4 Bikes and 2 Cars, from Ladybrand to Cairo and onto the Black Forest... The Team consists of: Roger and Jo-Anne (KTM 990) Going all the way. Rudi and Adri (GS 800) Going to Cairo. Doug and Jenny (KTM 990) Doug going all the way, Jen to Nairobi. Charl (KTM 950) Going all the way. Ian and Cheryl (Toyota Fortuner) Going all the way. Mike (Mitsubishi 2800) Going all the way.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Lalibela to Axum
Lalibela to Aksum
Jerusalem Guesthouse in Lalibela was extremely good and can certainly be recommended. Rooms were big, clean and first prize in Africa certainly are clean toilets and showers. We were all very apprehensive about staying in another hotel after our two previous night’s disasters. Camping definitely preferred but because of Ethiopia’s dense population it was impossible to find camping spaces. Lalibela is a must seen on a visit to Ethiopia. The religion cultivated from the Lalibela, Axum and Gondor area are very fascinating, interesting and very, very alive. Our visit has brought so many unanswered questions to reality.
We left round 9am on route to Makele. The day’s driving included a 165km dirt road with a further 150km stretch of tar. As we left the beautiful, high lying, world heritage site of Lalibela, with it’s cobble stone streets and rich history of religion and power battles between families we started our decline with an awesome view of a beautiful mountain range, and from then it was range after range and valley after valley for the next 165Km. Spectacular views all the way. Population a lot less than along our previous routes. The people of this region live under harsh conditions yet many a hill have been cultivated. It must take those who work the fields, still very primitively, most of the day to climb either up or down the mountains depending on where their villages are situated.
Roger and Jo unfortunately had a fall round one of the thousands of ends. The bikes back tyre slipped on loose stones and they bought a piece of Ethiopia. Fortunately they got off lightly and were helped by a very kind local guy half Jo-Anne’s size. For Roger it was his second fall on the trip and he is a bit ‘ eina’.
All the bikers regrouped at Korem and waited another hour for back-up vehicles before deciding to head on to Makela because of the smell of rain in the air. Not even 20km’s on our way we had to stop for raincoats. The next 130km’s were wet; trying with endless mountain passes that never ended. The KTM’s were searching for fuel since there was no fuel on route. Doug and Charl eventually bought some fuel for a ridiculous price on the black market and Roger proudly did 91Km on his reserve tank. The KTM basically stalled without fuel right in front of the first fuelling station on entering Makele.
We booked into the Atse Yohannes Hotel, once again a bit of a disaster. No water in the whole hotel. We waited for the back-up vehicles. The day definitely had it’s problems since Ian’s roof rack broke loose and he and Mike had to make a temporary plan to reach destination.
We all had supper, nothing exciting, had a drink on the veranda and headed for bed. Rudi and myself had water in our room by then but no working toilet. The others had working toilets but no water in the showers. What a disappointment after Lalibela.
The next morning Rudi and Roger went off to try and find out about the possibility to enter Eritrea. Although we managed to get visas before we left South Africa the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been closed and nobody not even the United Nations could give them ay useful information. Eritrea plan s had to be ditched. What a disappointment that was!
The guys then had to do maintenance on the roof rack and we only managed to leave Makele for Axum after 1pm. The only good memory of Makele was awesome chilli burgers that were ordered as take away.
We left town only after 1pm. As we climbed the hills out off Makele we started smelling rain. The vegetation now changed completely, from lush green hills before Makele to dry, desert like terrain. The styles of the houses changed from grass and brick huts to stone built houses with flat roofs that have gravel and grass on the roofs. Goats were even grazing on top.
Not even 10Km out of town the rain started pouring down, thunder and lightning enhanced by the rocks and mountains around us. We pulled off and stood at a roadside shop for most of an hour waiting for the rain and thunder to subside. A huge surprise was awaiting us around the next corner after we left. The Chinese, as in most African countries, are busy rebuilding roads. Our first mountain pass after the rain storm was a very steep, wet and slippery one with a huge truck being stuck right in the middle of the road. Here I and JO-Anne had to hang on for dear life slipping and sliding upwards past trucks, bulldozers and Ethiopian’s shouting at Rudi for passing the obstacles on the right and not left as per Ethiopian road rules. The next couple of kilometres were rather tough on both the cars and bikes since the climbing and descending of passes just got more intense as we proceeded. Together with the intensifying of the passes the beauty also intensified. It was absolutely beautiful nature scenes.
