Sodere Hot Springs 6^th Jan

It s our 4^th day in Ethiopia. Wed prepared ourselves for a different experience and have definitely not been disappointed to date. But how to describe it is something else. It seems the pure raw Africa meets Arabia right here. A blend of the 2 cultures offers; intense man made noise night and day with music blaring out from trucks and shops; far more vehicles in taxi and lorry form; streets full of people walking, horses, ox carts, donkeys, cows, goats, sheep and camels all plying for the right of way on roads- making it  a nightmare driving thru villages; strange language-Amharic- making it impossible to communicate and read the few road signs; much cheaper fuel-almost half the price of the other countries weve driven thru; different clock-its a 12 hr clock here and 6 hrs behind ours; a 13 month calendar; basic scruffy hotels the same price as camping (and camp sites are few n far between); bread and pastries-the Italian influence, thank you!; cheap Ethiopian food consisting of enjeera-a sour dough huge pancake that looks like a dirty dishcloth and wat- a stew made from-hmmmmmmmmm, not really sure!; lack of fruit and veg; finally the Arabic type personality generally seems to lack the open friendliness of the southern African countries which makes us both feel a sense of loss. But that is what traveling is all about- not necessarily the destination-its the journey that counts. I hope we shall find some locals that will change our rather premature opinion.

Going back to our entry into Ethiopia- quite straight forward even though wed come through the main border crossing (there was no other choice this time). We drove straight onto tarmac- what bliss- and as yet havent left it. Again, thank you Italy. Zebedee must also be very grateful. Its certainly more comfortable and faster- until we hit a village where the roads throng with hustle n bustle. Bit like a game of 10 pin bowling. This area is the home of the indigenous Oromo- farmers and cattle herders who look like peasants as they drive their produce (mainly wheat this time of year) to market by ox and cart. This is the upper part of the rift valley and though not as spectacular as that further south, does have a collection of lakes. We have seen flamingoes galore on a soda lake (nearly sunk ourselves on the muddy sand trying to get a closer photo!), hot springs on a freshwater lake and camped on the beach of another which was hippo free. We met an Ethiopian couple who have lived in Switzerland for the past 15yrs. fortunately for us they were intending to set up a tourist company, hence keen to accompany us for a few days to see what tourism is all about. Lucky for us, as we learnt quite a bit about the country and its people and how to order food! That is how we find ourselves in these hot springs-sitting in extremely hot spring water in a wood at 9pm at night. If it wasnt for the segregation (yup, females in 1 pool and men in another!), we could have had a romantic time gazing at the Milky Way and a ¾ moon. The sulphur made the water so so soft-hair and skin now free of all the sand dust and grime we seem to collect each day.

Tuesday 10^th Jan Lalibela  N 12,02  E 39, 32

Lalibela is a religious site at 8300 ft in the middle of a mountain range. One of the 7 wonders of the world, there are 23 churches here, hewn out of rock underground or in caves some 1700 yrs ago. Unfortunately wed missed the Christian Orthodox festival 2 days ago-yes, their xmas is celebrated on 7^th Jan, when 65000 pilgrims descended here to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Ethiopians look on Lalibela as their Bethlehem and indeed millions of dollars have been pledged by UNESCO to excavate further possible sites. These churches are minded by priests who fiercely guard the Ethiopian gold crosses and original bibles and scripts. Also there are monks who live night and day in tiny holes in the rock face- each about the size of a cubic metre. They sit there huddled up reading from scriptures and blessing pilgrims as they pass through. Their life style had the most impact for me out of all the sights. We hired a guide who walked us through the churches- each linked by dark uneven underground tunnels. He was very useful in keeping off the beggars who wait outside each church- many disfigured or blind. We camped those 2 nights in the driveway of a hotel, but the manager kindly let us use a room for showering and ablutions. However, 1 blemish- ALL NIGHT, BOTH NIGHTS, there was singing and very loud music blaring out from a nearby bar- hardly what you would expect so close to the humility and modesty of the religious environment.

Since our last diary entry wed whizzed through Addis Ababa in an hour- heavily congested with traffic and cows and sheep being herded in for sale and slaughter for the following Xmas day. Not to forget a completely naked young woman with a very nice body, walking along the road in a world of her own! Heading due north we approached the Ethiopian highlands following the route of Copelands book- Cape to Cairo. Up until now hed driven the conventional route, which as you may have gathered- we certainly havent.  So leaving the tarmac and onto gravel roads (but quite acceptable on the whole) we yo-yoed up and down between 5000 and 11600 ft, through tunnels, over mountain passes, across plateaus, down into valleys and crossing dry river beds. Dramatic scenery similar to the Khyber Pass but without the snow. Photos just dont to it justice. Its harvest time and despite the fact we are living in the 21^st century the farmers use oxen to thrash their crops. We stopped to watch one family and much to their delight Rog took over, reminding himself of his childhood.  The land is heavily rocky, yet the wheat seems to grow in between each stone. They really make use of every grain of soil. One day we cooked a chicken under the bonnet-takes 5 hours-yummy, and spent a night in the wild watching the sunset over the roof of Africa.

