My mother in law is here for a short three week visit,
mainly to catch up with her grandson. Her last visit here was in May 2012 when
she brought Vihaan over from India. Her previous visit was rather stressful as
she was anxious about training the new nanny to take care of Vihaan and making
sure that he settled in. The fact that we were also new in town, working full
time and didn’t have a car meant that she practically spent three weeks at home babysitting. Due to all
the above, we were determined to make amends this time. Considering the
paediatric and geriatric nature of our contingent, any expedition to the
Danakil depression is out of question, so I played it safe and booked a weekend
at the Haile resort at Awassa. For all my inherent disdain for soft holidays
and overpriced star resorts, it is all I seem to do these days. God is cracking
up somewhere up there.
 |
| Reunion with Dadi |
Anyway, the best laid plans and all that..... About a week
before Mummy was due to arrive, I started getting multiple notices of a
Meningitis outbreak in southern Ethiopia with Awassa being in the affected
region. So, I scrapped that plan ( “Indian
toddler contracts meningitis on family holiday” - medical education makes for very colourful
parental nightmares ) and induced Mummy
to get along a vial of Meningitis vaccine in a ice box for her grandson. The
meningitis vaccine is available in Addis Ababa at the Black Lion hospital (20
Birr) and at the Swedish Clinic ( 2800 Birr ). However, Vihaans paediatrician
informed me that the vaccine being administered at Black Lion protected against
only Meningococcal Groups A and C. The internationally available polysaccharide
conjugate vaccine protects against Groups A,C,Y and W-135. The latter is the one
available at Swedish Clinic, however they have a long waiting list and were out
of stock at the time. I have not been able to ascertain the exact strain of the current outbreak but it seemed
prudent to obtain the quadrivalent vaccine from Delhi. Mummy and the vaccine
arrived, Vihaan promptly got the required jab and I was still left with a
weekend to plan.
I’ve already been to Kuriftu Resort last year for a great
day away from Addis, made even sweeter by the fact that they had a 50% discount
on room rates at the time. I decided to take a chance on Adulala Resort and Spa
because it had decent but limited reviews and cost the same as Kuriftu. For the
record, the room rates are 159 USD per night for a double room and 299 USD per
night for two interconnecting family rooms, on weekends. The room rates made my
brain wobble for a moment but we decided to splurge considering the special
occasion. However, I promptly pruned the weekend vacation to a single night
stay. The booking office for Adulala Resort and Spa is at the ground floor of
Robel Plaza, next to Cupcake factory. I whined about the cost and wheedled and
coaxed for discounts and freebies at the booking office to no avail. Ultimately
I played the toddler card and got them to agree to an early check in. They were
pretty accommodating as we were checking in on a Friday and the room was free
the previous night.
It took us about an hour and a half to reach the resort,
point to point, from Bole. We shamelessly reached at 10 a.m. but were
immediately checked in. The resort is sprawling with huge cottages sprawling on
the hillside by the Babogaya lake. All the cottages are overlooking the lake
but are at varying distances from the lake. We stayed in a twin cottage with
two interconnecting rooms.
The rooms are huge and we could have easily managed
with an extra bed placed in one double room instead of two rooms. The
furnishings were pleasant and comfortable and the bathrooms were clean and
luxurious ( bidet, bathtub, hair dryer and black head magnifying mirror et al
). Both rooms had mini refrigerators ( a major plus for us for storing midnight
milk ) and the master bedroom had a flat screen tv with Arabsat channels which
showed Hindi soaps and movies dubbed in Arabic.
But aside from all that, was the view. Oh, the view.
Remember Iron Man and Tony Starks house on the cliff? Well, it felt a little
bit like that. A huge peaceful lake surrounded by pristine woodland with hardly
any sign of habitation. The rooms have huge glass windows facing the lake which
makes you feel like you are outdoors at all times. There is also a large
verandah with seating to further absorb the view. And no mosquitoes. Really. At
least in March.
The much advertised pool was clean, though a little small. And
the water was COLD. Even at midday after a really warm morning. There are nice
lounge chairs scattered around the pool and the locker/shower rooms were rather
fancy. My experience of the locker room was marred by a huge, completely nude
lady who was too preoccupied by her animated phone conversation to wrap a towel
around herself. Seriously. Hands waggling and breasts and butt cheeks jiggling
in opposite directions in front of the mirror for twice the view. My scarred,
modest Indian heart.
The spa and the poolside bar were practically deserted most
of the time. The one time we ordered a drink and fries there, it took an hour
to arrive. Which brings me to the food. The main restaurant is huge, with high
ceilings and wooden furniture. Only two of about fifty tables were occupied at
lunch time. We ordered a simple starter and pizza which did not arrive for an
hour. We prompted the serving staff twice, at which point they yanked a half
raw pizza out of the oven and plonked it in front of us. We left after requesting
them to send the pizza to our room. This they did but no one ever came to
collect the dishes. There was no housekeeping to speak off either. They had
managed to make the beds in our absence but the bathrooms and full waste
baskets were untouched. The complimentary breakfast, served on a patio with a
view of the lake, was slightly better. There was a reasonable spread of
continental and Ethiopian dishes with fresh juice and an omelette station. Good
but definitely not the standard you would expect at the prices.
There was a bonfire in the central common area at night with
swing seats around it and drinks and food being served there. Very romantic on
a chilly night. The cottages at Adulala are scattered on a hillside, so the lake shore is a steep but
pretty 10 minute walk down. Although you can drive down directly to the
lakeshore if you want. Boat rides are available for a small price although the
boatman was not always around. They also have a lot of other activities like
horse riding, tennis and roller skating which we didn’t use much.We actually
had a lovely holiday because we went on a Friday and had the place mostly to
ourselves and the early check in meant that it felt like a weekend break. It is
probably less pleasant on weekends, a large wedding party was checking in on
Saturday as we were leaving.
Basically, Adulala is a lovely property with to die for
views and great rooms, being ruined by poor management, non existent maintenance
and bad food. Some of the lapses are shocking like the fact that there were no
safety railings in the verandah outside the rooms. This meant that I had a
nerve racking time, hanging on to Vihaan whenever he wandered out of the room.
And the childrens playground is in such a sorry state of disrepair that I
actually got a nasty cut on my arm from a rusty wire on the swing.
I would definitely visit again especially if they have a
discount during the rains. But next time I would carry my own food and probably
go for dinner to the Lakeview resort which is supposed to have great food. The
final photo has nothing to do with the review but is definitely the best snap
of the weekend.
.JPG)
