Pilgrimage to Kulubi

Off to Kulubi but first a short stop just outside Harar at Lake Ade'lle.
 



































































  



 
I had particularly wanted to visit the hill top church here and it is unfortunate that the actual key day is tomorrow. So I had hope to see at least something in preparation leading up to the feast of Saint Gabriel (Kulubi Gabriel), the Archangel. St Gabriel is the Patron Saint who guards over homes and churches.

Tomorrow some 100,000 Pilgrims will walk up the hills to the church to fulfill a vow and give gifts to the church. Some pilgrims carry heavy rocks on their back up the hill to the church. Many pilgrims carry heavy burdens as penance, children are brought to be baptized, and offerings are made to be distributed to the poor. Kulubi is the largest pilgrimage place in Ethiopia.

Being a day early I had expected some activity but was totally surprised at the huge of number. A warning sign of what laid ahead of me was the kilometre of hastily erected road side tarpaulin covered stalls selling clothing through to souvenirs plus the many make shift restaurants.

 




































































































































 

















































































































 












































































 




























































































 





















































































































 










































































































































 
 




 

 

 

Railway to Addis

Driving along I saw a train in front of me … What's up? A train but the railway line was just being rebuilt by the Chinese (of course!). It turned out to be a Chinese made engine on the back of a truck being taken to the railway line currently being built from Addis to its neighbouring country Djibouti which is also land locked Ethiopia primary port entry.

A brief coffee / coke stop at Awash then the final leg of today's 525 km journey was finished with taking the 99 km expressway that had literally no traffic at all. We were able to travel well above the 100 km speed limit at 120 km. Why didn't we take Expressway on our way east 2 days ago?