- Joined
- Jan 12, 2010
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- SCI, DU, Pheasants Forever
- Hunted
- Canada, United States, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Eastern Cape; Northern Cape; North West Province, Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo), Namibia, Cameroon, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Argentina
I never felt actually unsafe, but I did wonder from time to time, especially when in the desert, what I was doing there.
If you look at a map, Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea in the north (with which it is intermittently at war and currently has an active conflict); Somalia to the north, east and south (which is run by terrorists and provides a home for al-Shabaab); Kenya to the south (inter-ethnic conflicts as well as issues with the Oromia Liberation Army); and South Sudan and Sudan to the west (both in a constant state of war, and with South Sudan bordering on being a failed state). I could go on but you get the picture.
Then you’ve got the internal issues, most recently around Tigray (which burst into open warfare only a year ago) but also in Oromia and the Danakil. US personnel are not permitted personal travel to certain parts of Oromia (including where we were hunting) or the Danakil (which they refer to as the Afar and Amhara regions) for any reason.
That’s the big picture. On the ground, when everyone around you is armed (only the desert area), and they aren’t particularly friendly (just about everywhere), and you’re the only white face for some hundreds of miles, and you know the history of the place, etc., you’d have to be pretty unaware not to think about your safety from time to time.
As I write this, I’m tempted to think I was an idiot for going! But on the other hand, you rely on people who know the areas and the people to look after you and make sure you don’t get into dangerous situations. I had been to Ethiopia once before and I knew my team. In addition, I did bring a ZOLEO with me (probably not permitted but they didn’t know what it was), which I used to send my location home daily, and I promised my wife I’d have an AirTag with me at all times. In other circumstances, I may well have postponed the trip (although there’s no reason at all to think that things will improve in the future.
As for pictures, let me see what I can come up with. It’s a tough country to take pictures in (as if you needed more reasons to question the sanity of anyone who goes). People do not like having their pictures taken at all (I think heavily touristed areas might be an exception, though there people expect payment) and they don’t even like having pictures of their livestock taken (got into a bit of trouble for taking a picture of a herd of camels). Almost every structure or road seems to be strategic in some way and taking pictures of them could get you arrested (or so it seemed). A phone is about the only real way to take pictures outside of hunting areas - I would not walk around with a camera around my neck, other than perhaps in Addis.
