The Valley of Marvels

 

Josh has the Lonely Planet guide to Ethiopia/Eritrea which gives far more detail than my Lonely Planet – Africa guide. Even Josh is not willing to spend Birr500 on a ride out to Koromi, so we opt for LP’s second recommendation – The Valley of Marvels.

We spend Birr 10 on an interesting minibus journey up to the village of Babille, some 31 kms out of Harar. The other passengers are happy for some feranji (often pronounced faranjo here in the East of Ethiopia).company and utilise all their English vocabulary on us. Many of them are from Djibouti – clearly a very friendly and welcoming place for a visit.

Each new passenger hopping in to the bus looks more striking than the next. My bangles (which have caused just some enquiries on my African Adventures have clearly become increasingly desirable as i have travelled through Ethiopia) again become the centre of attention. It is difficult for me to judge ages here, but i swear i am being propositioned by my 60 year old neighbour – her hand for my bangles.

We travel through with the intensity of a formula one test circuit on mostly sealed roads and within 45 minutes we arrive in the dusty one road village. Josh has heard there is a camel market but there is no sign of these cumbersome quadrupeds in town.

The Valley of Marvels is a further 4 kms out of town, and after rehydrating we make our way on foot into the valley. We walk and walk and then some more – we are clearly entering a valley but unsure at what we are meant to be marvelling at. Little further we note two land-cruisers parked at the side of the road. There is an elderly feranji women with a large video recorder filming the side of the road and a serious photographer with at minimum 600mm lens shooting obsessively at the hillside.
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This is it in all its splendour – the Valley of Marvels.