Ethiopia is just an awesomely beautiful country. Unfortunately there is almost no place along any stretch of road through the whole country where there are no people to be found and the poverty is overwhelming sad.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Axum crossing into Sudan
7 July 2011 – Axum and crossing into Sudan
Today we are to travel from Aksum to Gonder via the Siemien Mountains which we knew would be one of the most spectacular drives done so far, but I do not think that any of us expected it to be as spectacular as it was. Although we knew that most of the drive would be on dirt & over numerous passes, as the distance was only about 230kms, we all had breakfast & set off at a reasonable time. We had paid $50.00 per room which included breakfast, but when we were leaving the waitress & the manager asked for payment for breakfast as they said that the rate did not include breakfast! As both Adri & Jo-anne had confirmed a number of times with the manager the night before that the rate included breakfast we refused to pay. This incident unfortunately spoiled what otherwise had been a very pleasant stay with very nice staff - once again it proved how communication in English can difficult in the north of Africa.
We struggled to find our way out of town as there were road works and the way out was blocked with no alternative shown. Cheryl & I eventually followed a “tuc tuc” (small scooter taxi) out of town. Although the road was dirt, it was good and straight for the first 50 kms, but thereafter changed dramatically.
We descended down a steep pass with many hair pin bends, which was made more difficult due to the road construction by the Chinese. The road works themselves were spectacular as the new road was literally carved out of the side of the mountain and built up over ravines. We often had to wait for construction vehicles working in the road and at times avoid rolling rocks! At one point we had a lengthy wait due to a heavy duty truck getting stuck. The cars eventually managed to squeeze past. The bikes also found the going difficult due to sections being covered in thick mud.
After many hours of slow driving the cars managed to find a secluded spot on the road to have coffee and “lunch”. What was special about the stop was that we had the most magnificent view of the Siemien Mountains. I do not know how to describe the mountains other than to say that they are amongst the most spectacular mountains that I have ever seen!
The bikes at this stage were well ahead of the cars, but Mike, Cheryl & I continued expecting that the passes had now ended - little did we know what lay ahead!
This last pass started at the bottom of a huge mountain, which we all thought that the road would
go around - but it went straight over the top. Apart from hair pin ends, the road became very narrow in places with sheer drops on the side. At times we felt a bit uneasy, especially pulling the trailer. It was also nerve racking for the bikers and many times we thought that Adri & Jo-anne would be waiting for us to pick them up. How they managed to stay on the back of the bikes I do not know! The pass was built by the Italians and is truely an engineering & road construction feat. I just hope that they leave the pass as it is and do not allow the Chinese to tar this section. We just kept on climbing with no visible way up the mountain. There is no pass in South Africa or Lesotho that can match this one.
When we eventually reached the top we still had some 30 kms to travel to Gonder over some bad dirt due once again to road construction. Cheryl & I eventually arrived in Gonder after dark.
Rudi & Adri had found a very nice place to stay called The Fazil Lodge. The rooms were clean and they had a “lapa” where they served their own roasted coffee which is grown on the property.
Unfortunately both Charl & Adri were not feeling well and as they thought they may have contracted malaria, Adri tested both of them. Fortunately the tests proved negative.
The owner of the lodge, Ephraim, showed us a very festive restuarant that evening, which was suspended over a road. The music, contemporary & local and the food was very good. After that the owner took Cheryl, Roger, Jo-anne, Doug b & I to a small “shebeen” where live Ethiopian music was being played by a small band, using drums & a home made “violin / harp” made from horse’s hair. We had a great evening, eventually getting home at around 1.00am! It was one of the few evenings where we had experienced true local culture.
