We were not allowed around the embassies for the rest of the trip. After that exciting journey we arrived at Finfine Restaurant Fluha at 5:30p.m., and we had a great dinner. After dinner we went to Addis Ababa National Museum. The museum told stories from pre-historic times to modern times. My favorite part in the museum was the Lucy skeleton which was found in 1974 and is also said to be 3.2 million years old. Once we went to our hotel it was 8:30p.m. so we went down to the pool at our hotel. While we were at the pool an Ethiopian couple was there. We started talking with them about Ethiopia and its history. They told us how the population has been growing a lot so there are housing shortages. Also poverty is spreading all over now, and how Islam is trying to take over the government. Once we finished our great conversation it was 10p.m. so we headed up to our room to go to bed.

We woke up this morning at 7a.m. Colton felt a lot better after that long rest. We went down to Gazebo Restaurant which is inside our hotel. About 7:50a.m. we rented a car at the Bole Airport Car Rental.

We drove down to the Awash National park and Game Reserve. It took us about 2 and half hours to get there. Once we got there we reserved a camping ground, and set up camp. At 10:20a.m. when we finished unpacking we started hiking. Our first hike we took was to Filwoha which has hot springs oasis in its groves of palm trees. While on the trail we past so much wildlife. We saw some gazelles, wild pig, and even a cheetah out in the distance. On the second trail we past the Awash River gorge in the south of the park which had some amazing waterfalls near the park headquarters.

Once we finished with the hikes we went to a museum to look around, and then to a small bar to have some lunch which were both by the campsites. Once we finished there we went to some hot springs we heard about from these other tourist group. Once we finished up with that long hard day we learned that Awash National Park is the oldest and most developed wildlife reserve in Ethiopia. We got back to our campsite around 8:30p.m., and went to bed. Tomorrow morning we will have to get up pretty early to catch our flight to South Africa.

We woke up at 9a.m. and drove Hotel Aloe Ridge where we had a great breakfast. While we ate we had a great view of a river gorge with a pleasant-sounding little waterfall. Once we finished breakfast at 10:30a.m. we went to a Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve. We drove throughout the reserve on a tour van with about 5 other people. We saw a bunch of rhino, lion, buffalo, hippo, wild dog, cheetah, and crocodile. Once we finished exploring the park at 3p.m. we stopped at the picnic tables at the park and we had lunch a great lunch. After lunch we drove around Johannesburg and neighboring cities for a while. While we were driving we were amazed at how in some places there were nice expensive homes, but then we went to another place where people had basically nothing at all. We were shocked at all the poverty. Once we got back to our hotel we got all showered and cleaned up because we got really dirty at the reserve. Once we were all cleaned up it was 6p.m., and we drove to Le Canard where we had dinner. Le Canard was a French Restaurant we discovered while we were driving around Johannesburg. When we finished dinner at 7:30p.m.we wanted to see what Johannesburg looks like at night. So we went to Carlton Panorama. Carlton Panorama is the 50th floor of the tallest building in Africa. It was amazing to look over the city at night. We could see forever it seemed like. Being at Carlton Panorama we should really see how Johannesburg has developed over the years. We finished looking around at Carlton Panorama at 8:30p.m., and then we drove to our hotel. We finally fell asleep at 9p.m. at our comfortable hotel.

We woke up today at 9a.m. to the sound of someone talking really loud in some weird language outside of our hotel room door. Later we found out that they were speaking Amarigna, and 32.7% percent of the population speaks it. Once we finished getting ready we walked to a small pub to grab breakfast. Then off we were around 10a.m. to go to Tiya witch is a little south of Addis Ababa. What we learned about Tiya was that it is among the most important of the roughly 160 archaeological sites discovered so far in the Soddo region. The site contains 36 monuments, including 32 carved stelae covered with symbols.

They are the remains of an ancient Ethiopian culture whose age has not yet been determined. We had such a great time. Neither of us has been to an archaeological site before. When we finally got back to our hotel it was 6p.m. While we were on the Tiya trip Colton drunk some water from a water fountain, and tourists aren't supposed to drink they're water or food. So Colton felt pretty sick, and we stayed in the hotel for the rest of the night. During that time we were in our hotel room we read books about Ethiopia, and we learned how Islam is the region's main religion. Also Orthodox Christianity being another main religion in the region. We finally fell asleep around 9p.m.