Finally the world seems to be opening up again and I have been able to confirm travel plans to Egypt & Madagascar, however the planned stopover of two weeks in Ethiopia en route to Madagascar has been cancelled as the decided it was still too great a risk to take people there because of the civil unrest and fighting in Tigray.
Ethiopians in that area are really suffering and having a struggle to find food & stay safe. Sadly they have experienced suffering in many different forms over the years. In the early 80s East Sussex County Council acted as hosts to some Ethiopian visitors who worked in Local Government there, as part of an Aid Programme. One man was placed in in Eastbourne and as from there each day, I gave him a lift and we had fascinating chats during the drive although I sometimes had difficulty understanding his English. One morning I was surprised to hear that many people in Ethiopia owned ships. That was NOT the image I had in my head! Remember this was not long after the Biafra famine. I tried not to
sound too shocked and asked more questions until all became clear. The ships turned out to be sheep and my brain stopped spinning. He was a lovely man who left me with postcards of the Coptic Christian treasures of Ethiopia which triggered my interest in visiting.
There seems to be so much turmoil in many parts of the world at the moment and of course it is always ordinary people who pay the price of decisions taken by people in power, as is so evident in Ukraine. But if I go down that line of thought there is no end, so I shall leave the philosophy and continue being a nomad.
In the last blog I did say I wouldnt return to North Norfolk, but I did, back to Sutton Staithe Hotel, where, despite starting to get busy, the reserves were still fascinating as the good weather triggered early spring behaviour. Walking along the path by the side of a stream in Sculthorpe Nature Reserve I heard what I thought was a motorbike in the water. As there was a deck jutting out into the stream I peered
over to find it wasnt an engine but I huge number of frogs mating. The noise was tremendous and more and more frogs were heading in from all directions. It was obviously the only party in town and they all wanted to join in!
At the same reserve, following directions from a very helpful lady in reception, and by standing in silence by the stream for 15 minutes, I spotted a water vole. It brought back happy memories of reading The Wind in the Willows, and performing the play at school when I was the policeman trying to apprehend Toad. At that stage I was tall for my age which is why I was the police constable. Sadly, I just didnt grow any more!
Back at Kingfisher Bridge in Cambridgeshire I came face to face with a stoat for a couple of minutes. I love surprise viewings like that, they make my day even if the bird or animal doesnt stay long enough to pose for a photo. The reserves in Cambridgeshire and North Norfolk really helped me cope with the difficult winter months which I find so depressing.
I am lucky to be in Cyprus, staying with friends Barry and Carolyn who have to the Island for many years and who loved it so much they bought a house in 2004, in Polis, on the coast to the north of Paphos. The weather so far has been perfect, rising to mid 20s during the day but cooling down enough to need a sweater at night. By the end of May that might not be necessary as we move into full summer.
The flight out was early, so a taxi arrived at 4am. That was painful enough but on arriving at Gatwick our hearts sank on seeing how crowded it was. Queues of people wound around everywhere, being shepherded by numerous EasyJet staff. We joined on the end with thoughts of having our planned peaceful breakfast before boarding fading quickly.
