The Pelican Brief

As we shoved off from the Bahir Dar dock I wondered if our boat had inspired the Disneyland creators of the Jungle Boat Cruise. It looked alike enough and old enough. But our first, and most pleasant surprise, did not come from Disney's script. It was a flock of Pelicans. A man in a traditional boat kept their interest long enough for the occasional tourist to come by and pay him for the opportunity to feed them. The opportunity to see these curious birds eat up close and feed them was worth the extra 100 Birr (about $3.33) for this unusual tourist trap.
Later we visited the headwaters of the Blue Nile (pictured and tagged). There we saw hippos (not pictured). The only hippo I saw on land was bloated after being shot a few days earlier because it posed a "threat" to the people. 

It was our first day off since arriving in Ethiopia over a week ago. We had little downtime or chance for quiet, if there is such a thing, in an Ethiopia city as quiet.