30/09/2009 - A down day in Addis

I woke up in the morning feeling rather tired. I had not slept so well and my legs felt dead; like I had done some major hike the day before. I guess thats what happens when you do a little walking after you have been in bed for days! Nevertheless I got up, and with an old toothbrush got cracking on the beast, the perfectionist in me coming out. I took a break for some pronutro and tea and then Teddy arrived. He knew the right money exchangers to get me a significantly better rate for my dollars and I needed to change money to pay for the vehicle repairs. We arrived at the money exchanger with Teddy handling everything while I simply sat in the car. Afterwards we counted the money in the car; me looking around, waiting for something to happen.

Fortunatley nothing happened and so we headed to GMC so I could get the money off my hands as quickly as possible. I needed some airtime so Teddy told me to give a boy on the side of the street about R65 to go buy some. After waiting and waiting I figured he had taken the money and run and Teddy climbed out of his car furious. As he climbed out berating the boy; the boy reached my window to give me the card. I had a good chuckle at Teddy who didnt know quite what to do with himself; having worked himself up for nothing.

Having paid GMC i walked back to my hotel, where, dead tired, I hit the bed. I guess sometimes your body need to rest after being sick for so long. Finally getting up again, I continued my cleaning work on the Beast. At 12pm, feeling very peckish i had spaghetti bolaignaise, Ethiopian style which meant a lot of pasta with a few pieces of meat.

Afterwards i carried on working until i headed back to bed for another rest after praying Zhur. It was a dream filled rest with evil spirits and haunted houses. Rousing myself from my slumber I got myself going again. I really felt like all the energy had been taken out of me. Climbing into the Beast I headed out in search of someone to repair the punctured tyre. The service attendant at the petrol station was very helpful and he directed to me to a small shop i had seen earlier. Driving down the wrong side of the road (it was just easier :P) I pulled in and the guy was able to quickly find the problem and switch the tyre on my vehicle for me. Along with my "No-energy" day was "Injury-myself" day. This meant that the whole day I had been bumping into things, cutting my fingers etc. Naturally this continued when I put the tyre on the car rack, scratching skin off my finger in the process. Then I did the same thing shutting the rear door and on it went.

On the way back i decided to have my favourite freshly squeezed orange juice. While sipping the orange juice and watching the world go by I noticed a man, completely naked, sitting on the corner of the junction as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He puzzled at something in his hand and then threw it in the road and then went back to sitting. Pedestrians; many muslim women, walked by as if he simply wasnt there. I have to say i was rather intriuged!

On arriving back at the hotel I made acquaintances with three German bikers that had driven from Cape Town. The one, Alex had the same symptoms as me. He was looking for a doctor or hospital so I supplied him with the card of my doctor and the waypoint to get there. It was nice being able to help him, especially as I knew what he was going through. I continued chatting with them for quite a while, while putting on car seat covers and cleaning the Beast.

Afterwards I headed back to my room to pray and do admin (entering invoices). Kasahun came around to check up on me and so I, needing to eat (3 meals in one day!) headed to the restaurant and ordered what can be thought of beef schintzel without the crumbs. As the restaurant was smoky and smelt of beer I quickly left with Kasahun bringing my food to me in my room (is that great service or what!). The food was actually not bad; especially after I added the tomato relish to it. To drink I had the R20/l orange juice. It was really good and was actually a mix of orange and grape fruit juice. The brand is Dewlands and i dont know why they dont sell it locally in SA as i would certainly prefer it to fake Ceres (yeah they are now adding "nature identical" flavourants to all their fruit juices so boycott them and dont buy!).

Well thats it for today. Still feeling dead so am heading to bed...night night!

29/09/2009 - Feeling better, still waiting on shocks

I woke up early (well for recently) and was out of bed, ready to take on the world around 7:30am. I got busy with the Beast, cleaning the interior and repacking it in a more efficient, logical way and writing down where I put everything. I also stripped all the seat covers and had the ladies wash them. The result was a car that has a lot more space inside then before. A few more tweaks and I will have it perfect. The whole day i felt full of energy. I had breakfast ( a change) of Pronturo and then for lunch i had fried fish with my new favourite sauce; a sort of mexican tomato relish. I must say Kasahun has done a great job in having the cook modify her cooking style more to my tastes. This means more vegetables, and they are crunchier and less oily!

In the afternoon I headed to a nearby cafe for my local freshly squeezed orange juice which is always so uplifting, especially in the unusually hot sun. I also had two visits paid to me by the mechanics who were...how should i put it...eager to get paid. I was very unhappy about the quote they had given me versus the actual amount. It was not the inaccuracy of the quote per say; it was that they had left the vat of and at 15% its works out to a lot...around R1000! Although they acknowledged they had made a mistake they took zero responsibility in meeting me half way. In the end I left it in Gods hands. Since they wanted payment in cash they would have to wait another day. Oh I also removed the dressing from the guards head-wound. He still refuses to go to a hospital so perhaps Taryn can check it out on her return.

In the evening I thought I would go and check out what the supermarkets had to offer and head to Bole Road. On the way I stopped at an internet cafe where they literally dialed the telephone line so I could use the internet...and not beep, beep beep...no it was the old fashioned one like back in the 80's! I did managed to check up on my email and my rss feeds. I realised how my unnecessary the information I was inputting into my brain each day was and how much time was being wasted. Hopefully I can stick to my changed ways!

Next I visited Ethiopia "Supermarket". Now these "big" supermarkets are about 1/10 of Pick n Pay Constantia Village. They sell the full range of foodstuffs, albeit just very limited and VERY expensive for anything imported...which is just about everything :P.

After Ethiopia I tried Shoa Supermarket. Take cheese, the cheddar or Gouda you and I eat for R45 a k/g. Here its around R300/kg, I kid you not! The local cheese, which I bought, is about R55/kg and tastes something like salted rubber, reminding me of the the cheese patties i bought in the villages of Peru when hiking. Pure fruit juice (from Cape Town interestingly enough; although i have never seen the brand there) goes for R20/l but i am so glad they have!!!

Heading home, I read the qu'ran, prayed, watched some television and headed to bed. For a change I had really worked hard!

28/09/2009 - A day I dont remember!

Hmm, cant remember much of this day so it could not have been so special :P. I do remember meeting a nice group that had driven from London. I was really impressed with their Landcruiser which was fully customised. In the front fender they had popout shower hoses, complete with hot water! Their water tank was pressurized so that the water squirted out. What was also super impressive was that they had 4 adults in it + a baby! The wife was also pregnant again which i had to laugh at considering that the two roof-top tents were next to each other. They were also able to give me vlc media player which i had been wanting since forever. This meant i could play one of the movies on the laptop and so i retreated to my bedroom to watch a rather terrible movie called basketball.

Afterwards I got busy on my expense sheets and brought it all up-to-date, sending it off to March in the evening. Simon C and I had not done to badly on the expense side (well at least the personal expense) as we had spent far less than our budget. I had probably spent a lot less than everyone else considering I didnt drink any refreshments (no coke, beer or coffee). Well i must have gone to bed as its another day :P

27/09/2009 Not so lekker in Addis still

Well yesterday I unfortunately regressed a bit with a sore stomach
again and heavy head. The highlight though was the family
atmosphere that the staff bring to the establishment, with Kasahun
checking up on me regularly. Also, being a Sunday they held a
coffee ceremony which i was invited to where they served coffee (I
abstained) and sweet bread. The ceremony is very involved with a
special box to put charcoal in to keep the coffee hot and various
other pieces of equipment that make up the ceremony. The ceremony
itself my Laney, the owner's daughter. A sort of cut grass and
flowers were spread all over the restaurant and it was so nice to
be part of the festivities. Oh i also went to a 'cafe' which was
very smart. There i had a fresh mango and pineapple ( I so need
fresh fruit juice) and a ginger tea (a LOT of ginger) and and
icecream (make that flavoured ice). Other than that i watched a
movie or two, slept and had fitful night; getting up and vomiting
after about an hour of horrible coughing fits. Oh well, some you
win and some you dont :P. On the positive side i could to pray
properly all my prayers which was really nice. I think my room is
a problem too as i always feel worse and start coughing so i will
change my room today

26/09/2009 - A little excitement in Addis

Well the day started early. Feeling a little better i decided to get up for Fajr and then went back to bed but couldnt sleep. After a restless thirty minutes i switched on the light and started writing an email before Analia made a suprise phone-call from Argentina. We had, I think, an hour's discussion on logistics, what to bring and all the little things that go into travel. I really enjoyed her enthusiasm and energy that she had for the trip. After a little more writing Teddy arrived at 8am to pick me to take me to the doctor.

The doctor, as Teddy had promised, was indeed very knowledgeable and thorough. He asked all the right questions, gave me a full upper body examination and had a series of test runs on my urine, stool and blood. After going back home to await the results I headed back about 2 hours later and finally had an answer to what was wrong with me. Pus and high levels of bacteria in my stool indicated a bacterial infection in my stomach. It was all a little strange as i had had no problems with my stomachs for the first 2 days of my illness. Also coincidentally the doctor was a regular visitor to Cape Town and his clinic is sponsored by a company in Cape Town (or at least South Africa). This allows him to offer much lower prices. A consultation fee is about R28 but he makes his money with his lab. While waiting at the clinic i befriended and elderly muslim gentlmen who was a physcial education teacher. He invited and insisted i come visit his school and I readily agreed as long as i was better. It once again so nice to meet some and brighten their day a little.

On the way back to the hotel i picked up the required pills, a thermometer etc and quickly gulped down my first pill willing it to work instantly. Fortunately my temperature was already down although my head was still one big blob of hot lead.

Around 1:40pm while lying in bed in my semi drunken state (not drug related :)) I heard a commotion outside that seemed to grow in strength. I thought to myself that everyone says you should not get involved in local disputes but i thought ,well maybe i could just see what was happening.

Once again all the staff were gathered around staring while the guard was having a very distraught conversation or argument ( i wasnt sure which) with a cleaning lady. The guards shirt was spattered in blood and he wore a sort of turban also covered in blood.

