ETHIOPIA: Tree Fort

In a quest to see more hippos and possible crocodiles, we took a minibus outside of Bahir Dar a few kilometers. Here there is a bridge that crosses the Blue Nile and every con man in Bahir Dar wanted to charge us for the privilege of taking us to this bridge to look at hippos. We never got as far as negotiating a price for that ride but I don’t think it was cheaper than the Birr and a half the minibus cost.

So we get out to the bridge and underneath on all sides are vehicles being washed. There is a large bus submerged halfway into the river with people on all sides scrubbing it down. I thought it was photo-worthy. I snap a picture and all of a sudden an army guy in camos comes running over to me yelling. Apparently you can’t take any pictures in the vicinity of a bridge in Ethiopia. It makes no sense. Vehicles can go park under the bridge to be washed but for security reasons I can’t take a picture of those vehicles being washed. Anyway, the army guy wasn’t happy and I had to erase the picture from my camera as he looked on. To lighten up the situation I inquired about hippos. Pointing to the water I just start saying “Hippos. Hippos.” He begins laughing like a madman and says “No hippos.” I assume he sees farangi come out to this bridge all the time looking for hippos.

We walk across the bridge and ask the army guy on that side about hippos. He confirms that we’re not likely to see any hippos. But something catches my eye. Back across the other side of the river is what appears to be colorfully made tree houses. It looked interesting. We walk back across the river and head in the direction of the tree houses. We pass through some houses and little kids come streaming out. They were so happy to see some farangi. They each shook our hands and spoke what little English they knew and, all in all, were a lot if fun. Not one of these kids asked for money either. That was a nice change.

So past the kids we walk and we are now in the vicinity of the tree houses. These houses are made of painted wood and there’s ladders going up to them and walkways to access different houses. Some are high in the trees while others are at a more safe distance form the ground. They have tables and benches in them. The tree houses overlook the river and behind them, closer to inland from the river, are a collection of real houses. I begin to wonder if we are just standing in someone’s yard. A teenage girl comes from one of the houses. “No English,” she says. Her approach to us made me assume that this wasn’t just someone’s yard. “Bira?” I inquire. She nods in approval and returns quickly with beer. We take the beer and start investigating the tree houses. Although the construction is rickety it was fun to be there and climb around.




While sitting in a tree house and watching the river flow below us the owner came up. He asked how we liked the place and told us he just built it a year ago. The place is named Mahlek, which is the Amharic word for anchor, as he served in the Ethiopian navy for twenty years. Navy? He explained how that was when Eritrea was considered part of Ethiopia and Ethiopia wasn’t landlocked then and thus had a navy. Eritrea not being part of Ethiopia anymore didn’t seem to be a subject he wanted to dwell upon so I asked about hippos.(For some reason, on this day, repeatedly saying “hippos” became my way to get out of awkward situations.) He said that hippos do come ashore, usually at night to eat the grass. So, hippos do exist in this part of the river! He said he dug a huge hole and was going to use it as a hippo trap. After finishing the beers and searching the grounds I saw a huge hole full of water. The hippo trap existed. What he wanted to do with the hippo after trapping it, I have no idea. I am still perplexed by this whole hippo trap. He went to a lot of trouble to dig a huge hole, a hole that could conceivably trap a hippo. It just seems so odd to not only go to the trouble of digging such a hole but to use said hole only to trap a hippo.

Regardless of the puzzling hippo trap, this tree house is a highlight of my trip. While traveling, there is nothing better than to stumble across a little gem like this. The rest of the trip to Bahir Dar came right out of the Lonely Planet book. (Even the bakery I claimed to “find” in an earlier post came from LP.) This tree house was found on my own. What started as hippo hunting ended sitting in a colorful tree house drinking a beer while looking out at the Blue Nile River. Excellent. Just excellent.