Ethiopia (04. – 10.05.2009)

 

Ethiopia… to describe it in three words: very beautiful, very poor, very populated. Travel here is tough, both physically and mentally.

 

 

 

As soon as we pass the border, the landscape, the atmosphere, the buildings change completely. A lot of “bars” (whatever that means) after the border, the beautiful round huts we saw in Sudan are replaced by tin covered huts. Should that be a bad sign?  Especially since we arrive in the middle of the rainy season! The landscape is amazing. A lot of beautiful hills and mountains, and – it seems – deserted places. At such a “deserted” place we erect our tent, 100 percent convinced that nobody on earth could discover us. But with the first sunlight, the first “visitors” can be heard around our tent. Within one hour, the whole village surrounds our tent and we have no idea how to arrange our “morning toilet”.

 

Somehow we succeed and continue our very lovely trip to Gonder. Obviously it is rather difficult to find campgrounds in Ethiopia. A nice place with a fence we shot to camp turns out to be a meat factory. We continue looking for other places and end up sleeping in the garden of the best hotel in Gonder, the Goha Hotel. The place is on top of a hill and offers a fantastic view over Gonder. We enjoy the privacy, just some security guards who are staring at us like animals in the zoo. The whole day we hope to see Juan again, our Spanish friend we left in Khartoum. And thanks to his 12 hours trip from Khartoum to Gonder we meet again and celebrate our being together with some Spanish chorizos.

Going shopping in Gonder is a nightmare. Within minutes we are surrounded by “friends” – the kind you don’t look or ask for – who want to help you and and it is hard to get rid of them. Fortunately, it is better in the other cities. Whenever we take a short break in the countryside we are surrounded, within a few seconds, by kids staring at us or asking -  give me food, give me money, give me pen. So having some privacy outside the fenced hotels or campgrounds to enjoy the countryside and attractions of Ethiopia is absolutely impossible.

The next day we visit the Royal Enclosure with its beautiful castles, a World Heritage Site since 1979, before we separate again. Juan decides to go to Lalibela, we prefer the Simien Mountains National Park.

The trip through the Abyssinian Mountains is just breathtaking, however,  when we reach the Park Office after 120 kilometers, we have our first flat tire (the first of three within two days). Thomas is changing the tire and the whole village is watching (or is it the whole world?).  Quickly back to our nice hotel in Gonder, just to find the next flat tire…

 

We continue our trip south, direction Addis Abbeba. The roads are wonderful now, but it’s hard to move, because thousands of people and cattle are crossing the streets without looking, and you can’t make many kilometers. But we arrive safely in Bahir Dar, which is said be one of the nicest cities in Ethiopia. It’s really a lovely place with palm-lined boulevards and beautiful lake Tana. And another nice hotel where we can sleep in the garden…however, not a quiet night, since the whole city is watching Chelsea – Barcelona, and people are screaming and shouting and celebrating…

Obama Restaurants & Cafes are all over the place. How will it be in Kenya?

 

 

 

Even we heard that the road to the Blue Nile Falls – a 30 km drive one way - is very bad and that there is not much water in the falls, we decide to go there, and the hard trip is really worth it.  Our guide Walalau shows us around and it’s very impressing, even the River Nile has indeed only little water, because of the dry season and the two power plants to which most of the water is deviated. But we are happy to be back to “our” Nile… The price for this lovely adventure is another flat tire!!

But we continue our trip to Addis Abbeba on very beautiful roads. In Debre Marcos we try to find a campground or a hotel, but impossible! In the charity institution of Mother Theresa we are allowed to put up our tent. Immediately we are surrounded by a lot of children, and it makes us very sad and depressed to hear from a sister that all of the 120 orphans living there are born HIV positive… Helping them is fighting against windmills… This night we are very moved and depressed… we get up very early the next morning, but some of the kids are already at our tent and want to know everything…

We continue our trip to Addis Abbeba on very good roads, through really breathtaking landscape. It’s impressing to cross the River Nile for the last time, a very huge gorge, that really can be compared to  the Grand Canyon! At noon, we finally arrive in Addis Abbeba and enjoy a cold coke in our nice “Taitu” hotel. As usual, we have a lot of things to arrange, like checking the car with Toyota or finding an Internet Cafe to upload our Sudan Blog. Mission impossible! After some hours looking around we end up in the business center of the Hilton Hotel…

The next morning welcomes us with a very nice surprise: Juan’s blue Toyota is parked next to our car, so he must have arrived at night. Happy to see him again, we head for the “Merkato”, which is said to be Africa’s largest market.  It’s nice to look around, but it is wise to take care of your wallet! Even we are very careful, somebody attacks Thomas while he is talking with the taxi driver. Thanks God Thomas’ reaction is very quick and nothing happened.