Seeing as no one was doing anything i quickly came out of my zombie-like state and started organizing with my new friend, Kasahun (the waiter) helping. I have been so impressed with Kasahun as you will have read. Calmly he put my requests into action. First he had to calm the very distraught guard down and get him into the restaurant. The wound was about 2 cm by 2cm and about 5-8mm deep and would definitely need stitching. Having Kasahun at hand really helped with the language barrier. First I asked them to give him a coke. Now first aid manuals ( i happened to have one) stated not to give food or drink to anyone in shock but my doctor friends tell me otherwise and I figured it would calm in down. He cant be drinking and yelling :P. With the patient calmed down, I iasked for any strong alcohol (plenty in bar :)) while i got my first aid gear. Then I cleaned the wound and put some cotton wool on to stop the bleeding while i went to fetch some Staaldruppels i realized i had. Cleaning the wound again (reminder to self not to use cotton pads on open wounds) I sponged some of the Staaldruppels in. This almost almost instantly stops the blood...fantastic stuff. Then i got my steristrips (plaster like stitches) and with Kasahun's helped pulled the torn parts together and stuck them in place...they fitted rather well :P. Then a gauze pad and a nice bandage around the head and we were done. Finally I gave him one of the shirts that was in my bag (I think its one of Rory's old ones :P) to replace his blood spattered one...yes and of course i washed my hands thoroughly :). I was surprised at myself that i could instantly flip from sick boy to action man...i guess its all about necessity!

Afterwards, after reading my first aid manual, I went back to Kasahun to get him to get the guard in a quiet place lying down with his head raised. He ended up sitting in a chair instead but hey :P. I realised afterwards that i to had an adrenline rush and was feeling much better! I also wondered what had happened because as first Kasahun was not sure. A little later he was able to tell me that at religious holidays groups of people come around begging for money for festivities. Tomorrow being one such holiday they had come around to the hotel. When the guard had said there was no money they had got violent, with two of them grabbing him and beating his head.

I wondered what i would do in said situation. Normally i am a peacebroker but in that situation with the guard already attacked i might just have gone in to help, the adrenaline overcoming any sickness. I certainly know i am capable of going beserk in defense of my family and friends. Strange that when i write this i get teary-eyed. I really miss my family and friend a whole, whole lot!!!

In the afternoon i rested and continued writing. At 5pm feeling much better, I headed to the restaurant and had some more lamb. My stomach has now shrunk to such an extent even though i am only have one meal a day my stomach cant even fit it all in and i am quite happy with it though. The meal of lamb bits was excellent and they made it specially for me with out chill (doctors orders). While i ate i watched on television a grand parade happening downtown in honour of the holiday and it was quite a spectical. Terry, my taxi driver had asked me to go but i had not been feeling well so had declined. Still it was well done and i especially like the brass band as their tunes were snappy :). I must mention how nice the staff our again with both owner having come every day while he was here to see how i was doing and offering advice. Likewise Kasahun has come 4-5 times a day to see if I need anything. Again today he invited me to a bombfire (part of the holiday celibration) and it felt so special to sitting there; the staff clearly one big family and the clients all equals just enjoying the moment. The cutest, humblest little girl got up to dance and dance she did, showing all sorts of moves belieng her age. She went on and on with a huge smile on her face clearly enjoying the dance. Likewise the guard who i had patched up earlier was equally enthuastic, dancing around like a little kid, the girl and him facing off having a wonderful time. I was so glad he was back to his normal self. The staff handed our free drinks and I had another coke not wanting to be impolite in saying no to one they had just opened for me. I also got to have a brief chat with a guy with for the African Union in the financing section. You never know where you can make a contact! It was short evening, but a memory i will certainly treasure and as i sat there i felt myself getting stronger. I knew by the end of tomorrow i would be fine again God-willing!

In the late evening i finished up some emails (including this blog :p), sent them off and headed to bed. While i was busy the guard came back to my room to drop off my chair. He thanked me profusely in his own language for helping him and i was so shy and humbled. He also tried to ask about his head but i would have to leave that for tomorrow when i could have a translator. I always feel so humbled by people who had so little, yet are so grateful. And heres a thought: Isnt it so true that in general those who have the most are the least grateful and those that have the least are the most grateful?

25/09/2009 Day 26 - Yip, Still sick in Addis

Well there was not much too tell. Taryn knocked on my door to inform me
that Deon and her were going up North to do sightseeing and might be
back around the 2nd but couldnt promise. I was quite happy for them to
do this as it made the best use of a standing vehicle but i did have
them a problem with them been gone longer that the 2nd as i would
already have that stage been sitting in Addis for 11 days... I have my
limits. Well Analia and I would just go map a park if they were not back
in time.

I was quite excited as in the morning i had sweated out the fever and
was feeling a little better with no temperature; just a messed up head
and nausea being the worst of my remaining symptoms.

They also didnt seem keen to take Simon to the airport suggesting we get
a taxi. May I never do that to a friend unless that want it! Anyway I
called a taxi and accompanied an only slightly better Simon to the
airport. This was against both my advice and the taxi driver who had
suggested that Simon arrange his change of flight at Kenya Air's offices
in town. It turned out there were no offices at the airport and so back
we went into town and spent some time sitting while Simon got it his
tickets sorted out. The price for a flight from Addis to Nairobi (3 hrs)
was a horrendous 300 dollars! Compare that to a south african local flight.

While Teddy (our super friendly, helpful taxi drive) and I waited for
Simon we got to chatting he mentioning what a lovely, geninue woman
Taryn was. She is definitely the most social person in our group, always
talking to strangers...reminds me of my mum! We also covered topics like
SA and Ethiopian politics and once again they couldnt understand why South Africans elected Jacob Zuma. I tried to explain man of the people, mans man thing...

After dropping Simon off at the airport we returned to my hotel with
Teddy telling me about a local doctor he thought was really good.
Desperate for any cure, i agreed to see the doctor with Teddy
outstanding, taking care of all the pre-check that normally would have
had to be done. After being dropped off I had a rest and then headed to
the restuarant to watch some tv, instead chatting with Kasahun and
learning that he had actually tried to sneak in to South Africa; been
caught and then sent back to Ethiopia. After our chat i ended up having
an omlette as i felt i need to eat something. Then it was some tv and
bed after being strong enough to pray properly once again!

24/09/2009 Still sick in Addis

Taryn knocked on my locked door at around 9am but i was too ill and cold to get up and let her in. Taking more panados (as i had done through the night) i waited for my temperature to drop. Alas this time the panados did not seem to have any effect and so i got out of bed and had a cold shower which managed to bring my temperature down a degree or two. After much discussion and calls to Rory (who Taryn feels is more knowledagable in this area) Taryn decided to have more tests run on my blood. Fortunately the hospital still had my samples from yesterday and so i did not have to go in. The others went out again to do more sight seeing while i watch a bit of tv in the restaurant and typed up some more entries for my blog. With my temperature rising again and starting to shiver i headed back to bed where despite wearing a thick polar fleece and my -15'c sleeping bag i still shivered uncontrollably. While sleeping March phoned to discuss the shock issues. Simon had gone down earlier to see if the Beast was ready as promised. Unfortunately; despite the best attempts no suitable shock could be found and so we had emailed March to see if he could organise shocks. From our conversation it seemed he would probably send them up from SA which would mean more delays and time wasted. However with my being sick it didnt really matter. Earlier in the morning the other 3 had decided that the following day they would go up to see the castles but when they returned at 5pm I found out that Simon C was running a temperature too. Furthermore my new blood tests showed my blood to be normal. Taryn forwarded the results to Rory who would consult and then recommend a course of action.

After my rest i got up and watched an Indian movie which was in English and really good. I do love Indian movies and it took my mind off my fever. Also, for the first time in over 15 yrs i had a coke to try and get my energy levels up as i had not eaten breakfast although earlier i had had two oranges, a quava and a sweet roll. I also couldnt face any heavy food. I am not sure whether it was because of what i ate but i started refluxing, coughing heavily and heading to the toilet. Rather than getting better i seemed to be getting worse :)

I should mention a little bit about my "hotel" for R65 I get a room with a double bed and bathroom with "hot" water (90% of the time its cold due to power fluctuations). Now beside the 4 Mapa people staying at the hotel there are maybe 2 or 3 other rooms occupied. The staff complement includes 2 waiters, a security guard, cashier, barman, manager, 3 cleaning ladies. Now ALL of these staff work all hours... I mean from 7am to 11pm everyday. Its totally crazy and they are such nice, humble friendly people. You quickly realise how good we have it South Africa. Despite the large staff compliment the hotel keeps going even though there is hardly any customers. Furthermore the staff in the restaurant have the same impeccable service levels i have come to expect from Ethiopian restaurants!

After the Indian movie I decided to have supper around 9pm which was a vegatable stirfry which although good had too much salt and butter...oh for a little Kuaui food or healthy stirfry or anything fresh really. Afterwards having not being able to finish my food I went back to my room. There I carried on reading "The Life of Prophet Muhammad" which is generally very good except for its strange extremely strong anti-Jewish stance. It incorrectly tries to justify this based on Jewish behavior during the time of Muhammad. Such writing destroys bridges, it does not build them! Fortunately everything is else very insightful.

I headed to bed and after a fitful sleep ended up throwing off all the covers because i was too hot. I now know what it is like to have hot flushes and it feels like you are on a roller coaster ride! Being awake I decided to get up and pray the midnight pray and read some more until i was sleepy again which was not too long afterwards

23/09/2009 Sick in Addis

I awoke late around 8am and informed Simon I was sick with a temperature and was shivering. I was in no condition to do anything but after some panados given to me by Taryn i made a temporary recovery. We were all going to drive to Landrover to get the bushes replaced but Deon had one of his silent paddy's and refused to go. I really could not understand but later i found out it was because when he wanted to leave Taryn decided to wash clothes. Leaving Deon to himself we headed to the hospital to get a malaria test as Taryn was concerned i might have Malaria. As it would take an hour to get the results we headed to Landrover taking some detours on the way, the gps not being able to provide directions. We ended up spending 4 hours at Landrover, the service pretty shocking. With the panado wearing off i descended into a fever again and with no panado to be found (why Landrover didnt have a first Aid kit i dont know!). Shivering uncontrobally i lay on the couch gritting my teeth and wishing beyond anything for panado's. Simon was starting to have a headache to and i was so happy when we finally left!

We headed to the hospital again where my result were negative. Meanwhile I lay in the car praying for panado and getting bemused stares from passers by. The doctor suggested they test for typhoid so i walked into the emergency ward in zombie state. After measuring my temperature at 39.6' Taryn extracted more blood from me so they could run more tests.

After going to the pharmacy we headed back to the Landy but found that the keys had been locked in. I sat on the pavement against a fence in my zombie state while the others attempted to open the Landy. About 30min laters they succeeded with the help of the spare key. Having had some panado's i quickly recovered to a semi-zombie state. With so much time wasted getting into the vehicle we decided to wait the extra few minutes for the blood tests. Once again the blood test came up negatice with regards to Malaria and Typhoid!

We headed home where with the panados kicking in I was able to have supper consisting of fried fish which although nice was to rich and fatty for my tender stomach. Afterwards i caught up on email and headed to bed, spending the night freezing and shivering, but to cold to get out of bed and get my sleeping bag!

