Crying Wolf

One of the highlights of travelling in southern Ethiopia is visiting the 2,200 Km. sq. Bale Mountain National Reserve.

We spent two nights staying at Dinsho Lodge and had a great time but could have spent longer. It is a long day's drive from Addis to get to Dinsho as you rise higher and higher into the mountains and the road gets rougher. The Lodge is basic but clean with dormitories set around a large common room. There is a separate kitchen and you need to take all you need for cooking. For the price of 15 Birr you can buy a large bundle of firewood and some good will in getting it lit. I have fond memories of cooking over an open fire, watching the stars come out and listening the snuffling warthogs that hang around by the Lodge. A warm Gabbi (Ethiopian blanket/cloak) and a bottle of malt whisky also help as it gets pretty cold at night!

If you’ve not visited the Ethiopian highlands you are going to be in for a shock as dawn breaks. At first glance the scenery looks like Scotland; mountainous, green/grey valleys and a little bleak in places. We made two expeditions in our too short time there, firstly we went walking with a guide through what is known as the Gaysay extension. In a short walk we saw Augur Buzzards, Wattled Ibis and Blue-winged Geese. As we made our way from scrub to a grassland area, the big game appeared; Mountain Nyala, Warthog and Redback deer. Wonderful as they are, however, they weren’t what we came to see.

What we were looking for were Ethiopian Wolves (Canis Simensis); the rarest Canid species in the world, only found in Ethiopia and down to a few hundred survivors. This park has the largest population and we hoped to catch a glimpse. Despite us 'Farangi' carrying chunky binoculars, it was our local guide who spotted a Wolf in the distance sniffing the ground and listening for their favourite food Giant Molerats!


From a distance, the Wolf can look Jackal-like or like a lager version of the European red Fox, reddy brown with a distinctive black tip to its tail. We watched it as it moved along the bottom of a hillside about half a kilometre away. Eventually, it moved round to an area under some rocks and I saw an opportunity to put the rocks between us and get closer. I hiked round in a wide curve, trying not to spook the herds of Nyala, crept low over the rocks and popped my head round the edge of a bluff. And there it was, a few hundred metres away and I got a couple of snaps before it moved on.

That afternoon, we travelled along the Web River Valley track that made the road from Addis seem smooth and well finished! Eventually, we got to the end of the road and hiked up to a landscape of low cliffs and shallow valleys pock marked with the burrows of thousands of rodents- prime Wolf country. Sure enough as we scanned the horizon we saw another two pairs of Wolves. My failed attempts at stalking were rumbled by Tawney and Golden Eagles that hid against the low cliffs and flew off as we approached.


One of the Wolves also decided that we had got too close for comfort and in response to a high-pitched yelp we backed off and left this unforgiving landscape to the wild animals that belonged there. If you want to know more about the Wolves visit

Going through Hell

Helen and I have just returned from two weeks travelling in Ethiopia over Christmas.

We had a great time, visiting the source of the Nile near Bahir Dar, the ancient rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela and the Bale Mountains where there is the largest population of the world’s most endangered canid; the Ethiopian Wolf.

Visiting Lalibela was one of my highlights; a small rural market town high in the Lasta mountains of northern Ethiopia, it is famous for its eleven rock Churches that date back to the 12C. It is named after King Lalibela who, according to legend, was transported to heaven and shown a city Churches carved out of rock and told to build a copy on earth as a new Jerusalem. With the help of angels this is what he did, carving out Churches from single pieces of rock, caves and cliff faces.

I went round early one Sunday morning which is the best time to visit. The morning sun paints the rocks a warm pink against a blue sky. The priests were finishing their services that had started at midnight, chanting ancient songs to the beat of a drum and the chiming of cymbals called sistrum.

As you scramble round these Churches you walk along trenches, squeeze past rock faces, climb through holes and feel your way along lightless passages.

As I entered one Church, Bet Gebriel-Rafael the priests chanting at the back of the Church made me welcome. Seeing my interest, I was soon presented with a stick to put under my arm to keep me upright for the long service and a sistrum to join in the worship. As I tried to keep time and looked up at this huge chunk of rock formed into pillars, benches, galleries and a roof, I could see countless small chipping marks where it had been carved. It may not have been the work of angels but it was certainly an impressive statement of faith.

Later I continued on my journey through a 50m. tunnel that, along with everything else in Lalibela, has its own special religious significance. This is known as ‘Hell’ and as you stumble through the pitch black you begin to get the idea. The experience became even more surreal when I realised that there were a large group of nuns coming along the tunnel in the opposite direction chanting praises to Christ in the midst of hell.

As they clumsily felt their way past us they continued singing and as they reached the far end and the light began to appear ahead of them, there arose a high and loud ululation of praise. As they still prepared for the Ethiopian Christmas on January 7th, the experience seemed a wonderful present for my own Christmas.

“In the tender compassion of our God,
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
And to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

May the Lord bless his people with peace

There follows a joint new year message from the Moderator of the General Assembly, the Right Rev Alan McDonald, and Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, President of the RC Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. This is the first-ever joint new year message from the senior figures of Scotland’s largest two Christian denominations.

May the Lord bless his people with peace! (Psalm 29:11)

As 2007 begins, we want to make this prayer our own, and to encourage all in Scotland to do the same. Peace is a promise of the risen Christ. When we pray for peace we pledge ourselves to work for peace, to be peacemakers, and there has never been a time when peacemaking was more necessary.

Many things concern us as we begin this new year, and looming large is the ever present menace of nuclear weapons. This year there is a wonderful opportunity for our Westminster parliamentarians finally to take steps to fulfil the obligations this country made many years ago to rid itself of nuclear weapons. We pray that our MPs will make a stand for the principles of peace, and will have the courage to refuse to endorse a replacement for Trident. Peace cannot be advanced by the commissioning of new weapons of mass destruction.

Because this small country is dear to us, we are ashamed of its inheritance of sectarianism and violence. We call on all to resist attempts to divide people on religious or any other grounds. Faith unites us infinitely more than it divides us. The promise of peace is for all people, whatever denomination and whatever faith.

The promise of peace is also for the creation, the earth which is our home. Our planet has been ravaged over many years and is in urgent need of healing. We pledge to do all we can in this new year and in the years to come to commit churches to environmental justice, and we call on others to join us. We ask our congregations to do all they can to be carers of the earth: aware of the resources they use and of those they can replace.

When we pray for God’s blessing of peace on all people we affirm the deepest truth of our faith, that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God. This must make us acutely aware of the inherent dignity of all people, and of the need to honour all, especially those who often seem least in our society.

All over the world there are peacemakers, seeking to build the kingdom of God among the weak and the marginalized, the insignificant and the forgotten – in places of danger and persecution, oppression and poverty. We take our inspiration from their example and commend them to the prayers of our churches.

May the peace of Christ be with all those on the margin of our own society – the homeless, the poor, those in prison, those who seek a new life among us, and may our pledge to be peacemakers be for them a source of hope.

As we enter this new year, the Christmas message still rings in our ears: Glory to God in the Highest Heaven, and on Earth Peace.