We continue our trip south towards the Kenyan border. The first 50 kilometers after Addis Abbeba are a nightmare. Lots of trucks and traffic. It’s hard to move. However, after 2 hours, it improves a lot and with sunset we arrive in Awasa, where we plan to spend the night at Ethiopia’s “best campground”. Our GPS leads us directly to a place which is no campground any longer, but the lodge of Petra and Thomas, a very nice German couple with its lovely kids Paula and Josha. They tell us that the owner of the campground left last year and there is no campground any longer in Awasa!! But they invite us to spend the night in their garden. We have a lovely evening with them on their terrace and enjoy their hospitality and a quiet night. Thanks to you, Petra and Thomas, it’s really Ethiopia’s best campground!

The last day in Ethiopia is lying ahead of us! The last 500 kilometers to the Kenyan border. This trip is extremely beautiful. The landscape changes from hour to hour. It’s very green in the Highlands, and later, coming closer to the border,  the earth is red, we see a lot of camels and very lovely surroundings. With sunset we arrive in Moyale, the border city, and we find a room in the city’s best hotel (again! – no comment). 

We cook in our room – to be on the safe side – and are talking about the next day, the first 250 kilometers in Kenya, a road that is said to be the worst in Africa. Unfortunately – that should be the truth!! But there is no other option, the only way to get into Kenya…

We are always looked at -

 

 

 

 

… but all of us are  kids and you can play with them!

 

 

 

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Traffic is slow due to different “obstacles ”.

 

 

 

We drove 2014 kilometers in Ethiopia. The main roads are new and good but nevertheless the average speed is less than 50 km/hour. Once you leave the good roads you find bad gravel roads which are a killer for the tires.

Our Trip trough Ethiopia.

This blog was done on the 13./14.05.2009 in Marsabit (Kenya) waiting for spare parts from Nairobi for Juan’s car.

 

 

 

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Sudan (29.04. – 03.05.2009)

It’s hot in Sudan. Very hot.

The first thing that comes to our mind when looking back to Sudan are the extreme temperatures. We experience temperatures between 44 and 48 degrees during daytime and around 35 degrees at night. We drive – with a few stops for sightseeing - during the day to escape the heat, and sleeping in the tent becomes a challenge, since the tent feels like a sauna. And it is getting worse if there is no wind. Our t-shirts are soaking wet within minutes. Water consumption is extreme so that we have to use every chance to refill our water tanks. 

 

The landscape in Sudan is beautiful. The first hours we feel we are still in Egypt. Exactly the same desert, the same black mountains…and the same lovely River Nile…

Most of the time our journey even follows the River Nile.

We enjoy the many small nice and colorful Nubian villages which we pass. 

 

 

 

 

 

The 3rd Nile cataract is a real highlight of our trip through Sudan and gives us the chance to go for a swim and a morning bath in the Nile and also to cool down.

 

 

 

Juan, our Spanish friend, is taking a morning shower in the Nile.

 

 

 

The roads in Sudan are amazingly good ….. … but we still have to do a lot of off-road driving. 

We even have most of the time mobile phone coverage.

 

 

 

 

Driving through the Nubian Desert…

 

 

 

 

The desert along the Nile

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are almost no road signs in the remote areas so that careful trip planning is an absolute must.

 

Even with all the driving we take our time for  lunch breaks …..

 

 

 

… and at night, even with temperatures beyond 35 degrees, we try to have a good meal and relax with a shisha.

 

 

Juan spoils us with  delicious Spanish food.

 

 

 

 

And if we don’t cook ourselves we always find a Sudanese “shopping mall” with a nice coffee shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The campsites we find are always quiet and in beautiful surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

Beside its beautiful landscape, Sudan has a lot of hidden secrets which need to be discovered, like the pyramids in Karima ...