22/09/2009, Addis Adeba: Vehicle repairs and day of catching up

After discussions with March the day before we headed out around 8am back to the Toyota specialist. Once again they were very helpful and this time we spoke directly with owner/director. He took the Beast for a test drive and picked up very quickly the problems that we had picked up. His knowledge on Landcruisers was obvious based on what he told us and we felt confident he could get the job done. He also we kind enough to help us with finding new accommodation and we ended staying at the Bel Air "hotel" a couple hundred meters from the workshop! Also the price was really good at 100 birr per room with Simon sleeping on the floor.

After some breakfast Deon and Taryn joined us and then they, along with Simon, went sight-seeing, choosing to walk instead of drive. I chose to stay at the hotel to catch up on my blogs and ended up finishing 9 days! During the day I started feeling a little dizzy and light-headed but nothing too bad. At 5:25pm while i was working there was a loud bang that shook the room. I stepped outside my room to investigate as did the employees. We noticed that the front tyre of one of the cars had exploded!

The others came back in the evening having visited amongst other things a "hotspring" at a hotel. It turned out that after waiting 45min for their turn that hotspring was simply a hot water shower, leaving them very disappointed. For supper i had another meat dish and then headed to bed not feeling well at all

21/09/2009 Jimma to Addis Adeba

After a fitful sleep i got out of bed about 5:10am, letting Simon sleep for a bit until i was done packing the car and my stuff. Then i treated myself to my first proper hot shower in 20 days, getting nice and clean. With Simon doing the same we were ready to leave at 5:55am until as I was reversing, one of the locals furiously waved and pointed to our rear tyre which was flat. This began events of almost comedic proportions. First we tried to replace the tyre but the jack just wasnt big enough for the special springs fitted to the beast despite us using rocks and wood to raise the spring until in its compressed state it was touching the jack point. Strike 1! Next we tried to use the airjack. An airjack uses the hot air from the exhaust to inflate a sort of bag which, when placed under the vehicle easily raises it. Unfortunately for us the the exhaust fumes and the connection were to loose to get any air into the airjack. Strike 2! Then we decided that since it seemed like a slow puncture we would simply reinflate the tyre using the built in air compressor. Unfortunately the air compressor seemed to have some sort of electrical fault and it simply would not start. Strike 3, we were out of options. We started asking around to see if someone had a bigger jack but had absolutely no luck. Eventually a truck driver came up with an ingenious (if dangerous) plan and we ramped the rear wheel up and over a brick so it was raised. Then he jacked up the wheel on the actual axle. Lettting down the tyre further provided the room to remove it and with the extra space we (or should i say they) were finally able to fit it ...over 1 hours and 15 minutes later.

Simon had ordered breakfast so we sat down and had omlettes, toast and jam with butter (which i have been craving since i left Cape Town). Simon had the mango and paypapa mix i had had last night and i had another awesomely delicious avocado smoothie, this time with freshly squeezed lime. While Simon had a coffee i checked email and then we were on our way; a whole hour and a half later than planned. Another challenge presented us when the GPS was unable to guide us out of the maze that was Jima and so we resorted to the basic compass and managed to find our way on to the silky smooth, tarred road.

We travelled for a few hours passing through amazing mountain scenery with green, deep valleys dotted with villages. Along the way we thought we had taken a wrong turn when we started heading south instead of north. Turned out it was just the road. Why they have built such a curvacous road i dont know...perhaps money was a constraint. As we drove along in one town we spotted a goat who had obviously had enough and confronted its master, a young boy, and proceeded to try and head butt him. Although on its legs the goat was actually taller than boy, the boy was not going to let the goat get the better of him and so fought back :).

Passing through an area with a few trees we had our first monkey road crossing. A monkey with something in its mouth, running at great speed, crossed directly in front of us and just in time otherwise it would have been my first roadkill. Although the road was lovely tar they were also winding, with few cars. This meant that the trucks and buses; instead of sticking to their own side took up the invisible middle lane which resulted in us nearly being roadkill several times . Another very interesting site was a very young muslim boy of maybe 3, being carried by 4 men on a sort of whicker-work throne. We wondered what the significance was...perhaps he was some sort of Dali Lama to them?

In some of the highland villages women and boys were selling boiled mealies, eggs and giant guavas so we purchased 4 huge ones for about R1.40. On one downhill we found a man racing a home-made go cart. Fortunately for him he was on the other side of the road to us. It continues to amaze me how people neither hear nor see cars, or even expect them. We passed one dead dog and one dead cow and i can only imagine what sort of death-toll there is. Even when they see you coming they dont move at all until you are already on top of them!

All along the road we had people gesturing us in way that look like they were carrying some sort of really big invisible box in front of them. After much debate we think its equivalent to the thumb sign for catching lift. The correct response if you are full seem to signal in much the same manner as an umpire signaling a 4 in cricket.

Since we had left in a hurry from Jima we need to fill up with petrol along the way. This proved challenging as one town after another had only diesel. Fortunately, with both tanks flashing the low level indicator we drove into the town of Weliso at around 11:30am and found a Total garage that actually had garage. Of course it would not have been the end of the world had we run out as we had 60l of petrol on the roof but that would have been time consuming.

Simon who was navigating, had read up about the town earlier and found out that it had a church who's spring waters had apparent curative powers. We were eager to see and try and so asking directions from lots of strangers we made our way in fits and starts to the old Orthodox church, which was a very simple wooden building. With no one able to speak English we were reduced to sign language. First we visited a barnyard that doubles as an adhoc museum of artefacts associated with illnesses that were cured including crutches, charms, talismans, walking sticks and chains left by the mentally ill. Then we took a visit to the new church being built in the hope of finding the spring there. Eventually we tried the old church and inside found a bucket of water and a non-working pump shower. However the young boy who was acting as our impromptu guide poured the water into our hands and first Simon and then I poured it onto our heads, enjoying the refreshment. I put some on my back in the hope of curing my herniated disc.

Having waypointed the church we headed out of Weliso noticing along side the road dozens of men and women chipping away at white rocks. For what reason we were not sure as nothing appeared to be on sale. I must mention again just how beautiful the highlands and the area we travelled through are. Big green fields, separated by trees, blue skys, white clouds and mud and thatch dwelling with wooden fences are the norm.

Around 12:40pm we passed some big, commercial greenhouses but i could not see what was in. Also on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere was a rather unexpected site; a beige VW Beetle in excellent condition. One one uphill was got to see two bulls having a real tussel with the one bull pushing the other one down the hill before, in a clever move the one being pushed, spun around and managed to push the other bull back, right off the road. When off the road the bull really got going and the other one called it quits. An hour later as we got closer to the Addis we noticed what appeared to be walking bales of straw but were actually donkey's, piled high and to the side with straw; so much so that only their heads and legs were showing. Fiveteen mintues later we passed our first signed junction; we were definitely getting closer to the city and a little while later a sign stating "Bantu 23" which i though was quite funny.

As we got closer to the city the the number of cars increased we crawled along for the last few kilometers before entering the ring road that surrounds the city of Addis Adeba. Our gps guided us to what we thought was the Toyota dealer but it turned out they were just Toyota specialists. Although they looked very professional and were helpful what we actually wanted was the Toyota dealers. They were nice enough to tell us where and with the help of the GPS we made our way to Moeneco Toyota. The Toyota dealership, although very smart and huge was not really helpful. What we wanted was for them to inspect the car from top to toe and let us know what the problems were and the cost to fix. What they did, despite our best efforts, was give a quote for parts and to fit them for the things WE thought wrong!!! I mean we are not mechanics...they are supposed to tell us what is wrong! Not only that but they took 2 hours to give us a quote without even inspecting the vehicle or switching on the engine. While we waited we phoned Taryn and Deon were not having any better luck finding accommodation in the city. Feeling peckish i had a bowl of pronutro and when the hunger got to Simon he went off and picked up some Oreo rippoffs that weren't too bad.

Eventually we left, making our way downtown in search of a decent place to stay. On our third attempt we found a hotel that was not too bad and had a good chat with a Cape Town couple who were overlanding to Denmark. They provided us with some advice on finding shocks and would also be able to provide the Mapa Project with good waypoints and routes. After chatting with them we phoned Taryn and Deon who decided to come to our hotel.

Perhaps i should give my first impression of Addis. It seems a city of contrasts with lots of new high rise building being built alongside dirt, potholed roads; smart modern building with goats outside in the street. The city itself seems to be situated on one or more hills, with the CBD sitting in the bowl. The streets are busy but not to bad and the ring road make access quite easy. The men and women are quite different from the South with hardly anyone wearing hijab...I so am not a city person!

While we waited for them i sent March an email with a copy of the quote and request to phone me. On phoning me we had a long discussion on the vehicle and determined that if we couldnt get the special shocks we needed we would have to replace the non-standard springs with standard ones which would allow us to use standard shocks. We would also try the Toyota specialist who had earlier proved more helpful and then come back to March with whatever information we had been able to obtain.

Later we allowed a "Guide" to show us some auto spares shops in the hope of finding the special shocks but alas they were either closed or did not have. Afterwards we took a walk on the streets looking for a place for supper. Many young people were out and once again it was refreshing to see the streets alive and busy. We stopped at an internet cafe but it was too slow so we moved on and decided to have supper at a place called Chicago. There i had a peanut tea which tasted like pure peanut butter mixed with milk. It was suprisngly nice with a bit of sugar. Afterwards i had a fish burger which reminded me of the fish burgers i had at Burger King. Taryn and Deon joined us a little later before we headed home rather tired.

Back at the hotel we enjoyed our first TV set, watching Shanghai nights before showering, praying and heading to bed

20/09/2009 Day 21, 289km - Sodo to Jimma, Eid Mubark to all!

After a little lie in I got up at 6am feeling very down and lonely. The reason was simple; it was Eid and I had no one to celebrate with despite the thousands of Muslims around me. In retrospect i should have asked the night before what the events on Eid would be. I also felt compelled not to put my own desires before the project but in the end I knew i simply should have made more effort.While packing up i heard above the loud speakers of the mosque, the chant of Ill, la Allah (not sure on the spelling) and turned to see a procession of Muslims marching. It was the first time i had seen Muslim marching in a quiet positive manner and I wish i had been part of the procession. The procession was joined by children and also mums and I felt really proud to be a Muslim!

With us ready to leave at 7:30am i went to get my clothes that were supposed to have been washed and ready at 7am. Unfortunately this was not the case and we ended up waiting until 9am and further more my clothes were wet! Having finally got my clothes we left Sodo, heading into the unknown as we had no gps data or maps for the route we were taking; only a few paragraphs about the road. We managed to find the road and although it was good dirt road, it was not tar as we had been told...oh well isnt this always the case!

