We lived at 8000ft above sea level on the plateau, but this was intersected by deep valleys. So, any streams or rivers that went over the edge dropped at least 2000ft and produced magnificent waterfalls.
Horses were our main source of exercise. We rode daily, usually before breakfast in the term time. The horses were small mountain horses, small but strong. The Saddles on the horses for the children were shaped like a chair so they could sit in that on the horse. We each had our own, mine was called Polpero and Mike’s was called Pegasus. Polpero stumbled a lot and I fell off him and cracked my collar bone. It was hard to be in a sling and riding with it on was difficult, I still have the bump to this very day.
Piers was riding back from the edge of the valley when his horse stumbled, and he fell off into a nest of black ants which were the biting kind.
The stables were within calling distance of our house and we use to go onto the lawn and yell “Beshada, faras Abaki” Beshada was the groom and ‘Faras abaki’ meant horses please. We also exercised Eleanor’s horse, Skinder, whose favourite joke was to lie down in the stream, we had to gallop through the water just so he did not have time to lie down there.
Our main crop was growing strawberries which we sold in Addis Ababa. We tried to export them to Aden and Djibouti but our packages were not strong enough for that. We also grew plums which were delicious. The Emperor of Ethiopia loved them. We used to send him some so that he would know when the season had started. The palace used to order them several times a week. He once told me that on his official travels abroad, he used to try other plums, but none were as good as our ones. We once got a telegram from the people we supplied in Djibouti telling us to stop sending the plums because everyone was suffering from Mal de stomach (upset tummy).
We rented another three pieces of land in the Boli Valley. This valley was 1500ft bellow Mulu, so it was a very steep path. There as one stretch of path that was very narrow with a sheer drop on one side and we were not allowed to talk as we did this stretch of path incase we fell. This was known as the silent bit. The first bit of land was called Kusai and we built an open fronted house there, made of the usual mud bricks. It was very comfortable there, the bedroom looked out onto the 500ft waterfall of the Boli river. We grew a variety of tropical fruits in the valley, bananas, oranges, lemons and avocados. We also grew coffee down there. The berries needed drying on long wooden racks with straw mats under the wood. Michael had been a coffee officer in Kenya and knew exactly how to dry the coffee beans. I remember the excitement when we learnt we had grown the best coffee in Ethiopia.
We grew peaches too, but the wild jackals loved them and use to climb the trees and bushes to eat them. The other main problem was hail. During the rainy period, June, July and August we would get a daily thunderstorm which always started at 2pm. If we went for a picnic, we always knew we needed to be back by then.
We grew peaches too, but the wild jackals loved them and use to climb the trees and bushes to eat them. The other main problem was hail. During the rainy period, June, July and August we would get a daily thunderstorm which always started at 2pm. If we went for a picnic, we always knew we needed to be back by then.
We used to go on riding holidays, taking our tents with us. We would find a nice place to camp and put up our tents. We slept on li-los and for the horses we asked local people if we could put our horses in the cattle shed. Only once did we get refused and so the horses were outside. We took turns in keeping an eye on them and once they were circled by hyenas. We shouted at them and waved our sticks to keep them away but once nearer to dawn a hyena tried to attack one of the horses. We rushed out of our tents to frighten them away and Piers remembers that one of them howled at him.
Our riding tips usually lasted about three or four days and then we would ride to meet our car.