Dear Aidan: Day 10

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Monday, December 31, 2012

Dear Aidan,

Good evening sweet boy!  How was your day?  What did you do and learn?  Have any new families come through to visit?  I know there is at least 1 family with their court date tomorrow.  It makes me so happy to know that another sweet baby will be getting a forever family! 

Today was amazing!  Dad ranks it as the best part of the trip so far- minus all of the time spent with you!  We went to the Simien Mountains and experienced life with the Gelada Baboons!

We woke up very early- around 6AM.  We enjoyed the best shower of the trip so far- warm water, high water pressure and a normally placed shower head.  It was chilly, and we were told that the Simien Mountains were even colder.  I dressed in many layers as living in Thailand has turned me into an even bigger baby when it comes to cold weather!  The average year-round temperature in Chiang Mai is 85 degrees.  It’s the “cool season” now, but we still go to the pool all the time because the daily highs are around 85-90!  You’ll be in for a treat!

Once we were ready, we ate a delicious breakfast of eggs, French toast and hot tea.  At 7AM, we walked outside and met our driver.  We piled into our Land Rover and started off.  It was about a 2-3 hour drive to the Simien Mountains, so we enjoyed the views.  We passed by many local villages, a few small towns, hundreds of farms, multiple shepherds and school children running to school.  I love watching Ethiopia as it’s truly fascinating! 

The road to the Simien Mountains was recently paved, which made for a very nice drive.  The road was built by the Chinese as a way to improve trade and transportation in Ethiopia.  Dad thinks they’re doing it to help transport resources from Africa.  It seems as if every Ethiopian knows the Chinese build the roads.  Dad and I became bound and determined to find things people knew the Americans did!

 

Along the way, we stopped several times to take pictures of the view.  The landscape was beautiful!  We were on a plateau with jagged edges.  Down below lay steep rolling hills in various colors- reds, browns, and greens.  It reminded us of the Grand Canyon and Badlands National Park in the US.  Soon, we arrived at the town of Debark.  Here, the paved road ended and the dirt road began.

 

We stopped at the National Park station to pay our daily fee.  We were also assigned a local guide and an armed scout- both of which were required!  We walked across the street to a small restaurant and ordered food to take for lunch.  We ordered a few egg and steak sandwiches.  We tried ordering some for our scout and guide, but both were fasting for the upcoming Genna.  We also bought several Snickers bars for dessert- one for everyone.  The scout and guide held onto theirs for later when they could eat.

Once everything was arranged, we climbed back in our car and headed off.  We drove for about another hour through the National Park.  It was stunning!  I had no idea Ethiopia had such lush landscape.  We told our guide our goal was to hike and see the baboons.  We parked the car to get out.  We were officially on a trek for the baboons!

 

We walked across a wide, grassy outcrop and then began our hike along the side of the cliff.  The baboons are endemic to Ethiopia- that means they aren’t found anywhere else.  At night, they live in the cliffs for safety.  But around 6AM, they climb the cliffs to come up onto the grassy plateau.  They live solely on grass and grassroots and spend their entire day grazing.  They sit on their bums and use their very nimble fingers to pluck and pull at the grass.  Once they have cleared one spot, they move to the next.  We were told that 16,000 baboons live in the national park!  They live in large groups ranging from 50 to several thousand baboons.  Our guide seemed confident that we would find some!

 

Gelada Baboon’s have the nickname of “Bleeding Heart” baboons.  Most baboons have unique colorations on their bums because they walk on their hands and feet.  Their butts are in the air and easy to see.  However, the Gelada baboons sit most of the day.  Having bright colorations on their bums wouldn’t be so helpful in attracting a mate.  As such, the males have bright red marks on their chests.  This way, their coloration can still be seen when they’re grazing.  This marking looks like blood over the heart, hence their nickname.

We walked for about 1 hour looking for the baboons.  We heard them several miles away, but had no luck finding them.  We also saw areas where they have grazed and recent droppings.  We decided to try another area and walked to the car.  We drove for about 5 minutes before we saw a HUGE group.  There were hundreds of baboons grazing.  We climbed out and went to meet our new friends!

