Blogs from Ethiopia, Africa - page 85

The Sudanese Embassy. AGAIN I went down to the Sudanese embassy the next day too see if there was the remotest possibility of getting the visa that would allow me to continue up to Egypt. Unfortunately not, but Monday was looking good. I did speak to a couple of other travellers that were also waiting. One had his passport open and was looking lovingly at a page. He told me that he had been waiting 6 weeks and only got it by speaking to the ambassador, who issued one personally. He slowly reached out to caress the light blue sticker with the tips of his fingers barely able to believe he had it. There was a Japanese tourist who had spent the better part of 18 months travelling from Japan through China into Europe and then ... read more

I had the privilege of being involved in a drilling feasibility study/training that involved several NGO’s including SIM. The training was held at the SIM Langano Station. It is a new manual drilling method that has been developed by a missionary in Bolivia who came over to Ethiopia to take us through the training. It is the opposite to mud rotary drilling, but if you’re not into drilling you might not understand. This method enables groups within a community to afford to buy their own drilling equipment and drill their own wells without a motorised drilling rig. It just uses man-power to drive the 2-inch weighted PVC drilling rods downward with a sharp drill bit attached to the end and a return foot valve that brings the drilling mud back up the pipe. You have to ... read more

I am in the process of getting my accommodation sorted out for when I move down to Langano and Tufa. I will spend half of the week in Tufa and the other half in Langano, they are two hours apart by vehicle. The house in Tufa is about 90% finished. It is constructed of eucalypts poles covered by a mud and straw mix, then there is a layer of cement on the walls and we will finish off the walls with white paint. We have a concrete/rock veranda and a corrugated tin roof. My house in Langano was build by a family several years ago but has never been finished off. Half of the house is made of bricks and the other half is a shipping container. We need to get the plumbing connected and finish ... read more

I’m standing in the police station and everyone is shouting, no that’s wrong, screaming at each other. I was quite drunk but adrenaline has kicked in and I now feel very sober. I’m trying to work out who is on my side and who is against me, it’s difficult as all I see is a bunch of drunken men screaming at each other. The police man sits behind a counter, a cigarette hangs from his mouth and a machine gun stands between his knees. He has a truncheon in his hand and occasionally a random crazy drunk will march into the police station and shout at him and he’ll bang his truncheon against the desk and they’ll leave. An argument about a bar bill has gone to extraordinary ridiculous lengths and I’m not too happy to ... read more

I woke and started to pack. Mike had found that the Hotel Wutma had 2 single rooms for little more than we were already paying so across the road we went. Once that was out of the way we headed towards the British Embassy because we needed to obtain a letter of commendation before we went to the Sudanese embassy. A Brief Description of Addis Ababa Addis Ababa is Amharic for New Flower, and was built about a hundred years ago as a capitol city and is mainly a business and administrative centre. As a result there isn’t much there for tourists and most tend to fly in for a night and fly out to wherever they want to go, or once they have arranged a tour. In terms of entertainment there isn’t much either. Most ... read more

Now before I launch into a celebration of the fact that we had finally reached Addis let me remind you what has gone on. Mike & I had set off on Saturday Morning (I didn’t eat breakfast) They tried to over charge us in Lake Nivasha, and then charge us for our bags in Nairobi Saturday night was spent into Isiolo, we woke at 1.30 am to catch a truck at 2am Sunday was spent on a truck, in the back with the cargo. There was the episode during Sunday afternoon when I though my bags had been stolen Sunday night was spent sleeping on the back of a truck Monday was the bus ride from hell Tuesday is today and its early evening and I want a bed I have eaten 1 & 1/2 plates ... read more

Hello, I know its een a while since I've been in touch with every one, or since I last updated the blog. Lack of internet at home has been te main culprit, but I'm hoping to catch up with every one soon, or feel free to drop me line... 10 pm the bus arrived in a town called Hagar Mariam. It was time to find a hotel and some information on where to catch tomorrows' bus from. Unfortunately the english speaker I had met had got off at the last town. Fortunately he had asked that we be shown to a suitable hotel and where to catch the next bus from. The first place we went too looked quiet nice. The receptionist smiled and started talking in Ahmeric. Our guide (one of the people working on ... read more

So we got on the bus at 10.30 got overcharged and were sat there waiting for it to fill up before leaving and it got under way at 11.30. There were alot of people and luggage on that bus, but even then the conductor put his head out of the wndow and started shouting out the destination in the hope of enticing more people on. The bus then abruptly did a u-turn and went back to the pickup point. People got off and we waited abit more. And waited. And waited. When I asked what the hold up was no one understood. This is rural Ethiopia, its probably a matter of education and resources was my first thought. So we waited. And waited. And waited... Eventually an english speaker got on the bus ans we started ... read more