I was driving and narrowly missed the lifeless body of an unfortuante canine. Along the way we noticed that most livestock were cruelly hobble to prevent them straying to far or more easily pliant to their masters instruction. They do this by tying a rope from their neck to their rear leg or simply folding one leg in half and binding it so that that have to hop along!

The road passed through beautiful scenery as we descended into the Omo valley. The views were breathtaking, especially crossing the steel bridge over the Omo river, its muddy waters flowing strongly. Around 1pm after passing through the junction village of Chida the dreaded right rear shock started clanging. Ten minutes later, Simon C who was navigating, realised we had taken the wrong direction at the last village and so we turned around and headed back some 20min, with the shock doing its best impression as a pair of symbols. We have come to realise that we need to trust our own instincts rather than locals who often provide us with the wrong information.

We arrived back in the village of Chida to more shouts of Faranjis and waves and smiles from the little kids. Despite the unlikelihood, we asked around for a mechanic but alas there was none. Simon inspected the shock and determined it was still attached and that the bush that had been fitted just yesterday was torn and broken. This meant that it was metal on metal, the cause of the cacophony. As we left i experienced a rather disturbing incident with a young boy who thought it funny I guess. First he indicated the slitting the throat motion, then various sexual actions. I pretended to be cross and get out and he ran, but was quickly back with more actions and swearing. Also the local teenagers were asking for ciagrettes which i found sad :(.

With no other choice we continued north ot Jimma, Simon taking over driving duties. Shortly after he took over I had to ask nicely if he could keep the car in gear on the downhills as freewheeling on the loose gravel is like walking downhill on ball bearings! At 1:40pm we received an unexpected sms from March asking us to check our email as there was a change of plan. When we had a chance we pulled over and checked our email. From what the email stated it seemed like March thought that the two teams were not working together and that we were doing our own thing. He seemed extremely unhappy and wanted us all to regroup in Addis and call it quits on the project. We had no idea how he had come to this conclusion and could only imagine that maybe the other team had said something. Since we could only go forward to Jimma we continue onwards.

Arriving in Jimma around 3:30pm we were disappointed to find it to be a rather small town. However we were able to stop and have a mango icecream, our first in Ethiopia! We also noticed that there were lots of "Pastry's" selling various type of sweet bread, biscuits and cakes. I bought i a nice piece of chocolate cake, sharing half with Simon. I got to chat with March and things seemed a little better. After searching around for a bit we found an awesome hotel for a ridiculously cheap price. It had a restaurant, cafe and wait for it....swimming pool! Without hesitation we checked in. Afterwards we went to the restaurant; with me having a meat dish and the most awesome juice smoothies i have ever had. One was avocado and the other a mix of mango and papaya. The avacodo one was rich,cream and just sweet enough. The mango and papaya one had 3 levels in it. As usual the service was impeccable.

After our fantastic meal we headed for a swim. Leaving my top on a I jumped in and enjoyed the refreshing water. When i was done i came out and was approached by a gentleman who apparently was the guardian of the pool. Unbeknown to us the pool incurred a separate fee. Suspicious i checked it out and then paid. They were also not happy with me wearing a shirt but i explained to them I was Muslim and could not take my shirt off. They were happy with the explanation but not the fact that i had swum with a shirt that i had already worn. Oh well, for next time i know :P

Afterwards we took a walk along the streets and i was amazed and happy that so many people were walking on the streets; so different from Cape Town. I managed to get to a local mosque for Magrieb and was treated with a few stares. Parking a big 4x4 filled with electronic gadgets outside a humble mosque i could hardly blame them. Once again i was welcomed and shown right to the front with a gentleman offering to stow my crocs for me. I guess the have a shoe theft problem at the Mosque to!

In the evening we found out the bad news that there was in fact no Toyota dealer in Jimma which meant we would in any case need to head to Addis :(. The others we going there as well. We really wondered what they had said to March for him to think what he did. In the end it turned out that Taryns emotional emails had probably led March to think we were not working together. I would have to type up and email to March explaining our decision processes and why we made the decisions we did.

In the evening we had another yummy meal, this time pieces of beef in a clear salty sauce kept warm by a piece of charcoal underneath. Simon C's meal was not as yummy and he look at mine longingly :). In the evening i accompanied Simon to an internet cafe and then we head to bed, another early night for us.

19/09/2009 Day 20, 353km: Dinsho lodge, Bale National Park to the town of Sodo

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:
Leaving at 8am after a delay necessiated by some homework and research we head off without the Belgians and made our way over dangerous muddy and potholed mountain passes. Eventually arrived at Shashmene we then turned South arriving at the Toyota Dealer in Awasa at 12pm. Unfortunately we had forgotten that it was Saturday and they closed at...12pm! Utilising an alternative garage to do some minor work we then head to the town of Sodo along really good tar roads with the odd bit of gravel. Simon C did a good job of avoiding shootings dogs, donkey's, AWOL sheep, pedestrians and the odd white, malnourished horse standing in the middle of the road. Around 5:30pm we arrived at Sodo and after a bit of hide and go seek with the Hotel we wanted we checked in. Tired i took a rest, did some homework and blogging and then had a shower. Following prays i headed to bed...tomorrow would be Eid!

Long version:

I awoke at 5:30 and lay in bed before getting up as we had a lot to do before our planned leaving time of 7am. Alas the power outlet was faulty and so i was unable to check email to see if the other team could accept Peter, the other Belgian in their car. So instead i got busy packing up, cleaning dishes and then rearranging the car to accommodate our two passengers. When all was done and with the laptop now charged i was able to check email but unfortunately there was no email from Team 2. Probably as a result of the same problem i was having in that i was not able to send. Based on this information the Belgians decided to rather hitch hike; a rather difficult and time consuming option but they did not want to split up without being sure that they would all get back safely to Awasa. Awasa was our intial destination for the morning as we need to go to the Toyota dealer and mechanic there...the closest one on route which would necessitate a 50km detour...oh well, best to get the vehicle one hundred percent we thought.

After a delayed start due to needing to do some homework and research we head on our way stopping of at the research office. We needed to see if we could get hold of a gentleman by the name of Kashuan who had important gps information for Omo National Park which had little information on how to get there. As such his tracks would be very useful. Fortunately though we did have some directions to get there and thanks to Rhoda's research some good maps with the breadcrumbs of towns on it.

As we headed into the town of Dinsho, a 16 wheeler truck blocked the only entrance into the town. Investigating on foot i decided the Beast could cut around the truck down a steep slope. Simon C driving, had a heart stopping moment as he took the Beast down the embankment and it swayed side to side almost toppling over. He should have taken it straight down the embankment instead of an angle. Lesson learnt. Of course it was only because of the useless rear shocks that it swayed at all. The roads had all become wet; either muddy or with potholes filled with water. This meant slow going on the dangerous roads; less than half the speed we averaged on the way to Dinsho. Climbing up the pass we passed a truck that had jack-knifed on the muddy road. In the pass the road was just mud, with the beast sliding out every so often despite crawling along at 30km/h in 4x4 with the centre diff engaged. I really worried for Deon and Taryn who had to drive back through Web valley as those roads would be even worse. Perhaps they should have taken my advice yesterday and come back to Dinsho when the rain had started falling?

This might be a good time to mention the general condition of the main roads in southern Ethiopia. What seems to have happened is that lovely new smooth roads have been constructed and graded but then; for whatever reason they have just been left. This has meant that we have to drive small bumpy roads while looking at a lovely graded road next to us. Only on the rare occasion do we get to use these new roads and even rarer still the road is tarred.

In the pass we drove by families taking the goats, cows and donkey's to pasture. The environment is harsh and they were wrapped up tighthly in blankets with their back bent against the slope and biting wind.. Despite this a little girl's stern expression cracked into a smile in response to mine and it felt good to bring a little happiness.

Around 11:30am, having passed through one village after another we finally made it to Shashamene and good, tarred roads! This presented its own challenges as people drove faster and there were more cars on the road. This made overtaking difficult especially as there were still people and animals on the side. Simon C did a good job of avoiding shootings dogs, donkey's, AWOL sheep, pedestrians and the odd white, malnourished horse standing in the middle of the road. I am beginning to wonder if this white horse that we have now seen in three villages in the middle of the road is some sort of sign!

Around 12pm we made it the Toyota dealer in Awassa. Unfortunately we had forgotten it was a Saturday and they closed at...Yip you guessed it...12pm :(. We drove into town to find an alternative garage. A nice young lad named Ted offered to show us and off we went. At the garage they replaced more bushes in the rear suspension and a rubber holding mount for the exhuast. Our issues of the Beast rocking front to back and side to side were not solved , neither were our engine issues but at least we could drive. Since we did not want to wait around until Monday for the Toyota dealer to open we decided to head to Jimma which was much closer to our destination of Omo National Park and would keep us busy the rest of Saturday and Sunday.

Leaving Awasa we passed through Shashamene where we filled up with petrol and then headed west on combination of really good tarred roads and gravel...and of course people, trucks, donkey carts, goats, cattle etc etc. At around 5:30pm we heard knocking on the rear and after having a look around and jumping up and down on the car, Simon C spotted that the same right rear shock was loose. Fortunately we were close to a town and with keen eyes I spotted a roadside mechanic. Although he didnt speak English, a very friendly chap (i forget his name) who was studying education acted as interpereter. The mechanic managed to remove the shock, add a bush (it must have broken off) an refit it which allowed us to continue. While the mechanic was busy i popped into the local mosque next door (interesting how mechanics and mosques are close by :P) and caught up my prayers.

With the shock sorted (for now...) we head to the town of Sodo. Arriving at sunset in Sodo we drove up and down the hill on which it is set trying to find the hotel we wanted. Unfortunately the Bradt map we had was a little inaccurate but we managed to find the hotel by chance. We checked in having to take a room each. Our attempt at a joke when we asked for a discount for Faranjis was instead taken as an insult of sorts; the lady thinking we thought she was charging us a higher faranji price. Fortunately another customer who's English was excellent smoothed things over as we desperately tried to explain that we were making a joke.

After checking in I took a nice rest before informing the others via email where we were. They were some way behind us in Shashmene. Later after doing some blogging I showered, prayed and headed to bed. Tomorrow was Eid!

18/09/2009 Day 19, 232km: Bale National Park, Web Valley

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:
After a late start we headed back to the town of Goba for more repairs. Afterwards we were delayed, taking sometime to find petrol...always a challenge. The others in the meantime headed off to Web valley with others following a little later. The road was incredibly rough and if we had not had a guide we would most certainly have got lost. The scenery however was spectacular! Parts of it reminded me of the Cederberg; rugged with rocky outcrops and mountains, the only difference being it was green instead of brown. Other parts reminded me of the Drakensberg complete with rondavel style huts, a mini amphitheater, and beautiful streams and rivers.

