Galate was the man that looked after us when I was young. His original job was a syce, someone who looked after horses but as he got older, he became a sort of nannie who kept an eye on us when we rode. He lived across the stable stream near the Bomfata waterfall. His wife had died and he was looked after by his daughter Magartu so he was known as Abba Magartu, Magartu denotes a very tall women.
Dali Muli was a neighbour of ours, he lived and possibly owned a piece of woodland which was known as Dali Muli’s wood. We use to go there for picnics.
Sambatte was my parent’s gardener. He had a great knowledge of flowers and knew all their names. When my mother started a plant nursery and sold plants to people he was always there to explain to purchasers the best way to grow them.
Hunde Arado was also a neighbour but rather a villain. We were polite to each other but he is reported as having pinched a lot of our cattle when we were dispossessed.
Tesfai was the Forman on the farm. He only had one eye having lost the other when the gun he was cleaning blew up or misfired. He always had a bandage wrapped around his head to cover the damaged eye. He was highly respected by all. He died in hospital but was immediately bought back out by his relatives so he could be buried by them. I remember going to see his body and reassuring his wife that we would look after her. She was his second wife and not much respected by the rest of the family.
Wilfred Thesiger was a frequent visitor to us. I seem to remember him accompanying us on our daily rides out along the plane lying to the South of Addis Ababa. I have this memory of him sitting very upright on his horse whilst Steven and I were busy kicking our horses to go even faster. I think he had connections with the British legation because when he wanted to go ff by himself to the Danakil desert the diplomats at the legation stopped him. He asked my Dad what he should do and dad said if he wanted to go and thought he could manage on his own he should just go. So he did and that was the start of his travelling career.