Photo dump, part 6: Tigray and the Danakil Depression

Going to these two places over six days in late April/early May was probably the coolest trip of my time in Ethiopia. I am maintaining the minimalist commentary because I have to give my (employer-provided) computer back in under two hours, but if you make one trip to Ethiopia, this should be a part of it.

Roll 1: Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Includes the monumental 4th-8th century stellae at the ancient capital of Axum, churches of Axum including that said to hold the Ark of the Covenant, shots of the Arizona-like Tigray landscape, Debre Damo monastery which is reached by climbing a rope up a cliff (the founding saint apparently climbed up the tail of a snake), stone churches of the Gheralta cluster notable for their inaccessibility (the path basically becomes a rock-climbing expedition) and ancient paintings:

Photo dump, part 5: Kilimanjaro and Oman

In which I dispense with individual photo captions in the service of trying to get this blog caught up with life.

Roll 1: Kilimanjaro, February 2014 -- includes our six day trek up and down the Marangu route (known as the "Coca-cola route" for its relative ease and comfort. Starts with views of Uhuru peak; followed by views on and from Uhuru peak; a group shot with our cook, 2 guides, and 7 porters; and couple pictures on the way out of the park...

Photo dump, part 4: Tanzanian safari, Wenchi, and Gonder

In my continuing quest to share with you an inadequate representation of my life only several months after I've lived it, below I have photos from 3 trips I took between late December and early February. At this point, I'm leaving Ethiopia in less than a week--for further travels in fact--so I'm kind of racing the clock to get caught up to present.

The first set of photos below were actually taken by my mother, and capture our family safari to two camps in southern Tanzania (Ruaha and Selous).

Below is a giant baobab tree. Elephants like to engage in tusk-play with the baobab's trunk:

And we saw plenty of elephants:

At center-left: Lion. At right: increasingly partial zebra carcass.