We reached the end of the road shortly after Taryn and Deon where we met a slightly strange polish girl who was researchinf the wolves. Later after a small altercation we split up and headed back to Dinsho Lodge so we could get an early start in the morning and avoid the mud that was being created by the rain. In the evening we decided to stay at the lodge meeting two Isrealis and 3 Belgians whom we offered them a lift to Awasa to. After a long evening i took a warm, trick shower, prayed and headed to bed, the last one around!

Long version:

I woke up at 5:30am feeling much better than the last couple of previous mornings. As no one seemed to be up i lay in bed for a little before getting up at 6am. Since no one was up i got busy cleaning the dishes, making tea and packing up my stuff. Eventually I decided people needed to get up so i shouted "wakey wakey" in a not so subtle manner :). After everyone got up i put on the kettles for tea, washed down the inside of the car and cleaned out the fridge/freezer which was looking rather unsanitary.

After much fiffing and faffing we left, rather late in my opinion. We drove through beautiful wood/jungle which brought back vivid memories of my time in Guatemala and Belize.After realising we had gone out of the reserve we turned around and headed back the way we had gone. The guide who we were paying for this kind of information had not mentioned this to us which led to Taryn getting rather irritated with him and telling him in no uncertain terms why he was with us :).

On the way back we spotted the Ethiopian wolf, a few buck in the forests, lots of little mice scurrying back and forth, a hare, and three majestic eagles which posed for us on variety of perches. I had a good chuckle when Simon got of the car and ran across the plateau after one of the wolves in order to capture the perfect photo. On top of the plateau we visited a mountain summit at about 4400m which was cold and desolate. We took photos next to the communications tower there and gave some bread to the caretaker...what a lonely job that must be! The views were awesome and i was transported back to Peru again. Another rugged jeep track took us to a research camp set next to some small, beautiful alpine lakes which reminded me of the Ausangate and Sant Cruz hikes in Peru.

The Beast had been giveing problems with fuel consumption, road handling and lack of power so we stopped at the garage in on the way back again. This time it appeared that the new shock that we had fitted (the one replacing the previous new shock) was not balanced with the other rear one which was causing the car to fishtail around. Also the fan belt on the a/c was in fact worn and damaged and this was the cause of the tapping noise in the engine that had returned. Both problems required a visit to Addis Abba or Awasa far away. We would just have to make do in the meantime.

As we drove through town we saw a man in a buggy cart dragging the body of a dead dog behind as if it was the most normal thing in the world to do. For us with our western sensinbilities it seemed very barbaric. I wondered what the reason could be to do such a thing. Perhaps the dog had been caught stealing? Not 20m further on a white horse stood in the middle the road, in bad condition and terribly thin with haunches seemingly impossibly thin. No wonder i have seen sponsored clinics for animals!

We made our way back to Dinsho Lodge where we collected our washing and i prayed. One of the local woman had kindly taken our washing off the line but was not happy with the R3.50 tip we gave her. In fact she asked me again later that night. Why does everyone want money for things that they should do out of kindness :(?

Around 3::30pm we headed to Web Valley, the last leg of our Bale National Park mapping. The road was incredibly rough and if we had not had a guide we would most certainly have got lost. How Deon and Taryn (who were in front of us) made it I dont know. The scenery however was spectacular! Parts of it reminded me of the Cederberg; rugged with rocky outcrops and mountains, the only difference being it was green instead of brown. Other parts reminded me of the Drakensberg complete with rondavel style huts, a mini amphitheater, and beautiful streams and rivers. It was refreshing to wave to the local children and have them smile back brightly without begging or asking for anything. Their condition remindeded me of the local people living in the peruvian highlands. These are tough people!

We wound our way up and down rocky roads, passing one house after another with stunning vistas in all direction. About halfway along we took a walk to see a tumbling waterfall, the water falling into a beautiful pool. Finally at 5pm we reached a research outpost and campsite. The researcher who we had seen earlier traipsing around the tundra came along shortly, opening up and walking in with out even greeting us. We found this quite strange but i managed to extract some information out of her. Her name was Fria from Poland (i think) and had been doing research on the Ethiopian Wolf for the last 2 yrs. Can you imagine 2 alone in the middle of nowhere with only a local assistant as company, one who can only speak broken English. No wonder she was not so friendly!

She did inform us though that our guide; Omar, had been caught twice stealing from tourists and that he had worked for her and had been ejected from the local guide association. This of course was a little concerning. She apologised for not being friendly and welcoming stating she really had to process fresh Wolf stools she had just collected...and this at 6pm!

As the rain came in we had some hot chocolate which we made on her stoep. I found it quite funny that she passed comment on us using her water as she had very little. I politely informed her that it was in fact our own water. The hot chocolate led to a small altercation between Taryn and me. When the water that i had put on the stove started boiling i went to get the cups and hot chocolate. On my return i took the kettle and saw that there was less water that what i had put in. I found it strange but poured what there was into the cups. I then saw that Taryn had swapped our kettle with her own without asking or informing me and i had poured in the warm water in our hot chocolate. I was upset that she had done and when i expressed it she started getting emotional and went on about how saying " I know, i am a complet stuff up, i cant do anything right". A bit of an overreaction i thought but she was right about sharing and that it was not a "yours versus ours" and so i emailed her later to apologise for only thinking of us when boiling water.

With the rain falling and us wanting an early start tomorrow we decided to head back to the lodge to avoid getting stuck and get an early start as we would need to effect more repairs in the morning 50km out of the way in Awassa. Deon and Taryn decided to camp so we had to pay Omar which led to even more tension when Omar disputed his payment amount which had been agreed between him and Taryn. Taryn was already in foul mood and was picking for a fight, so I pulled Omar away and we left quickly. I then acted as middleman between what Taryn had understood and what Omar had. Basically Omar was looking for another 100 bir (about R60) to for food and accommodation because that was agreed (according to him). However we had provided him with food and accommodation (tent, mat, sleeping bag and pillow) so it didnt make sense to pay him for expenses he did not occur. Fortunately he eventually agreed to not getting paid the 100 birr.

Arriving back at the lodge in the rain we met three Belgian students who were studying in Ethiopia and had taken some-time off to travel. Also there were two Israeli guys just out of the army. Having decided to rather stay at the lodge than camp, Simon C got busy making supper, while I helped in the preperation. I also gave advice to one of the Israeli guys on South Africa as he was visiting there with his girlfriend in February. My experience with Israelis is that they all travel as soon as they are out of the army as they have saved most of their earning during their conscription. This was again the case.

Things almost got difficult when he lit up to smoke but i object and so he went outside, with Simon C helping by going out to smoke with him. People just dont get how damaging it is. As a Isreali he should understand that 5 million people killed a year is far more than the hundred or so killed by terrorists. Yet he is on the ground fighting to prevent that but does nothing about the 5 million dying. He is also mentioned about having to protect his people from bombings from terrorists which he said were doing it because of Islam (he knew i was Muslim). I decided to keep my mouth shut but i thought to myself that perhaps as a jJw he should know better than anyone else that putting people in a concentration camp ( by enclosing Palestine and controlling everthing that goes in and out and denying basic necessities) is bound to cause people to fight back. I just said that I didn't understand why they could not just make it work out when we had done it so easily in South Africa. It must be hard for him though have been a platoon leader.

The Belgians were going to hitchhike back to Awasa which is where we were headed so in consulation with Simon i offered them a lift. However we could only fit two in our car at a squeeze so I emailed Deon and Taryn to see if they could pick up the third and told them i would let them know in the morning. After everyone went off to bed I went for a nice, hot trickle shower, prayed and headed to bed at a late 11pm.

17/09/2009 Day 18: 113km, Bale National Park

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:

After a false start due to a 3 am call to prayer i eventually got up early and we were all ready to leave at 8am. At Dinsho Lodge we hired a guide and headed on our way to the town of Goba, stopping to have our vehicles checked at the mechanic in Robe and finding more things broken. With Landy still not right we stopped at another garage 5km on in the town of Goba. This, a recommended garage picked up more issues and so we were substaintially delayed. On the postive side i got to visit the mosque around the corner and was welcomed warmly with even the chairperson coming to say hi. Finally we made it back into the national park have passed through commerical forests. The high altitude, chill, the panorama's, the lakes, the dark brooding clouds and the vegetation all brought back such strong memories of Peru; it was like i was there again! We headed down a mist filled pass, driving by Villages along the way and finally made it to our campsite; a beautiful lush spot surrounded by mountains with a river running along side. There we set up our tents and awnings (it was drizzling) with local villagers gawking at us. Later Taryn and Deon cooked a lovely lentil dish and after a cup of Milo we all headed to bed!

Long version:

Being a muslim area, the mosques blairs out the call to prayer...not 5 times...but 6 times a day, the other one being the optional prayer which woke us all up at 3am...nice :P! After my false alarm to get up i eventually climbed out of the tent around 5:30am and packed everything away, and put the kettle on. The raw meat from yesterday meal sent both Simon C and I packing to the toilet. Although Simon C was ok afterwards i was still had nausea but i think this was from my persistent nasal/flu i have had the past 5 days which is worst in the morning and evening and kind of goes away during the day.

Leaving a little late for my liking at around 8am, we made our way down to the lodge, hired a guide named Omar and then headed to the park headquarters where we paid our fees. In order for us to drive into the park we needed to first exit it and drive about 50km to the town of Goba, passing through the town or Robe where we had been yesterday. We took the opportunity to have both cars checked out again and found that one of the nuts holding the left rear shock of the landcruiser had lost its thread and the right one we had replaced the day before was loose. On the landy some bushes in the rear suspension had also broken. Fortunately we managed to have all these problems fixed and were on our way again at 10:30am...this is why i like to leave early!

A few kms past Robe we entered the Town of Roje which instead of Tuks-Tuks had lots of horse-pulled buggy carts. It was like stepping back in time. As we drove through we sore a bus blairing out a message on the loud speakers. Our guide informed us it was the Minisitry of Education telling the people about a new college Interestingly this town is 75% Christian where as Robe is 75% Muslim. We stopped at a bakery to buy some bread and tried out what tasted like a scone and another pastry that tasted sort of like a croissant. At first i did not like the pasteries until i realised that although they were different shapes they were equivalent to what i was used to. I then wanted some cream and jam!

Unfortunately the repair we had JUST made to the Landy was not done properly so we headed to another garage (cheaper and less time consuming then going back to the previous one.) This was a recommended garage and turned out to an excellent one which was both good and bad. The bad was that we found out a whole lot of other problems; the good was that there were able to fix it. For the Landy we found out that the just fitted bushes were put on incorrectly and so new ones were fitted. Also that the cracked mounting for the shock on the Landy actuallly needed to be fixed as it was causing the shock to turn. On the Beasts side a nut had been welded to the shock mounting and the thread stripped on both rear shocks. The nut was removed and new bolts correctly fitted. Also three bushes in the rear suspension were replaced and the exhaust reseated. In the front a modification to the battery housing was made to prevent the battery from sliding forward and unseating the headlamp light bulb (the cause of the burning plastic smell a few days ago.

