tree is a fig, or maybe a
ficus, depends on who you ask, in the spirit of the great trees in Ethiopia. It
is wide enough to shade many people from the sun, and tall enough to be easily
spotted from out in the lake.
Each night from 6:20-6:50 the bird tree fills with birds. It starts small. Last
night it was a white crane that came first, landing regally on a lower branch.
Then came a black bird that looked like a thin and sassy duck. Finally the
main show started. Bit by bit these mini ibis birds that we have named
"Ethiopian pointy birds" come to the tree for the night. It starts with a
group of 3 or 4, but eventually giant Vs of these birds come and land on the
many branches. They are awkward landers, sometimes circling several times on
approach before getting it just right. They come from all directions over the
lake and settle on the tree. At this time the sun is setting so you can just
see their silhouettes on the pink sky.
Last night something was bothering the Ethiopian Pointy Birds, so they all, maybe
150 birds in total, took off at once and circled several times. This is unusual.
The staff and owner of the resort were taken aback. The owner even came over
to ask us what happened. We are new at this bird behavior thing, so we have no
idea. After some kerfuffel they settled back down on their branches for the
evening. We stay watching the bird show every night until we are thoroughly
being eaten by mosquitoes, or until it is dark. Now we drag over chairs so we
can sit and watch comfortably (cocktail in hand, of course). It is far more
interesting than the BBC we can watch in our room (Qaddafi, schmaddafi, I want my birds!).
Some other guests sat out with their Birds of the Horn of Africa book and
binoculars the other night. That book, the Birds of the Horn of Africa, is far
thicker then the most recent San Francisco phone book.
Birds, birds and more birds
Today on the lake we saw pelicans so big that at first we thought they were
buoys in the water. Our boat driver drove up close to one, which made him fly
away. At first I felt bad, but then I realized the boat driver wanted us to see
what the bird looked like in the air. He was more doughy and soft then I
expected. The closest thing I can think of is that he looked like a flying
muppet. He was elegant in water, and slightly muppet-ish in take off.
At lunch we watched a bird that we named the "Ethiopian cookies and cream king
fisher" dive for his lunch. He would hover in the air staying in the same
place and then drop into the water. Then he would do it again. I just looked
over now and he is still at it.
Final Note: Last night, while watching the bird tree a large bird pooped on
Andrew's head. Good thing he is bald.
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