8 July
Today the plan was to drive from Gonder to Gedaref, which is in Sudan, and meant a border crossing. The East London crew decided to leave early, but the Ladybrand crew decided to take a short tour to some castles, an old Orthodox church & Queen Sheba’s bath. The main reason for seeing the castles is that Roger’s dad was based for a while in Gonder during the second world war, when the Italians were using one of the castles as their HQ. It was quite something for Roger to be where his dad had been many years before. The trip was well worth it and left us with the feeling that Gonder was one of the best towns which we had visited in Ethiopia.
The road to the border was good tar and decended to the plains of Sudan. Unfortunately Charl came off his bike when a goat ran in front of him. Apart from scratches to his bike and grazes & a sprained ankle to himself, he was lucky not to be more badly hurt.
When we arrived at the border we found that the East London crew were still there as they had arrived at the Ethiopian border just as they were knocking off for lunch! We then all went through together, but it took us over 5 hours due to inefficiencies & delays on the Sudanese side. When we eventually left the border post we knew that it was too late to drive to Gedaref. As a result about 10 kms from the border the bikers found a disused quarry away from the road. They also cleared with some Sudanese army guys that it would be okey for us to camp in the quarry.
We were hidden from the road and set up camp in the quarry next to some water. This was our first bush camp and we all agreed that it was fantastic to be on our own in the open. A great evening was had by all!
Our Ethiopian evening
| Abject Poverty |
| Another night camping in the desert |
Bahi Dar - Lalibela
Left Debra Markos to Bahir Dar, approx 350km journey. Being a Sunday, there were many people going to church. Most were dressed in white shawls with a green stripe. Men went on their own and gathered on the beautiful green slopes and women went to a different place. Horses were decorated with red flowers around their necks and a red cloth over their backs.
This was all farming area. No shortage of beef plus the usual donkeys and goats. We travelled through the Nile Valley where there was very rich red fertile soil and miles of green pastures, absolutely breathtaking.
We stayed at the Ghion Hotel on Lake Tana. What a pFlace it must have been but unfortunately very run down. Red and yellow Cannas flowered all over the gardens. Very pretty.
All went to the Blue Nile Falls; unfortunately a hydro electric plant has been built, is not in use but has taken at least 80% of the falls away. Quite disappointing. The most impressive was a bridge built by the Portuguese centuries ago.
We went to a huge market to buy fresh veg and Rog and Jo made pasta for supper. Italiano style.
Plenty of rain during the night. We made packed lunches and headed for Lalibela. Roads were full of people on their way to work carrying bundles, either to sell or to plant. We even saw a corpse being carried on a stretcher! Travelling was slow as roads were full of people, goats and donkeys, bicycles and dogs. Scenery changed from lush to dry. Once in the open, travelling was easier on a tar road. Dirt road from Dilbe to Lalibela. The start of winding mountain passes. Extreme poverty dand children shouting “you, you, you” and asking for stuff, shared sweets etc, Arrived at Jerusalem Guest House Lalibela. An amazing place to stay, clean, lovely hot showers, the best!
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| Sand hewn churches in Lalibela |
Back at the guest house, the manager agreed that the ladies could go into the kitchen and learn the art of Ethiopian cooking. A wonderful feast was prepared and enjoyed. Adri, Cheryl and Jo-Anne were the sergeants for the night. They bought some of the local beer and fined all the men! Their comment - "Yuk!"
Awassa -Addis 1st July to Debrah Marcos 2nd July
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| The very bad hail storm |
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| Our accommodation next to the garage |
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| The road to Addis |
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| Lunch and a welcome break on the way to Addis |
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| A Hotel like this is way beyond our pocket |
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| Scaffoling the Ethiopian way!! |
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| Where in S.A can you park your car so close to a restaurant |
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| Our luxuary accommodation at Holland House |
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| And..... the luxury suite |
After a very welcome break we were ready to face the traffic again. From then on it was constant heavy traffic. when we eventually arrived in Addis the GPS kept on leading us into a lane which Ian as you can imagine, was not prepared to drive into because if the trailer got stuck it would have been a mission to try and get it out again. After driving round about three times again and many phone calls toAdri and each time being led back to the same lane. Through the help of locals we eventually found Holland House.