While the vehicle was being repaired i took the opportunity to visit one of the 5 local mosques in the small town. I was treated with a great deal of curiosty with many a Mashallah, and was showed to the front of the mosque. The local chairperson of the mosque even came to greet me and chat. Afterwards a young muslim gentleman came up to me to questioned how i washed as the sequence was different from him. I explained to him that the action was more important than the sequence and he seemed happy with that. I was reminded that I am on display to the world and they are watching. I must try to be a good example for all Muslims!

Finally at around 3pm we headed on our way to the park passing through foresty plantations and crossing a beautiful river where a bus was being cleaned. We reached Angesso entrance at about 3700m and with a show of our permit we were waved through with a bright smile. Driving along through the park we stopped at a communications tower at 4000m next to some beautiful little lakes. The chill, the panorama's, the lakes, the dark brooding clouds and the vegetation all brought back such strong memories of Peru; it was like i was there again! A little further on we spotted the famous Ethiopian wolf (looks more like a big muddy red fox) and then another one in the distance 5 min later. The Beast was struggling with the altitude while the Landy with her turbo-diesel was having no trouble.

At around 4:15pm and at a height of 4200m the mist enveloped us, with large drops of rain making visibility very poor. Five hundred meters later we began our steep descent along the many switchbacks, fortunately the mist preventing us looking down the steep sides. The vegetation looked similar to the mountain fynbos found above Hermanus. Fiveteen minutes later the weather cleared a little as we passed villages, the smoke from the cooking fires making the thatch appear to be smoldering. Simon C who was driving had to skid to a halt as one of the village dogs decided it could take on the Beast. Here the natural vegetation was replaced with and grazing pastures for cows :(.

After passing through the villages the natural vegetation returned and around 4:45pm after a slight detour (we overshot our destination) we reach the campsite; a beautiful lush spot surrounded by mountains with a river running along side. After a bit of debate and arguing over campsite layout we put up the tents and the awnings as it had started to rain. As usual the locals came to visit and just stare at us. I could finally appreciate what it is like for us to go visit one of their villages. It is not nice being on display and having your every move watched...its like you are in some sort of freak show. They were very fascinated by me praying, i guess as they are Muslims to. In fact we saw a small mosque along the way complete with minnaret.

Later Deon and Taryn cooked a delicious supper of lentils with fried banana for desert. I provided the Milo for the late night drinks. Talking about drinks, Deon had bought himself some of the local moonshine called waragi. He seemed to be quite tipsy, wise-cracking and generally being more relaxed and friendly. After looking up at another beautiful night sky (the rain having stopped), I headed to bed, read the quran and drifted off to sleep

16/09/2009, Day 17, 308km: Senkele Sanctuary to Dinsho Lodge, Bale National Park

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version

This was a day of travelling and car problems but with stunning secenery all along the way. Waking really early, we mapped the remaining roads of Senkele Sanctuary and the carried on to the junction town of Shashmene where we filled up with Petrol. The roads varied from near-perfect tar to unbelievably bad potholes. The scenery was awesome and i can not begin to aptly describe it. We passed through villages with thousands of people literally walking along the side of the road with donkey carts and other processions also using the road. We stopped off in one town and found out a noise coming from the car was in fact our right rear shock that head bent at 75'. Since there was no shock in town we were forced to drive 105km, 20 km past our destination in the hope of finding one. The 105km turned out to be potholed, stunning and steep mountain passes and it was a challenge for me preventing the vehicle from sea-sawing. Further-more we had to do to re-drill and replace bolts to hold the fridge in place. Fortunately there was one and only one shock in the town of Robe and after making repairs we headed back to the town of Dinsho, turning off just before to Bale National Park, where we camped the night above Dinsho Lodge. Taryn and Deon who had arrive 15 minutes before went for supper at the home of a South African couple while we turned in early!

Long Version

This was a day of travelling and car problems but with stunning secenery all along the way.

My alarm went off and i ignored it before getting up at 5:15am in the dark. Getting changed, i began work fixing the holder for the gas cylinder. Simon C then got up and we packed up camp, having a nice cup of hot chocolate in the chilly morning as the cloud filled sky lightened. Unfortunately we did not pack up on time and so our guide who had graciously agreed to meet us at 6am, had to wait for half an hour. Finally we set off to finish the mapping, filling in the gaps while spotting some jackals using the dirt tracks as a giant paths. By 8:15am we were done and I felt a great sense of accomplishment having completely mapped a protected area where no maps existed before.

Leaving this beautiful part of Earth we began our long journey to Dinsho Lodge, Bale National Park; not long in km but long in time. The roads varied from near-perfect tar to unbelievably bad potholes. The scenery was awesome and i can not begin to aptly describe it. We passed through villages with thousands of peopele literally walking along the side of the road. Some appeared to be in funeral processions, others riding donkeys like one would ride a camel, most carrying fooodstuffs or water. The main form of transport (other than foot) was donkey cart, some standing on top, chariot style. 95% of people were muslim and every village had a nice mosque with a tall green and white minarret. The women all wore brightly coloured hijabs and clothing, some in full burka.

Around 11:30 am we passed through the town of Shashemene which is a big junction town at the cross roads of two major roads in Ethiopia; one head East-West the other North-South. We filled up with petrol with the petrol attendant going to painstaking lengths to show us he was not cheating us in anyway...i guess it must be a problem here and the guide book says that this is the most unfriendly town in Ethiopia for Ferengi. I was suprised to see hundreds of lttle Tuk-tuks (tricycles used as taxi's) and was reminded of my time in Guatemala where it forms the mainstain of transport around many of the larger towns.

Noticing a rattle in the car, we stopped but could not find anything. In the next town of Dododa (famouse for trekking) we had it checked out, with the mechanic pulling out our brand new right rear shock, now bent at 75'...these roads are really taking their toll on the vehicles. We seem to play tag, with each day bring some new problem to a different vehicle. As their were no shocks in town, we had two choices; either head back 75km to the town of Shashemene or drive 100km (25km past our destination ) to the town of Robe, in both cases with no right rear shock which meant the vehicle would jump worse than a landrover...not a pleasant thought. We chose the latter, driving through winding mountain passes at 40km/h, higher and higher, until we crawled over the pass at 3600m although it was not signposted. Along the way I heard more rattling at the back (our car was creating its own symphony) and found out that the screw holding a piece of metal keeping the fridge in place had sheared through! Fortunately we had some spare bolts and washers so I widened the holes, and we bolted it properly. I also found that my attempt to repair the gas cylinder holder had failed. I can now say with confidence that aluminum is not strong enough to handle rough roads!

The mountain area, filled with deep valley's and little villages of straw-clad dwellings brought back a flood of memories of my time trekking through the high mountains of Peru, and i spent the rest of day remembering that special time. The the road conditions were harsh so we had to drive slowly and with a lot of skills kept the Beast from misbehaving too much, although at one point i thought i was on a sea-saw with the way it went up in front and down at the back. I learnt to control it by breaking hard whenever a road bump threatened to send it into the dangerous sea-saw motion.So this is what driving a Landy is like :P.

The road 3 km before Robe is lovely, with green fields on either side and lots of people walking on both sides of the road just as before.Tuks-Tuks were also all over the place again. In Robe we were very lucky to find the only remaining shock in town but we were unable to replace the front two as we had wanted. Fortunately though the mechanic managed to fix a tapping noise in the engine bay, with the added bonus of fixing the air-conditioning at the same time...and all for about R32. We bought the shock ourself so he did not make any money there either...excellent value I think. We decided to eat in town and found a muslim restaurant. A young lady named Zabibea who had just complete her nursing degree acted as our translator and we ordered a meat dish and 6 meat samooses. We promptly ate one of them while we waiting for our meat dish...and what a suprise it was! It seemed to be raw sheep mince mixed with chilli, some other spices and boiling oil, which was served with bread...no vegetables in sight! I am glad we had the bread because i couldnt really stomach that amount of raw mince...still we got to taste a local dish. While we were eating they pushed through the restaurant some sheep and goats out to the slaughter area in the back. Talk about watching what you eat!

After the repairs we headed back to the town of Dinsho with Taryn phoning us along the way to tell us they had also just arrived in Bale National Park (just outside Dinsho). We couldn't understand why they had only managed to spend the day travelling when we had spent 2 hours mapping, travelled 100km extra (at 45km/h) and had our vehicle repaired!

At 5:30pm we finally entered Bale National Park which I think is set high in the mountains at over 3000m and is famous for the Ethiopian fox. Its lush and green, so very different from the Omo Valley. The campsite itself is high up overlooking the town and chinese compound (yip they are also building the road in Ethiopia). We setup our tents while we waited for Taryn and Deon to return from town, which proved to be a challenge with the sloping site. Fortunately i managed to find a lovely little spot under a big tree which provided me with warmth and prevented condensation on tent.

We found out that Taryn and Deon had been invited for supper by a local South African couple doing research in the area, and so we had the evening to ourselves. We were both very tired from the long day so we headed to bed about 8:30pm after washing some clothes ( i added to much washing powder so spent an age rinsing the stuff out), taking a "hot" shower (well more like a luke-warm dribble), and had some hot choc/milo/horlicks mix which was divine. On the way back from the showers Simon C almost wrote off a very large Warthog which was standing directly in the jeep track!

Before I headed to my tent and bed I took one last look up at the heavens, the stars incredible; with no moon and being on a high mountain helping.

15/09/2009, Day 16, 316km, Arba Minch to Senkele Sanctuary

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:
Having been delayed in Arba Minch we need to catch up with the other team who we thought were at Senkele Sanctuary. Leaving early we drove through the countryside, arriving at Senkele just as we received a call from Taryn; the Landrovers shocks having come loose again. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do and so the Landrover drove slowly to Shashmene to have the vehicle repaired while we mapped the unmapped Senkele Sanctuary, the scenery stunning but the roads really rough; more like cattle trucks. We ended up spending the night in the park after finishing near sunset, camping amongst the Hartebeest under a huge tree!

Long version

Having been delayed in Arba Minch the day before, we decided to leave early and had packed up and left (after a little pronturo) at 6am with another goregous red sun rising over lake Chama. As we headed down town we nearly collided with a donkey cart which had sped out of one the adjacent roads. Just a few metres further on we saw a woman walking with skew feet. In the west she probably would have had surgery and been walking normally but here she had to make do with what she was given. Not 5 meters further we saw a young teenage boy boy walking on his hands and knees in road, using flip-flops to protect his hands. He looked up and gave us huge smile. Its so inspiring to see such positiveness in the face of adversity and hardship in life.