 

 

… and the temple of Mut.

 

 

 

 

 

We try to bring some life to these old ruins. 

 

 

 

 

We feel very privileged to travel by car with air-condition if we look at the local transportation in Sudan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 3 days we arrive in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. It offers some nice places like the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile, but after a short visit to this huge city, we quickly head for the desert. Unfortunately, we also have to say goodbye to Juan, since he has to organize some things in Khartoum…
Adiós  Juan, we really hope to see you again in Ethiopia!

During the trip from Khartoum to the Ethiopian boarder, the landscape changes completely. We see the first round huts and feel to arrive in the real Africa..


Due to the high temperatures, travelling is quite exhausting in Sudan, but we enjoy every minute. Finally we have to say goodbye to Sudan and the river Nile. We enjoyed the beautiful countryside, as well as the nice and hospitable people.

We drove 1765km in Sudan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 4th of May we are in Ethiopia and are  writing our blog on a nice plateau overlooking the surrounding mountains and being watched by a group of local children.   
We immediately
find out that being in Africa means always being surrounded by hundreds of children, no matter if you stop for a bite to eat, for taking a photo, for going to the toilet or if you want to write the blog… that’s why our blog is somehow shorter than usual, but it’s hard to concentrate with hundreds of eyes staring at you…

Ferry to Sudan (27.-29.04.2009)

When we arrive at the port at 10 am (7 hours before departure) we thought we are the first passengers, but there are already hundreds waiting to enter the harbor… It takes 3 hours to arrange all the paperwork for us and the car. We are told that the car can only be loaded on a separate barge, after all the other luggage is stored, that means again waiting waiting waiting… we find a small “coffeeshop” where we have at least some shade, but still the temperature is 35 degrees.

  

The group of passengers with cars and Mr. Mahmoud from the harbor.

 

 

 

At 4 pm, we finally enter our 1st class cabin. 1st class is a big word for a small and very basic cabin. After seeing the toilets, we decide not to eat or drink the next 24 hours… Mr. Salah from the shipping company pays us a last visit in our cabin. Bye bye Mr. Salah, and thanks for everything, everything was perfect and worked as planned!

 

 

 

 

At 5 pm, the 3 cars are loaded, and half an hour later, the barge and the ferry are ready to leave for Wadi Halfa, the port in Sudan. We are supposed to arrive the next day around noon, the cars one day later. Let’s hope and see…

We immediately notice that “hand luggage” has a completely different meaning in Africa: toilets, refrigerators, treatmills, airconditions, all kinds of furniture, etc. there is nothing we don’t  see! And that is only the hand luggage, the real luggage went with the barge. It’s hard to move around because of all the people sleeping, eating and the luggage on deck. But after all, the scenery is really nice and we enjoy the talk with the others as well as a beautiful sunset.

At 6.30 am, shortly before sunrise, we pass Abu Simbel. Unfortunately, the light is not yet good enough, that’s why we put also a photo from a previous trip…

At 10:30 am, we arrive in Wadi Halfa, but we have to stay another 2 hours on board to finalize again our documents. Once we leave the ferry, thanks to Mr. Magdy from the shipping company, customs and transportation to the village is done quickly and we check in in the “best hotel in town”. We extend our decision not to eat and drink another 24 hours…

 

We spend a relaxed day, sitting in front of our hotel, talking with Juan, a very nice Spanish guy we already met in Assuan and who is planning to make the same trip, however, in 6 weeks! We liked each other from the first moment and decide to make the trip through Sudan together. Suddenly, at 6 pm, we get a call from Magdy that the barge has arrived in the harbor. Not only we are surprised but also Mr. Magdy since the barge is 12 hours early and that never happened before. Maybe it helped to offer the captain of the barge a good tip if he brings the cars safe and in time to Sudan.

So we leave right away to the harbor to get the cars off the barge. A little tricky activity since the ship is 50 cm higher than the dock. We manage it somehow with the help of the captain and within an hour we are back to our hotel for a good night sleep in our luxurious hotel room.

The next day starts early, 8:30 am, since we have to pass customs with the cars. Also this exercise is done amazingly fast and within an hour we are ready to leave Wadi Halfa to explore Sudan.