Ethiopia - Tigray Region

Enjoying an evening of Ethiopian music and dance

Purple flowers of the Jacaranda tree

Artist using natural paints to create a distinctive Ethiopian artwork

Natural colours derived from these plants

Example of the artwork

We visited this monastery on a small island

Frescoes in the monastery depicted Biblical stories and stories from other ancient Ethiopian writings

Zoomed my iPhone as far as it could go and with boat restrictions this was the closest we could get to these hippos. There were actually 3 together, one a baby, but I couldn't get them to sync their surfacing at the same time

Typical yard in the rural Tigray region. As opposed to the Amhara region where houses were built of wood, these were mostly built of stones. No shortage in the countryside of stones!

One of many photos while driving through the countryside on our way to visit 5 rural hospitals

Boys eager to have their photos taken

Girls not so much. Notice their distinctive hairstyle all tightly braided at the front then loosely connected at the back. Camel caravan in the background on their way to a salt mine to return with sacks of salt 

We had to get a signature from a hospital director only to find him under this tree where he has a monthly meeting with the community

These women burst out laughing when I showed them this photo. This was taken in one of the hospitals we visited. I asked our driver what the woman to the left would have in her containers and he suggested hair oil. The center woman was likely bringing food for a family member in the hospital

Blossoming cactus

Ploughing the plots. The oxen obviously understood Amharic as the farmer was constantly yelling at them (and using his whip liberally)

Many switchbacks on the roads up to 2 of the hospitals. At one point we saw a large group of monkeys but I did not have the camera ready so lost the moment

That moment when you do happen to have your camera ready and for a split second you see a fox. Showed this to the folks in our hotel who were amazed as they had never seen one

The beauty of the terraced hillsides