Unfortunately and unbeknown to us the petrol stations were not open at this time so we had to kill time until about 7am. We did this by waypointing the hospital, with its brand new road and pavements nogal! We also found a grocer open and bought some supplies and vegetables. By the time we were done the garage was open and we filled up. This time we were able to work out the Beasts fuel consumption...23 litres per 100km!!!!

On a side note one of the challenges we have is keeping all our electronic equipment charged and usable. This challenge was exasperated in that all the charging through the invertor seemed to be having a negative effect on our deep cycle batteries that run our fridge. Fortunately our headlamp problem of the night before had a positive spinoff as the cleaning of the terminals by Simon C meant that these batteries were now being charged properly. This meant no more annoying beeps from either the invertor or the battery monitor...yeah!

Finally we left Arba Minch tracing the shores of Lake Abaya, red with Ferrous Oxide or as you and i know it; rust! Around 8:30am with the scenery becoming sort of tropical we managed to buy some mangoes and lemons on the side of the road really cheap; 75c for bowl of lemons! A little further on we saw charcoal sellers selling big wicker containers of charcoal. To make it they light fires in big pits and cover it for a few days to create the charcoal.

At around 9:45am the heavens opened up and every pothole and depression became a little lake, the Beast handling it well although the going was really slow. The landscape changed again with green wheat farms lining the road until we passed through the town of Sodo at 2133m covered in mist. From there it became hilly with lots of erosion causing big dongas on either side of the road exposing the dark, rich brown earth inside.

Ten oclock brought us to the town of Bodin situated in a very wooded area. Here lots of long building poles were being sold by the side of the road along with straw which is used to cover the very large beehive shaped dwellings they make. As we left the town of Bodin we started to notice more buses on the road. Also along the way i saw handmade pottery being sold, not fancy stuff but functional pots for storage.

At around 11:45am we stopped along the way for a toilet break and noticed a huge Donga, almost like a mini canyon. Curious we took a look and noticed a maybe 7m deep by 5 m wide hole in the earth narrowing at the bottom. At one point a huge tree bridged the devide with roots that looked like twisting, outstretched arms. Local kids came to investigate and we took some photos of them crossing the donga using the trees roots as a bridge. They were fascinated by the pictures we took of them. As we left i opened up a packet of dried fruit that i had forgot about and excited gorged myself sharing with Simon who after his first few said he had enough, but then kept accepting more everytime i offered them. They were rather addictive!

The landscape changed again becoming a little bit drier with aloes being commercially grown. At midday we came across marked and tarred road as we entered the town of Alaba, the first marked road we had seen in Ethiopia and the surface was excellent! Shortly afterwards we found the junction to the sanctuary we were going to. The dirt road, quite narrow in places, was lined with fields of potatoes, corn and wheat. In the road were young muslim girls with their donkeys on their ways to collect water, a big yellow drum strapped on each side of the donkey. Seeing the car, they pushed their donkeys out the way in a small panic, at the same time flashing big smiles in our direction, the older ones waving shyly. In the fields men tilled the soil while young boys chased the Beast shouting "give, give". The whole scene was so near picture perfect, a photographers delight and it reminded me of a village scene out of Lord of the rings or some 15th Century European rural painting.

As we reach park headquarters of Senkele Sanctuary Taryn phoned, the Landy having a problem a with its front right shocks and shock mounting. Good thing we just happened to be in the park. We followed the park roads tracking towards the gps location Taryn had given us, ending up at a lovely view point on a mountain where they were stuck. They were a stressed, with the car problems causing tension and arguing between them. They also did not appreciate my Landrover recovery vehicle comments but i really appreciated the way in which Deon conveyed their unhappiness to me. He must be really stressed as he had one of Simon C cigarettes even though he is not a smoker...guess he is one now!

There was nothing we could do for the Landy so after much debate they drove off to town hoping they would not break down. We continued mapping the sanctuary as we were in cellphone reception and could just be a call away! Getting across what we wanted to do to the person in charge was very challenging so we took a teenage boy who spoke better english along with us in order for him to translate for us. Along the way we saw amazing trees that looked like giant bonsais and large number of Swaynes Hartebeest (there are over 700 in the sanctuary), and a few wharthogs and Oribi. We drove up and down, side to side and along the border of the park in our quest to map roads (or cattle tracks as we like to call them). The roads were bad, requiring a 4x4 and if you didnt concentrate you would probably end up in a donga or break a wheel. The landscape was a combination of lush, green savannah, and small mountains overlooking valley's and mountains; simply breath-taking.

Along the border of the park were many beehive dwellings and at one point there were something like 8 of them in a row that were used as mosques, the whole area being Muslim. Everyone was warm and friendly with the exception of one child who stoned our car as a sort of game. When this happened the ranger guide got out and gave the child a harsh talking to...I hope he learnt his lesson. It was also unfortunate that the fences around the park have been taken down and that the grazing is being shared with the local cattle which are the cause of all the damage to the roads. However the sanctuary is a stunning place with sweeping vistas and for me it was a picture of what I would think of as Africa.

At 6pm and after hours of up and down and all around we called it a day, dropping off and thanking the ranger, and heading to our improvised campsite situated under a nice big tree in the middle of nature, surrounded by the Hartebeest. After we put up the tents Simon made a yummy spaghetti bolaignaise while i fixed the cylinder bracket and did some tidying. Simon headed to bed early while i stayed up an hour or so later being engrossed in my work. It was another night of bush-camping!

14/09/2009 Day 15, 73.6km: Neschisar National Park, Day 2

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:
After a late start in order to wait for the sun to dry out the roads a little bit we headed on our way. With the Beast having a problem on the front suspension it was decided that we would map what we thought would be the shorter side roads while the other team would do the longer loop. However it turned out that we had the longer route and only caught up to the other vehicle around 1pm having done some unexpected bundu bashing along the way. We we visited some delightful springs complete with natural pool and filling up with springwater we left the park heading back to Arba Minch to effect repairs to the Beast. The others not having any problems headed on towards Sanekele Sanctuary eventaully spending the night in Shashemen. In the late afternoon, having finally had the vehicle repaired we headed back to the hotel and after a bit of accommodation issues, had a nice supper before heading to bed.

Long version:

Having spent a forced night in the bush due to the road condition we decided to lie in a little so that the sun could dry out the roads a bit. It was quite chilly and rather cosy. As usual Simon C and I got up first with Taryn and Deon taking a while to climb out of their roof top accommodation. I have to say that our improvised campsite was lovely, right in the bush and the setup of the two vehicle in parrallel with a centre fire and chair all around was near perfect. As we packed up some local villagers appeared on the scene, with combs of honey that they had obviously just collected. I offered to buy a 10cm and 10cm for 3 birr, a price I think they were more than happy with. I sucked on it, enjoying the fresh honey and bought some more, chewing on it...until i saw that i was sucking on bee lavae, lol. I ended up giving back the piece with the most lavae back. The thought still makes me squeezy!

Our first challenge (well more like the Landy's) was to get up a very steep bank that would have been impassable the day before. Fortunately the Landy got up with out problems and we were finally out of the muddy mess of yesterday. Unfortunately there was a problem with the Landcruiser which i thought might be a problem with the anti-rollbar (the Beast was swaying left to right almost as badly as a Landrover :P). We agreed that we would head back to Arba Minch, just doing the roads we had marked yesterday while Taryn and Deon would do the longer loop. However the "few" junctions we had to do ended up being long roads with more junctions. One of them sent us on a wildgoose chase that had us bundu bashing with the Beast through the white plains of Nesichar. Driving across clumps of grass and around dongas, i felt like i was on some sort of mild bucking bronco and was quite relieved when i managed to get back on the road. After completing all the roads (or cattle tracks as Simon C argued) we headed back, stopping at a bridge to take a dip in the river as the mercury rose. Refreshed, we carried on through the beautiful forests until we reached the Park HQ. From there we decided to go and visited one final destination in the park named "Forty Springs", passing Deon and Taryn in the process who were on the way back. They would head to the Sanctuary tonight while we would would have to stay in Arba Minch to have our vehicle repaired.

It was rather fortunate we did visit the springs as we were let into an area that Deon and Taryn had not been able to gain access. The keeper of the springs showed us around, pointing out the many springs, a giant tree that had fallen and an enchanting pool filled with springwater. We jumped in and had another refreshing swim. Its not everyday you can say you swam in springwater. Afterwards i prayed, filled up the water containers with spring water and after a quick squiz at the pump house (it pumps water up to the hotel above) we headed out of the park and on our way back to the Mechanic.

The Mechanic diagnosed that the one of the bolts on the anti-rollbar had sheared and that the others thread and worn. We also had him add rubber around his quick fix on the roof rack as it was saggin and we were concerned it would scratch the roof. We also had two slight deflated tyres and so he accompanied us to a tyre shop where they extracted to huge nails and repaired the tyres. While they were busy we walked across the road where Simon had a bite to eat. I checked out the nearest grocer buying some batteries for my headlamp, some peanut butter, biscuits and pineapple jam...finally something to go on all the bread we had been eating!

After finishing it was rather late. We stopped of at the restaurant in a second attempt to get fish again but with them still having none we head back to the hotel. Unfortunately the room the gave us turned out to be a little bit broken, not having mosquite nets or hot water. After trying 4 different rooms we eventually found an acceptable one with Simon sneakily keeping the key of another and spending the night in there. Perhaps i smell :P

We were too tired to try and find cheap and went up to the hotel where we had a nice crumbed fish cutlets. The Ethiopians dont seem to spice their fish much so i had brought along my honey and mustard sauce for the purpose. With the sauce on top it was divine! Afterwards i did homework until late and then headed to bed as we had an early start the next morning to catch up with the others!

13/09/2009 Day 14, 164km: Mapping Nechisar National Park

I have written two versions of each item so if you are in a hurry read the short version. If you like detail skip the short version and read the long version further down.

Short Version:
After an early morning start we arrived at the entrance to Nechisar National Park. We spent the day driving roads that from good to absolutley horrendous, with me enduring some rather scary 4x4ing on the side of a mountain. The scenery was beautiful from beautiful forest to arid scrube to Savannah. There was also quite a bit of wild and birdlife and we even got to visit a town where we felt like celebrities the whole town coming out to see us. In the late afternoon rain turned the road to the equivalent of ice, the Landy doing a 270'c and sliding off the road a few times, once almost hitting us. The Beast was more fortunate but also slid out twice, although not off the road. Despite my advice we continued on the bad roads with the Landy getting bogged down in a mudhole. Fortuantely the Beast easily pulled it out and we wisely made camp in the bush. With the rain having stopped we enjoyed a pleasant evening and after a cup of hot chocolate headed to bed.

