Wednesday 16 July 2014

How do you put up a tent again?

Ethiopia

 
After our 4 nights recovering in Addis Ababa we thought we were in for a tough time in Ethiopia as we were entering the rainy season plus the whole country is elevated anywhere from 1000-3000 metres which makes it a lot cooler as well. Fortunately the rain seemed to be quite predictable and fell in the afternoon/evenings and the temperature stuck around 20 degrees which was perfect. We dashed up to Bahir Dar on Lake Tana where a few of us went on a walk to visit a waterfall on the Blue Nile which was nice but would have been more impressive at the end of the rainy season. Just in case we had forgotten where we were, a local using a tyre to make his way down the river reminded us just what a special continent we were in.

An old Portuguese bridge from the 1600's

The waterfall along the Blue Nile which covers the whole cliff in wet season


River transport
 
 
From Bahir Dar we drove to Lalibela, but before we got there we had to traverse some of the most beautiful scenery Ethiopia could throw at us. These pictures from a lunch stop we did along the way just don't do it justice but I’m gonna make you look at them nonetheless.

Lunch stop on way to Lalibela


Christina "animal lover" Withers

Eating with the locals
 
 
The drive to Lalibela was long and windy but well worth it. I’ve not been a big fan of visiting churches since my 2007 European Church & Scaffolding Tour Extraordinaire but this place is UNESCO heritage listed and is a bit different from your usual church. Chiselled out of rock in the 1200’s it is compared to Petra in Jordan so we spent half the day exploring with our guide around the complex which is still in use today, giving us the opportunity to share the experience with locals. From Lalibela 12 of our 17 passengers went on a 5 day excursion to Axum and the Simien Mountains leaving myself and just 4 others with the truck.

The main church at Lalibela


Praying inside



St Georges church

 
 
With just 5 people in the back of the truck the trip to Gondar (not Gondor all you Lord of the Rings fans) was very pleasant with enough room to stretch out and sleep most of the way. We had 6 nights in Gondar while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up and the hotel here was the best yet, with separate bathrooms, room service, restaurant, pool, and a bar. The bright neon lights which showed it was very much a Chinese constructed building were just a bonus. The only real thing I can say I did here apart from watch movies, the world cup finals, and eat was to visit the old castle in the middle of town. Originally constructed by old Ethiopian Kings it was added to each generation and eventually taken over by different colonial powers until it was bombed when the Italians used it as a HQ during WWII. It has been partially restored but for the most part was still complete, and being in the middle of town it made it easy to explore the city as well.

The castle in Gondar



Luxury accommodation in Gondar
 
 
Once the rest of the group re-joined us and had a day to recover we made our way to the Sudanese border. The moment we left the hills of Ethiopia and crossed into Sudan the temperature went from 20 during the day to 35+. Perfect timing for the girls as we were entering a strict Muslim society where they had to cover up when out in public. The heat is now here to stay for the rest of this trip where it is expected to average around 39 in northern Sudan and Egypt and possibly as high as the mid 50’s in the desert. Guess we picked the wrong time of year to visit. Braving the heat we crossed the border without too much fuss and bush camped at the foot of a rock escarpment. We had stayed in hotels for 15 nights in a row through Ethiopia which was completely foreign to us and it felt a little strange setting up a tent again. As I found myself at the top taking pictures while everyone else was erecting their tents the wind started to pick up and before we knew it tents and tarps were blowing here, there and everywhere which was quite hilarious with a bird eye view from the top until I felt I was about to be blown away myself. Eventually we got everything set up and had dinner as the wind died down just to be awoken again at 3:45 by another sandstorm which went until 6 when we all had to get up. With sand in every orifice we packed up, bags beneath our eyes and moved on to Khartoum.

Back to bush camping after 15 nights off

and the wind starts to pick up

Nick chasing down Dennis' tent


Sonja taking photos while struggling with her tent


Christina protecting her Sansbug
 
 
We meandered into Khartoum early in the afternoon. As is the case in most places we go the locals developed an interest in our truck which sticks out like a model at a Star Wars convention. One commuter however got a bit more then he bargained for when he rear ended the car in front of him at some traffic lights as he was taking a picture of us on his phone. Now if you did this at home the first port of call would probably be to quickly hide that phone and get out and apologise to the driver in front and start exchanging details. Said driver found us much too interesting however and continued to take his once in a lifetime shot before we drove off, only getting out after we were out of range, having a brief look at the front of his car with the other driver who didn't seem perturbed at all and both driving off still gaping at us and few seconds later.

Lord Kitchener's Gunboat in our camp on the Nile

Our post apolyptic campsite

 
 
We have 3 nights in Khartoum to have a look around, our campsite right on the river just a few km’s from where the Blue and the White join to form the Nile. We have a fixer here helping us with all manner of things including registration which you need to do in addition to getting a visa and exchanging money. The official cash rate here is US $1 = Sudanese £5.8. I am only mentioning this because on the black market here you can get US $1 = Sudanese £9.7, 168% better than the bank rate. Although we have occasionally got a better exchange rate on borders, especially in West Africa this is by far the biggest and displays the shortage of foreign currency within Sudan. In a few days we will leave to drive through the Sudanese desert to Lake Nasser and into our final country, Egypt.
 
