Ambo was a town about 90km from Addis Ababa. It had a swimming pool there which was filled with hot sulphurous water which smelt a bit as it came out of the ground.
We used to sit in the hot water that came out of the rocks, the water was good to soak your legs in as it has medicinal properties that cured up infections.
The small pool that the spring actually rose in, was too hot to sit in for more than a few seconds, it then led into a large swimming pool which was also warm as it was heated by the spring.
We used to swim there for hours, even after dark. Although we did hear funny noises at night. The only problem was that the noises came from a terrifying reptile that lived there, that sometimes came into the big pool and even climbed out onto the grass. He was green with black spots, and about 9 metres long. He had an enormous tongue.
We were really frightened of this reptile and would run away from it. Once I fell over as I was running away and cut my leg badly. Luckily there was a hospital nearby and the doctor stitched my skin together. When I came back to the pool the reptile came up to me and amazingly started to talk to me and he said he did not mean to frighten me and if I let him lick my leg, my leg would heal itself. I was a bit frightened, but he seemed very friendly, so I let him lick it, and amazingly after a few days it completely healed up, I don’t even have a scar to show that I had fallen.
I called him Ibab which means snake in the local language. I hope he is still there and that if you ever go to Ambo you will meet him.