We were quite shocked at the look of the place when we arrived. Adri and Jo-Anne came to greet us and said that they had booked us into the luxury suite! Well it did have a sort of double bed but most of all hot water and a flushing loo and we even had a TV in our room, not that we were able to understand anything on the TV but it looked good.
It was our turn to cook so after a quick drink and a cigarette I started to prepare supper. Yes it was amazing because Ian nearly drove the Fortuner into the restaurant and even though they served food, Wim ( the Hollander who owns Holland House and Ragel his Ethiopian wife, not only allowed us to cook our own food but they also sold us some eggs and bread rolls and even allowed us to use the sink in the restaurant kitchen to wash our dishes. I made a so called cottage pie but as we only had gas to cook on it ended up being more like a mince stew! Well everyone seemed to enjoy the meal nonetheless. We also had what looked like a pumpkin but turned out to be an enormous squash.
After supper we joined the others in the pub, there were so many interesting people doing the same or more adventurous things than we are doing. We met a very nice dutch couple, who gave us a lot of information and a lot of tips. It was a lovely evening and testimony to the fact that we all went to bed quite late.
It was a pleasure getting up in the morning to a hot bath. Ian and I had already ordered our breakfast by the time the others arrived. I had two delicious pancakes for breakfast. Roger had organized with someone in Addis to make a new number plate for him for his bike as his other one had broken in half from his last fall. Things don't happen very quickly in Africa. Ian always quotes the saying 'the clocks belong to the western world but time belongs to Africa" how true this is! Rogers number plate was supposed to be ready by eleven at the latest but they actually only started making it that morning. Roger was fuming and said that we had waited around long enough already so he would make his own license plate out of cardboard. It was agreed that Ian and I should go ahead as we drive slower.
Ian and I went to the Hilton Hotel to try to draw money as he had tried earlier at another ATM, without much luck. The Hilton is a very upmarket hotel in a very pleasant, almost first world part of Addis, very different to where we were which was a very defunct railway station in a very dodgy area. We were able to draw money. We filled up with fuel and we think that due to the quality of the fuel, the Fortuner struggled.
The countryside was a a welcome relief after the battle to get out of Addis. Green mountainous, green and lush! People wore the most beautiful blankets in all the different colours and hues that you can imagine. Then we hit a huge hail storm and the temperature plummete4d to 6deg.. I t lasted for what seemed like forever and just when we thought that we would have to drive all the way through the storm, we ascended into the magnificent Blue Nile canyon. the temperature rose to 36deg. the canyon was very dry and rocky with undulating hills. We eventually arrived just before dark at Debrah Marcos.
the hotel was right on the road which overlooked the petrol station. The rooms were not that great but the bed was quite comfortable, there were also blankets on the bed so we were warm. the food I thought wasn't very good at all. Everyone was was tired so we all went to bed early.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
28th - 29th June Moyale Kenya to Yebello Ethiopia
We left Kenya Wildlife camp round 9am for the Ethiopian border which was only 500m away. Entering Ethiopia was rather slow 9 - 12am, but with no hick-up's. Roger and Doug however first had to find a welding machine to fix the two KTM'S who's frames cracked on the Marsabit road. The rest of the crew had to hang around.
While waiting we discovered a placed called the Koket Hotel and Restaurant, this place is highly recommended, clean , friendly and we were subsequently introduced to authentic, Ethiopian food which included Tibs firfir, Tibs and Veg, Ngeera (Local pan cakes made from Teff that has fermented for 3days) , Kitfo etc. We all had a wonderful meal, however no utensils came with the food, so we were all trying to eat without any. What a mess that was! Obviously a few local beers have also been consumed. Roger and Doug arrived with fixed frames and joined us for lunch since they could not do the border since it closes between 12h00-14h00. For a short time they were illegal immigrants, not that something like that will faze Roger.