 
 
 
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Thursday 3 July 2014

Kenya, Ethiopia and a lesson on personal space

 Kenya & Ethiopia

 
Our truck rolled into Nairobi on the 22nd June and parked up at Karen Camp where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. We immediately jumped into a truck clean, pulling out seats, emptying all the storage compartments and scrubbing pots and pans back to their original shiny silver self. After reloading the clean truck we headed to Carnivores for dinner, a meat lovers paradise, serving all manner of animals without a single vegetable in sight. Although there is no shortage of meat in Africa there is a shortage of businesses that know how to cook it well and this place was a diamond in the rough.
Nairobi was officially a start/finish point for our trip with just the 1 passenger, Dianna, leaving us here but no one was joining as the extra room on the truck had been assigned to spare parts and equipment for next years Trans Africa trip. With no visas to get here as originally planed we had the next 2 full days to ourselves. After getting my affairs back in order and relaxing the 1st day I made my way with the truck to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an orphanage for abandoned or lost baby elephants. They live in the adjoining Nairobi National Park but are nice enough to spare 1 hour of their day to visit the grateful tourists, having a quick suckle of milk, rolling in some mud and chewing on some tactfully placed tree branches while we took some pictures and listened to the guide explain their work at the centre. Their human carers sleep with them for the first few years of their life and they are gradually eased back into the wilderness, when at 5 years of age they are released and adopted by a herd of elephants in one of the National Parks within Kenya.
 
Baby elephants at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
 



Returning back to the park after entertaining us
 
 
Whilst we were in Nairobi the curse of the Trans Africa truck struck again. Our original driver had returned from Tanzania where he had been recovering from malaria and taken over from Gareth who drove with us for almost 2 weeks before returning to his own truck which was working its way south down to Cape Town. We got word when we were in Nairobi that Gareth had now been hit with malaria as well, bringing it to 3 drivers with malaria and a tour leader with typhoid/malaria. I’m pretty sure the Oasis Overland HQ are counting down the days until we reach Cairo and crossing their fingers lightning doesn't strike 5 times.

Some of the scaffolding seen throughout Africa

OH&S is a high priority
 
 
We left Nairobi with just 12 passengers, down from the 20 we officially had on the trip just a few days before. Dianna's trip finished in Nairobi, Susumu was staying in Nairobi to finalise his Sudanese visa, Helen was away in Masai Mara National Park, Denis, Keera & Lucy had flown to Ethiopia for some extra time there and Luke & Sandra had decided to fly back down to South Africa to spend some time there before meeting us back in Cairo. With a lighter load we made our way north towards the Ethiopian border, bypassing Mt Kenya, the 2nd tallest peak in Africa and passing through some stunning desert scenery, very different to the south of the country. Herders in traditional dress looking after flocks of sheep and camels were the only residents up here and we were finally able to get back to some proper bush camps which had been made almost impossible in the last couple of months due to the sheer population density.


Sleeping during a long drive day

Driving through northern Kenya



Bush camping at an old quarry

 
 
Crossing into Ethiopia we bush camped again before making a final dash to Addis Ababa. Now Ethiopia's population in the Lonely Planet has been put at about 91 million but just from speaking to a few locals this has been the estimated population for well over 10 years and some suspect its closer to 120 million. This was very evident when driving through the countryside with the roads doubling as a pedestrian walkway and not a single square inch of unclaimed land. With the roads being a little worse than we expected we didn't quite make our destination and due to the amount of people we were forced to camp in a small village that were more than happy to have us. As a matter of fact they were so happy the entire village and half of the adjoining village came to check out these strange Westerners who arrived in a big yellow truck and quickly started erecting tents on their front lawns. Although we had had this happen more often than not on the West Coast the locals here were a tad overzealous and had no concept of personal space. As it started raining we threw up a tarp over the kitchen area which was probably only about 4x6 metres. Standing 4 deep around this tarp the keen locals surrounded the cooking group purely out of interest but with that many people things can get rowdy. With well over 100 people surrounding us it got quite loud and excitable. It is quite hard to explain the whole event but a fair percentage of the group were quite overwhelmed and uncomfortable as you would have to constantly fight through a crowd of people just to get in and out of the truck and they were very reluctant to leave after dinner to the point that some of the teenage kids hung around for hours and even tried to get into our tents and rifled through our rubbish, spreading it across the lawn. Awoken by a drunk local who was singing/rambling/preaching from 5-5:30 we were quite happy to see that nothing had been stolen and that we would soon be out of there. A smaller crowd of 20-30 joined us for breakfast but at last we were on our way to Addis Ababa.

Eager locals that surrounded our truck during a shop in town


Breakfast with the villagers
 
 
Addis Ababa is the 4th largest city in Africa with approximately 10 million people. The outskirts were less developed but fortunately we were staying in the centre which is fairly metropolitan by African standards. We checked ourselves into the Taitu Hotel in the middle of town where we now have 4 nights in a row in a bed with a hot shower. This is just the 3rd city we have had a hotel room provided for us without us having to pay for an upgrade, the other 2 being Swakopmund and Cape Town, so everyone is currently in high spirits. With Oasis HQ being a little worried about our reputation for infecting their staff with tropical diseases they sent us a new tour leader to help our driver Nick with the rest of the trip. Mark is with us until Cairo and after just a couple of nights with him it seems he will fit right in.
 
 
 
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