12/21/19 - To Addis Ababa and Home

We crossed the Sanetti Plateau one more time and made our way to the Gobe airport outside of Robe. The airport only has three flights a week, and it wasn't open when we arrived. Gate security wouldn't let us in for fifteen minutes when the Ethiopia Airlines ground crew arrived to open up the place.

Our flight was uneventful, and we collapsed in the luxury of the Sheraton with its electric power, cash machines, internet access and room service. We had a late flight out to Frankfort, so we booked an extra night and stayed in our room, explored the hotel grounds and took it easy. We were getting traveled out.

We slept on our flight to Frankfort then spent a few hours in the Lufthansa lounge before boarding our flight to Vancouver. We took a north polar route from Germany to the west coast of Canada. In late November, the polar regions are in darkness, so for a good part of our journey the sun was to our south giving us hours of pre-dawn light. The slow sun of the arctic does things like this. The green flash is a transient phenomenon where the rising or setting sun refracts green for perhaps a second or two, but one group at a south polar station saw it for 20 minutes during a slow polar sunrise.

From Vancouver, we took a puddle jumper to Fairchild airport in Porrt Angeles. Canadian entry was pretty straightforward though the ATM like machines were a bit confusing at first. American entry was easier for a small plane like ours. It was just a short drive from the airport. We were home.

Last look at Bale Mountain Lodge

Last look at the Sanetti Plateau

Another look

Night lighting at the Sheraton

Back in bustling Addis Ababa

While we were gone, the jacaranda came into bloom

Sunrise

More sunrise

Even more sunrise

Even more sunrise

The sun was to our south for much of our journey over the arctic

Canadian ice

And more ice

Another bit of sunrise

Sunrise and clouds
   
   

Keywords: ethiopia

Keywords: ethiopia