In Africa, baboons are considered some of the most dangerous animals.  They are territorial and aggressive.  Normally, you cannot get within several hundred meters of a baboon, and doing so is not recommended.  However, the Gelada baboons are the only non-aggressive species of baboon.  They do not mind humans, just as long as we gave them 1-meter space.  They were not tame by any means, but tolerant and non-fearful.  

We began to walk around the baboons.  They were everywhere!  It was incredible and felt like a dream!  The females are much smaller than the males.  Many females had a baby with them.  They carry their babies around piggyback.  When the moms stop to graze, the babies jump off and meet up with another baby to play.  There were several play groups of babies, all causing trouble- running up trees, tackling each other, screaming loudly!  It is amazing to see how much like humans they are!

 

The males were gorgeous.  They had longer fur and were much larger than the females.  They had long, flowing manes and beautiful markings on their chest.  I was much more cautious around them because they had GINORMOUS teeth!  YIKES!  If we got too close, they would flash their teeth and us and we would quickly back away!  The guides kept laughing and telling us we were ok as we always had more than 1 meter between us.  Although I trusted them, I trusted my instincts around animals and veterinary training a bit more!  We have you to get back to and I wanted to be in 1 piece for when we do!

We spent about 2 hours walking with the baboons.  We took hundreds of pictures and at least an hour of video.  I loved being with them, but Dad loved it more.  He kept saying that he truly felt like he was on an African safari being with the baboons.  He had never seen anything like it!  I loved that he was getting that experience in Ethiopia!

We decided to eat lunch with the baboons.  We pulled together a few rocks to sit on.  We took out our sandwiches and enjoyed a much-needed meal.  The baboons continuing grazing around us and didn’t mind at all that we were there.  It was so relaxing and peaceful- just the baboons and us!

 

Around 2PM, it was time to leave.  We said good-bye to the baboons and walked back to our car.  We drove back to Debark and said good-bye to our guide and scout!  They were incredibly nice and gentle.  Dad wasn’t sure why we needed an armed scout upon reflection of the day, but we realized it was another job.  The scout and guide each cost about 100 Birr (about $5.00) for the day.  Dad and I each gave them a 100 Birr tip and they were thrilled.  By no means do we want to cause inflation in Ethiopia, but they did their job- they found us the baboons!  Plus, both of them had children and I wanted their children to have good, healthy food and warm beds!

The way back to Gonder was just as amazing as the drive this morning.  We took more pictures and reminisced about our lunch with the baboons.  When we arrived in Gonder, we tipped our driver and gathered our things.  It was about 5PM and we needed dinner.  We found a wonderful place on top of a hill that served Ethiopian and Western food.  We ordered injera with steak tips and a pizza.

Although Ethiopia was never colonized by the Italians, it was occupied by them.  Italy has had a large role in Ethiopia’s history.  As such, many Ethiopians enjoy Italian pasta- including pasta and pizza.  As much as we enjoy Ethiopian food, we sure do enjoy our pasta and pizza!  The chef was amazing and took pride in his food.  He was very concerned with how we liked the food and was very appreciative when we ate it all.

After dinner, we wandered the streets of Gonder for a little while before returning to our room.  It was New Years Eve and we wanted to call our families back home.  It was New Years Eve morning in the US when we called, but it was nice to talk to everyone for a longer time on Skype.  We told them all about you and how much we love you.  We also shared our adventures in Ethiopia thus far.

Dad and I didn’t quite make it to midnight, even though it was New Years Eve.  We were rather tired and had an early morning flight to catch!  I know we’re a bit lame, but we’ll have plenty other New Years to celebrate with you in the future!

Happy New Year’s Eve sweet boy!  I am so excited for 2013 to be here.  It will be, without a doubt, the best year Dad and I have ever had.  You will officially become ours, we’ll be able to bring you home forever, and we’ll be able to learn and grow as a family! 

Sweet dreams little one!  I love you!

All my love,

MOM