Saving Stripes

Category: Rangeland management | Date: Sep 06 2009 | By: savingstripes

We arrived in Addis Ababa airport at around 8 PM and were greeted by a sign for “Ms. Corinna Riginos” and “Ms. Savias.” We figured that must be us!

After a quick shuttle ride to the hotel, we decided to look for some dinner. The hotel dining room didn’t inspire so we set out by foot (we’d been assured that Addis is quite safe even at night). We stumbled into a restaurant and were ushered downstairs to the bar, where they were holding a salsa dancing night (!?). In this somewhat surreal setting, we managed to order a platter of mixed vegetarian delectables, served on a big pancake of injera (the local staple — a sourdough crepe-like bread), of course. Soon salsa night wound down and the local music began. This was our first introduction to Ethiopian music, and we quite liked it! A synthesizer, a saxophone, and a rotating set of singers. The sound was sort of haunting and jazzy all at once.

In these brief few hours in the country, we had already formed a favorable opinion of the place.