Long version:

We woke up early again in order to be gone at 7am. After a praying, I had breakfast consisting of my favourite cereal, Pronutro After a beautiful red sunrise we made our way to reception to handover the keys where Simon also managed to extract a good discount as we did not have a tv or kettle. The others had these little luxuries for the same price so we thought it unfair.

Along the way to the park we stopped off at a few garages and petrol stations to waypoint them. We arrived at 7:45am at the park gates and had a "chat" with the person on duty. I say "chat" as he pretty much agreed with anything we said; a sure sign his english was terrible :P.

The park, 750km2 and established in 1974, consists of a small, mountainous piece of land known as the bridge of God which seperates Lake Abaya and Lake Chama, and a much larger piece of land called the Nechisar Plains. It is considered one of the most beautiful park in Africa. Our plan of attack was to drive straight through and then map the side roads on the way back. After passing through the gates with our 24 hr permit we made our way through a beautiful green forest, with big shady green trees, much like Knysna. Stopping briefly at a checkpoint next to the Park HQ we made our way to a leafy campsite. called Enramed, consisting of a clearing under huge trees next to a gargling river. We thought this would be our campsite for the night...we were wrong...

Passing over a metal bridge we made our way out of the dimly lit forest and into the harsh sun, the road changing from the soft carpet of the forest to damaging rocks and rutts as we climbed over the bridge of God. Around 8:45am we briefly descended to waypoint another campsite set near the shores of Lake Chama...and also a number of crocs that we could see from above the campsite. We continued across the land bridge, the Beast crawling behind the Land rover which had to engage low range every time it encountered a steep section. These roads must be one of the roughest in Africa, 4x4's only and with high ground clearance and ultra strong suspensions!

The landrover "issue" caused Simon C and I to get creative; coming up with a variety of jokes; "The Beast can go up faster in neutral", "Perhaps we should do it in reverse for a little challenge", "Whats low range for?...A landrover", "Whats slower than a torotise up a hill?..a landrover". "How do you give the beast a moderate work out?...tow a Landy", "We now know why we are this trip....Landrover support vehicle.", "How do you become a coloured in one day?... Sit in a landrover on a dusty road", " What do you take with you when you go 4x4ing in a landrover. A landcruiser"

Crossing high up on the land bridge we were able to get a nice view of Lake Chama and could see a number of islands in the lake. Perhaps one day if i return i will be able kayak around there. Currently you can only take a boat cruise to see the crocs only.

9am came and went with temperature an already baking 30'c. The volcanic mountains were covered on the slopes in dry scrub with a sort of Savannah on top. We drove along the very rough road, waypointing new jeep tracks with Simon C trying his hand at using the Beast to herd cows. Then at 10am we encountered the Beast first serious challenge of the trip. At a junction indicated on the map we decided to take the longer left fork while the Landy would do the simpler and shorter right fork. Bothe forks were supposed to meet up together again. Taryn was concerned about the road conditions on the left fork and advised we walk it. I had a little walk and then decided to proceed. However just ahead of where i walked a landslide had turned the road into a very narrow, sideways slanted bridge. Rather apprehensively but with a spirit of exploration and gung-ho we decided to try drive it hoping the Beast would not slide off the side of the mountain in the process. With breaths held we tried our luck and made it over, Simon driving halfway up the side of the mountain to avoid the netherworld below. Shortly after making this very tricky crossing our path was blocked by giant bolders...we would have to turn back, a most unwelcome prospect! This time Simon C had had enough so I climbed in, turning around the vehicle on the narrow and dangerous road and then with Simon C out of the car (did he not trust my driving?), made my way in low range over the narrow bridge; praying and hoping i would not slide off the mountain. After a successfully crossing and with a huge adrenaline rush, i came to a stop, my heart pumping and my hands a little shaky. After that experience just about everything else would seem easier!

Driving along we descended into the plains of Nechisar where we spotted buck similar to a springbok. One female ran along in the road in front of us for about a minute, its offspring running in the grass along side, before both headed off into the savannah. Also in the flat golden plains were a large herd of cattle and under the shade of an Acacia two secretary birds typing..just kidding...I have no idea what they were doing :P. As i have mentioned before, and unlike in South Africa, the parks in Ethiopia are still occupied by local people who are pastorlists. Simon was quite unhappy with this as having studied Environmental management he knows the negative affects that domesticated farm animals have on protected areas. One could quite easily see the impact with wide cattle tracks cris-crossing the plains, causing huge dongas in many places. We stopped at a junction in the plains to wait for the others who seemed to take forever. While we waited a local boy came up to us asking for pens again. Eventually the others arrived having done some side excursion against the original agreement.

We set off together again, leaving the plains behind and entering an area of riverine vegetation. Large furrows alongside the road meant careful driving. Around 11:15am we crossed a rather steep dry river bed before driving through some more thick scrub. Just before a junction we stopped at another campsite; where i waypointed all the facilities, the other team deeming it not necessary. The campsite consisted of houses with unfinished rooms where one could put ones tent inside. There was also a dwelling for the park rangers. As usual the squat type, long drop toilets left much to be desired!

At the junction we headed north east through various villages, eventually reaching the town of Darba at 1pm, outside (or inside depending on what map you use) the parks border. Along the way we had crossed various muddy streams, drove through subsistence coffee plantations, drove around and over coffee beans left out to dry in the road, and questioned many times whether the road was in fact a road! Also interestingly we had to drive around a toppled tree. Rather than simply cut the tree to allow passage, someone had gone to great lengths to cut out a new road from the thick bush to go around the obstacle. Perhaps trees are very important in the local culture? Yet at the same time the villages slash and burn techniques were clearly in evidence. Rather bizarre!

In Darba we became instant celebrities with the whole town coming out to see us, staring into the car and crowding us. I think Simon C felt threatened and wanted to leave quite quickly. However we were not sure what to do. Should we head back into the park (if we were in fact outside) or should we head north in the hope that the road would wrap around? Myself and Deon wanted to continue. Taryn and Simon wanted to return. Local information was contradictory, not helping matters. It was stalemate until i decided we should head back as i felt the road could investigated if necessary on the way back out of Ethiopia and in any case at least we had found this town on the map and discovered another entry point into the park!

We headed back, investiagting another side road we left earlier, until it became to eroded and then made our way to a hot spring (after missing it the firstime we passed it) at around 3:45pm. Along the way we spotted terraces on the mountain side like that of the Incas and huge ground hornbills. The hot spring was just off the side of the road and trickled into a sort of concrete pool although, perhaps because it was cracked, it was not filled up much. Inside we found naked local boys cleaning themselves and having a lot of fun.We managed to snap a few photos once the boys were out and dressed as they were very shy. We had all hoped for a bit of time out in the hotspring but alas it was not to be! As we left we noticed that there was in fact an entire village of low roofed dwelling set on the mountain side of the road. They were so well blended with the vegetation we had not seen them. I wondered why they would choose such a place to live as they did not look in great shape. Perhaps the hot spring is extremely important to them or perhaps it was just a place of temporary shelter?

With the rain starting to fall gently we continued on our way south trying to look for a road that would provide a circular path back to the plains of Nechisar. Along the way we had closeup of Burchell Zebra's as they crossed the road and in one tree just next to the road we saw two regal Fish Eagles. The road just kept heading south eventually going off all our maps. The roads in this park were definitely very different to what they had been and what multiple maps had on them With rain still falling the soil turned in something called cotton mud and as we drove along we watched the Landrover behind us do a 270' on the road, the ultraclinging mud rendering the vehicle with no traction. It was like a ice skater trying to skate with normal shoes on!

A little further on we slid across the road, fortunately Simon C managing to keep the vehicle under control. Taryns worst fears had been realised and the going was tough, tricky and dangerous. Seeing a turn off, we decided to take it, half in hope it would lead back to the plains of Naschar, half to get out off the blasted mud. When i got out of the Beast to inspect it, my crocs instantly gained 2kg of weight with the mud sticking to them like epoxy.

We drove along the road, spotting quite a few zebra along the way and some locals walking in the rain in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. They informed us the road headed to the coast of Lake Chama and we had a good giggle a little later when the gps showed we were driving in the Lake itself. Always trust what you see first! With the road going nowhere and the sun waning we turned around and headed back, having to drive along the dreaded cotton mud road again. Despite taking it carefully we hit a rather smooth patch and the vehicle slide right across the road to the side. That was ok but Simon C, looking in the rear view mirror saw the Landy do the same thing, sliding directly towards us. We had a few heartstopping moments as we watched in slow motion to see whether the landy would hit us...there was absolutely nothing we could do!

Fortunately the Landy stopped just short of us and we continued on our way. Despite going to the exact point for the mysterious road that was indicated on the gps as going to the Plains of Nechisar we could find nothing. Disheartened we carried on retracing our path until we reached the junction and the campsite mentioned previously. With the rain having turned the simplest road into a nightmare i suggested we make camp as the campsite is on high ground and with covered rooms it would have been an ideal location to wait out the rain until the following morning. Furthermore I did not want to continue as the roads were bound to get worse and I did not trust the landrovers ability to stay on the road; it also being rather easy to topple. Unfortunately i was overruled and we continued on with the land-rover driving off the road a couple of time before eventually getting completely stuck in a mud hole that the Beast had simply driven over. Despite Taryns's attempts the Landy just dug itself deeper into the mud and i was concerned again about it toppling over. Various option were considered such as mud rails that one puts under the wheels to provide traction, trying to pull the landy out with its winch, digging it out, and using the Beast to simply pull it out.

The latter was chosen and tying the winch cable from the Landy to the towbar of the beast, the Beast pulled the Landy out with a simple foot on the accelerator. Landy Rover recovery vehicle indeed! Simon and I could not help but let out a few more Landy jokes. Ahead was the dry riverbed with its steep cotton mud sides and i was not sure the Beast would do it, let along the Landy. This information combined with the rather taxing mudhole incident brought everyone to agreement and we decided to make camp in a clearing right next to the mud-hole... and it turned out to be a lovely location. After parking the Beast i noticed a burning plastic smell. We found that the battery in the beast had shifted towards the headlamp, knocking it out of it socket and onto the plastic below which then starting melting. Simon C rearranged the battery and re-inserted the light bulb and everything was fine again. It seems like something is always going wrong!

I built a fire area, with everyone gathering wood and putting there two cents in on how to build it with me staying out of it :). The rain fortunately stopped and we had a lovely evening, with a nice meal and some dates. It really felt like we were in the bush! After a nice cup of hot chocolate we all headed to bed, Simon C having headed to dreamland as usual a little earlier!