Mekele 12^th Jan

GONDAR Monday 16^th Jan 2006

Yes, we have managed to move on again, but after all that expense and time spent in Mekele (48hrs in garage), Zebedee is still not working properly. Once engaged in 4 wheel drive she makes a horrid sound, tho still functional. Thoughts of returning 718 kms back to those mechanics doesnt please either of us, so we decided to push on and only use 4 wheel drive when absolutely necessary. No doubt that makes our family happy as it means we will no longer be able to head off into the wild yonder!

Since leaving the mechanics 4 days ago, we continued in a northerly direction to within 25 kms of Eritrea, (not safe to travel to at present), almost hugging the border for hundreds of kms. We drove past dumped armoured tanks, field guns and personnel carriers-all relics from the recent war- with further present day reminders in the form of locals with machine guns in almost every village. Life seems peaceful now, except for the kids who are proving a constant irritation. Within 2 secs of stopping for a quick cuppa or toilet stop in the middle of nowhere we are inundated with the pests- demands of give me pen, money or chants of you. Where they have got this idea from I dont know- but it grates, even though we know we should be more charitable. (they look so waif like). Hmmm

2 nights we spent in hotels- the usual washing and cleaning, but one of these nights we felt we needed pampering and did so by chilling out in a hotel with satellite TV!! Sad eh- we lay on a soft mattress watching CNN, BBC world and a documentary on Frank Sinatra. Totally refreshed, we were able to spend 2 nights in the wild- 1 night outside a rock hewn church at 6000 ft lit up with a full moon, with locals talking to us all night-hello, yes hello aaaaaaaaaaaaagh! The 2^nd was more peaceful- in the mountains overlooking Ethiopias highest peak at 14000 ft watching the moon come up.

This area is known as Tigrey and is home to some ancient history and religious buildings. As well as the churches, there were tombs and stelae, of which some have been compared to those in  Egypt; monasteries and castles. One monastery, built on top of a rock 6000 ft high is only accessible by a 15 metre rope up a sheer cliff and only to men. The 350 monks living there have banished even hens and female goats!!

The tigreans live in substantial housing- they have hacked rock from the surrounding land and built their single room dwellings using dry stone walling with corrugated sheet roofs. (All rural housing since RSA has been mud, bamboo and thatch.) They seem to exist on very little, quite happily; farming cattle and barley on very poor rocky soil. We have passed several funerals- attended by huge numbers, and realized that only women attend the death of a female, and likewise that for men.

The scenery continues to astound us- day after day of hills, valleys and mountains. One area was through fantastically shaped inselbegs. Then in the simian mountains we dropped 5000 ft in 1 mile in about 10 mins. I had to pretend to read to avoid panicking at the angles of the hairpin bends- with no barriers to be seen. Poor ol Zebedee was pushed to her limits again with rough rocky gravel tracks, but did well as nothing seems to have fallen off! The Simien Mountains were quite awesome- home to the rare Abyssinian wolf and long haired baboon (we saw neither), one can trek for days on mules to explore this grandeur. We however, chose to gaze at the splendour from the comparative comfort of our truck. Now we plan our last few days in Ethiopia and look forward to our entry into Sudan. Rog has realized that we havent seen one foreign registered vehicle beside our own all the time weve been here- where are all these overlanders? We have met a team of Israelis who are connecting up a mobile phone network and a Venezuelan photojournalist- but they all hire a local vehicle with a driver. We have also seen German and Dutch tourists on expensive tours- but no independent travelers with own vehicles. Lets hope that Sudan offers a different form of holiday maker.

Wednesday 18^th Jan Ethiopian/Sudanese border

And so to our final days in Ethiopia. Gondar as an ancient crowded town with 3 17thcentury  well preserved castles that have made its fame. Whilst visiting them we stayed at another cheap hotel for security and to be free of any hassles, making much use of the electricity and warmish water. However with youngsters throwing stones at the truck and trying to pick our pockets, wed had enough. It is so easy to overlook the fact that 2/3rds of Ethiopia is illiterate and that they are poor due to drought. The next morning we looked at the map for a means of chilling out- saw an hour away was Lake Tana- the source of the Blue Nile and left with speed. The area proved more tranquil than wed hoped. The only hotel let us camp on their driveway amongst trees and flowers that was more like an aviary, even allowing us to use their squalid ablutions. We spent the afternoon on the edge of the lake, cleaning and sorting out the truck- I know it seems we are always doing this, but the thick dust and cramped conditions make our setup (and ourselves) very mucky. To top it all lots of food has exploded in the larder box with a combination of heat and vibration. Just picture a congealed mess of beetroot, maize meal, loose tea and off long life milk- recipe for botulism or the plague I suspect! Still, refreshed and fired up we left the next day for a 243 km downhill drive to Sudan. Dry and inhospitable we remained amazed at the continuous amount of people walking their livestock seeking water and pasture. Finally we arrived at the end of the afternoon at the Ethiopian border to find ourselves being led suspiciously down an alley-to a small unmarked mud hut, surrounded by piles of rubbish that turned out to be the immigration office! What an exit. This country is steeped in religious history and blessed with terrific scenery, but tourism which is desperately needed as a source of income will suffer unless the youngsters are educated about dealing with visitors.