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Published: August 1st 2006
We had set off just before sun set. I took a look at the terrain on the way up it was this weird mix of highland plataeu surrounded by mountians and covered by low bush and grass land. There wasn't much out there.
On the night drive itself I had decided to actually enjoy the experience rather than just sit there and wait for it too end. As a result I was looking all around, rather than try to get some sleep. In the dark you could see traces of some settlements, the odd building here and there and the occassional lantern in the distance.
There were initially 15 other passengers on that truck. Most of them got off at a settlement of some description along the way. Others, however, seemed to get off in the middle of nowhere. Quite litterally the drivers assistant would bang on the roof of the cab and the driver would stop. I could see from the lights of the truck that there was litterally NOTHING there yet people seemed to be able to tell where they were.
May be they had learned how to tell one identical bush from another. In the dark!!!
This was baffling, but the people getting off where happy that they knew what they were doing.
We got to a collection of shops (two of them) either side of a narrow passage way next to the road at about 10.30pm We were directed down this passage, which was not lit in any way towards the sound of a tv. (Take a guess what it was showing? Football, I think it was the Portugal-Netherlands game but I was too tired to remeber).
We were told straight away that there were no rooms. I would have said that there are no more huts, but the guys here refered to it as rooms. I guess every thing is relative.
I walked back to the truck and found that they were unloading the fizzy pop bottles that took up one half of the cargo area. Fantastic another nights accomodation saved (i think it would have amounted to about £1.50 though) and there was quite a nice consequense of sleeping on the truck, I wouldn't have ot haul myself out of a bed at some unseemly hour and find some where to sleep on the back of the truck for the rest of the journey.
I managed to stay awake until half time at which point we tried to find out if there was any food. There wasn't, so instead I started asking for the England-Ecuador score. After 10 minutes we found some one who spoke English and who knew the score. All we could find out was that the final score was 1-0 to England, but that was all.
Some how I managed to stay awake for the second half. I stumbled back to the truck half asleep, climbed into the back and realised that even though most of the people had gotten off it was still going to be cramped. I found a spot between a large suitcase and another passenger and tried to get comfortable on the tightly packed bundles of USAid clothing that was to pass as a mattress for the night. The clothes were surprisingly very hard. My day pack was to serve as a pillow for the second night running. Its amazing what you'll find comfortable if you have no other choice.
Next thing I know the truck is roling along in daylight on its way to Moyale. I hauled myself off the floor of the truck stood, fell over as the truck wobbled along the road and tried to stretch. I asked how far away Moyale was and was informed that we would be there in the next hour.
Great was my first thought. We could still make a bus to Addis if we got accross the border quickly. Then I looked at the time. It was 7 am! All the long distance busses in Ethiopia leave by 6.30 in the morning. No matter what we would not be making it to Addis that day.
Then, eventually, we arrived at Moyale check point, after what seemd like a very, very long journey we had actually made it to the border with Ethiopia overland, with all our possessions, and health and sanity intact. I could really do with a shower, but looking at the landscape water was not in abundance, so that would have too wait.
We were informed that Moyale in Kenya was not a safe place. "Lots of Somali bandits" were the drivers assitant's words. He asked some of the otheres to take across the border. I put my pack on my back and prepared myself for the inpending 2 km walk between border posts that every one kept talking about in Nairobi.
On the way to immigration I got my first look at Moyale. The town is in a valley with the border being formed by the bottom of said valley. We were walking down to the post and you could see the Ethiopian side It looked like qiute a big hill to walk back up!
As for the Kenyan side it was bigger than I expected. There was also a tarmaced road! It lasted for about 100 meters down to the border post. But atleast it continued on the Ethiopian side.
I walked down to the post handed my passport over. The immigration officer asked me if I had an Ethiopian visa and noted that my Kenyan visa was about to run out. We were stamped out of Kenya and set off for the walk to Ethiopia.
As we walked past the gate I looked up at the next gate. It was only 50 meters dfown the road, releived I didn't have to walk 2 km I passed the Ethipopian gate and looked for immigration. They didn't make it that obvious. The process was also a bit strung out. We had to walk accross the road to customs. They asked a few questions and decided that they would poke around my bags.
Once they realised that I would have to unpack everything for the to do their jobs properly they lost interest and just stamped the passport.
Next up was trying to figure out how to get to Addis as quickly as possible.
We were helped to a bus after exchanging money. It was 10.30 am. If we got to the bus's furthest destination we could still make it half way to Addis by the end of today....
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anonymous
non-member comment
that is my home.
you were in the middle of no where, it was great the way you captured the real feeling of the town. I hope that you had a great time there. I miss is to much.