13 months of sunshine - where is it??

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Another new country, only three more left now and maybe only six weeks (if all goes to plan!).

So after being deposited by the armed guards at the border, we had lunch in a local cafe where we got many stares whilst we ate the traditional mixed bean dish and pilau rice, it was very yummy though. We then drove to immigration where we were stamped out of Kenya with relative ease and then crossed nomansland to the Ethiopian immigration which took several hours even though we had already got our visas in Nairobi! Once customs had 'checked' the truck over we made our way north into the countryside and pulled off the road to bushcamp early evening. It was my cook groups turn to cook. Having lost one member, Anna, in Nairobi we had to recruit someone else. All the new people who had joined it Nairobi had been allocated to other groups so we decided in our group (me and Andy) that each time we cooked we'd have a guest appearence. This time Christina volunteered and we cooked boiled potatoes, sausages (from a tin), baked beans, fried onion and colesaw, the result was the 'best meal so far on the truck' - excellent.

On 4th July we drove all day through lushous cultivated hills and ended up driving late into the evening as we couldn't find anywhere to bushcamp as it seemed that there was one continuous village for 300km! We ended up in the city of Awasa and sleeping in our tents in a posh hotel carpark in the pouring rain! The following day we drive a few km's down the road to some hotsprings in the village of Wosha. Me and a few others opted out when we discovered it was a huge swimming pool rather than the natural rock pool setting that we imagined! We spent our time having lunch in a hotel which overlooked the hotsprings and eventually the others joinned us. As we planned to spend the night in the little village of Wosha, Christina, Andy and I spent the afternoon exploring the market and local tipples with a few local guys who spoke good english and showed us around. They took us to a Tej house to taste the local honey wine, sounds interesting but actually it was a really lovely experience drinking with the locals in the back of someones house off the main street. It was surprisingly busy and everyone was interested to know why we were there and what we thought of the honey wine. They served the wine in conical flasks which amused us as it reminded us of being back at school in the chemisty lab! We also tried the local draught at another bar where the rest of the group were waiting for dinner to be served.

On 6th July we drove the 270km to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, through the Rift Valley. We hadn't booked any accommodation in Addis as there had been mixed reports on the quality of accommodation so we thought best to drive round and look at a few. In the end we opted for the Itegue Taitu Hotel in the Piazza area and a good location for seeing the city. The main reason for spending time in Addis was to obtain visas for Sudan and to get them we had to get our Egyptian visas first to prove that we would actually be leaving Sudan. So first thing monday morning we met in the hotel reception to hand over our passports and to fill in the visa application forms which had been collected by the tour leader, only to find that there were protests on at the Egyptian embassy and that we couldn't get in to get the application forms! And we thought the Sudan visas were going to be the problem! Instead we filled in the Sudanese applications so that they were ready to go and the only thing we could do with the Egyptian visas was wait until the next day, go back to the embassy and hope that the protest had calmed down....

We spent the afternoon sight seeing in the city and finding our bearings. In the evening the whole group met up and went to a lovely italian restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. It was the most delicious meal we'd had for a long time and we were seriously under dressed as it was one of the poshest restaurants in Addis (not at all expensive though), even Brad Pitt enjoyed himself there by the looks of the photos! The next morning we met again to see if there had been any success at the Egyptian embassy, and there had, no protests at all! We submitted the forms and paid $60 for the Brits (the most expensive) and were told to collect them the next day. Once that was sorted we headed to the National Museum to see 'Lucy' (Australopithecus afarensis); the oldest human to be found (until 4 yrs ago), aging 3.2 million yrs old and found in Ethiopia in 1972, the cradle of mankind. Also there was a sculpture of 'Salem's' face, the 3 yr old child who is thought to be 1.5 million yrs older than Lucy found more recently and transformed the knowledge of the appearence of early humans. It was a fascinating museum but it lacked organisation and really needed a makeover. Afterwards we made our way to the Holy Trinity Cathedral where Emperor Haile Selassie (1930-1974) and his wife have their tombs. We had a guide explain the paintings and murials in the cathedral, it was more impressive inside than out. To the side of the Cathedral was a museum with a collection of Haile Sellassie's prize possessions (including loads of gold crowns displayed on shelves - not protected much) which was actually very interesting.

I spent the next few days in Addis whilst waiting for both visas to be processed catching up on things and getting things together before leaving the big city. I'm glad that I made the effort to go to the Ethnological Museum based in the University as it had a brilliant display on the different tribal groups in Ethiopia and there traditions. It also showed and explained the traditional craftmanships, the diversity of religions and historic artwork (religious icon paintings and processional crosses dating back to 4th Century) and musical instruments. On our last night in Addis (11th July) we went to another Italian restaurant (they ruled for several yrs in the early 20th Century and seem to have a huge influence on the cuisine of Ethiopia) where they had a brick pizza oven - yum yum.

We left Addis on 12th July and spent two days travelling to Bahir Dar in northwest Ethiopia, through the Blue Nile gorge (the first time to see the Blue Nile), very dramatic scenery. Bahir Dar is a town set on Lake Tana which is where the Blue Nile originates from. When we first arrived in Bahir Dar we visited the Blue Nile Falls where the water leaves the lake and passes down a waterfall to form the Blue Nile. Just as we began our walk to the falls, the thunder started and it poured it down with rain. There was no defined path and it was very muddy which made it very treterous! By the time we made it to the falls the rain had cleared and we had a great view over the countryside. The falls weren't as impressive as they used to be (we'd seen pictures) as the introduction of the hydroelectric plant had significantly reduced the flow, but they were still worth seeing. The following day (14th July) we organised a boat trip on Lake Tana to visit the monastries which are built on the islands. They were really fascinating and some of the bibles, processional crosses and iconic paintings dated back as early as the 12th Century. Some of the biblical paintings had been touched-up but in the last monastry, the biggest, Ura Kidan Mehret, was magnificient as it had huge wooden doors and the painting were still the originals.

On 15th July we began a three day trip away from the truck to Lalibela; an ancient town where 11 magnificent medieval rock-hewn churches were built during the late 11th Century and 12th Century (a World Heritage Site). It took a day to drive there as the road was really bad but it wasn't so bad as it was beautiful scenery looking down on valleys and up at mountains. On the second day we found three guides to take us aroubd the churches. We split up into smaller groups and spent the day exploring the alleyways, underground tunnels and dimly lit churches. The churches had been carved, by hand, out of the red volcanic bedrock which sites on the edge of the mountain. Every church was different in design, shape and size and the high-priest at each would show us the processional crosses and sometimes ancient biblical texts. It was fascinating to here the history behind the churches and the story behind the building of each. That night our guide arranged a traditional meal for my group at a local restaurant. The Ethiopian stable is called Injera, which is used like a bread to mop up lentils, spinach and garlic and beans. It was absolutely delicious and meat -free (fasting day). We met the others in a Tej house later in the evening to watch some tradional dancing. On 17th we spent the day driving back to Bahir Dar to meet the truck and continue north to Gondor, another historical city.

Gondor was a base for visiting the likes of Axum and the Simien Mts, both of which the truck couldn't reach. I decided to stay in Gondor for the week for financial reasons and explore the 17th Century castles whilst half the group made plans to visit Axum, an ancient kingdom, and hike in the Simien Mountains (not the best in rainy season). The group which stayed behind in Gondor managed to fill the time by visiting the local sights, cooking in the evenings and taking a trip to the Simien Mts for half a day.

We left Gondor on 26th July and headed to the Sudanese border.....

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