Authentic lunch at Kotet hotel and restaurant
Welcome Llush scenery after 'desert' like conditions after entering Ethiopia
Koket Lunch
Scenery after entering Ethiopia
Desert Ant heaps
From Moyale we were supposed to go to Awassa, but since we had to wait for the bikes to be fixed we decided to stop in Yabello for the night. It was a short hop, 250km and what a wonderful surprise Ethiopia was. To think that the previous day took us 9-11hrs to do 250km just on the other side of the same mountain and the same distance. Ethiopia has wonderful tar roads winding through desert like scenery with birds in abundance, friendly people waving, shouting YOYOYOYO all the time. Although it was a wonderful road to travel on it was never without people on the side. It is one village after another, never ending.The scenery very desert-like with huge red and white anthills that looked like 'carved statues' for kilo's on end. On this stretch of road we saw more vultures than I have seen in my entire life. They are tame, sitting in trees and next to the road, on roof tops or just circling in the air. Roger once again had a flat on this stretch of tar and decided that it had to be his tyre that was defective. Replaced the tyre and the backup vehicle and the last bike arrived at Yabello after 7pm.
We booked into the hotel, nice clean rooms, tried to have supper but there was a bit off a mishap, so we ate very little and had an early evening.
The next day we departed for Awassa at about 09am, another short hop on beautiful roads. The countryside changed to more fertile soil and farming was seen everywhere. As we went along the road it dawned on us about the amount of people that are in Ethiopia, the second highest population after Nigeria with 110 million. Poverty clearly to be seen everywhere. Ethiopia's population stands on 82milj people with 50% below the age of 17yrs and to be doubled within the next 10years.
Arrived in Awassa lunch time, had a wonderful 'late' lunch at Lewi Restaurant, the LebLeb dish highly recommended and booked in at Hawassa Inn for the next two night. Our rest day was dedicated to servicing vehicles and bikes.
We are planning to leave for Debre Marko's the next day en route to Bahir Dar via the Blue Nile Valley before we head north to Lalibelo. So excited to see the Rock Hewn Churches.....
We are pleasantly surprised on how cheap Ethiopia is. We get 2.3birr to a rand and stay at hotels for less than R200 per couple per night b/b and eat out for R20 meal... feel like American's in the rest of the world.....
While waiting we discovered a placed called the Koket Hotel and Restaurant, this place is highly recommended, clean , friendly and we were subsequently introduced to authentic, Ethiopian food which included Tibs firfir, Tibs and Veg, Ngeera (Local pan cakes made from Teff that has fermented for 3days) , Kitfo etc. We all had a wonderful meal, however no utensils came with the food, so we were all trying to eat without any. What a mess that was! Obviously a few local beers have also been consumed. Roger and Doug arrived with fixed frames and joined us for lunch since they could not do the border since it closes between 12h00-14h00. For a short time they were illegal immigrants, not that something like that will faze Roger.
We booked into the hotel, nice clean rooms, tried to have supper but there was a bit off a mishap, so we ate very little and had an early evening.
The next day we departed for Awassa at about 09am, another short hop on beautiful roads. The countryside changed to more fertile soil and farming was seen everywhere. As we went along the road it dawned on us about the amount of people that are in Ethiopia, the second highest population after Nigeria with 110 million. Poverty clearly to be seen everywhere. Ethiopia's population stands on 82milj people with 50% below the age of 17yrs and to be doubled within the next 10years.
Arrived in Awassa lunch time, had a wonderful 'late' lunch at Lewi Restaurant, the LebLeb dish highly recommended and booked in at Hawassa Inn for the next two night. Our rest day was dedicated to servicing vehicles and bikes.
We are planning to leave for Debre Marko's the next day en route to Bahir Dar via the Blue Nile Valley before we head north to Lalibelo. So excited to see the Rock Hewn Churches.....
We are pleasantly surprised on how cheap Ethiopia is. We get 2.3birr to a rand and stay at hotels for less than R200 per couple per night b/b and eat out for R20 meal... feel like American's in the rest of the world.....
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