Ethiopia Part II

23 rd June 2004

I get up early to clean rear brake pads, Ranger off to bank to get some more birr. We’ve decided to go in convoy with Claus and Gunter, zee Germans, into Kenya simply because of the possible Shifta (bandit) presence en route and the fact the lads have GPS and a compass; the overland necessities we don’t have! We set off through the capital listening to our newly bought Ethiopian CD in high spirits. These are dashed when a bus pulls out and I am forced to take the inside lane resulting in a brief kiss with the rear end of a Mercedes reversing into the flowing traffic! Luckily, the engineers in Germany had done a sound job and the Merc came off lightly with a tiny dent in the rear corner, our vehicle a slightly bent bull bar. The Ethiopian driver blatantly realised he was in the wrong and only asked for 100 birr (12USD) to go our separate ways. We set off, again, on the decent tarmac to Dila passing large lakes, through lush areas of banana trees and past young lads desperately trying to sell pineapples - zee Germans oblige. We see Dila in the valley and a sign to the Rift Valley Resort and drive down through the wood to the closed, derelict ‘resort’ and set up camp in a parking area in the valley. We eat, drink and laugh until late.

24 th June 2004

Up late to the sounds of local kids playing in the stagnant swimming pool. After an espresso brewed up by the German lads, we stop in Dila for a healthy breakfast of cream cakes and banana biscuits. On we go on the tarmac through semi rainforest and ascend through misty villages and down onto a grassy plain passing cattle and bushes of bright yellow, reaching Yabello and the turnoff to the Omo Valley. We get some cash, fill up and bump along the stony road to Konzo stopping halfway to camp in a dry watering hole littered with cowpats. I feel dreadful and pop two Paracetamol shortly followed by the daily capsule of Doxy and a rich homemade spaghetti soup. We sit around a great fire. I start to feel worse, deposit the soup next to the Germans car and hit the sack early.

25 th June 2004

Feeling slightly better, we continue along the dusty track through Konzo, Woito, Barima and Turmi passing through a mountain range, across the valley floor and into a nature reserve; we see a male Bateleur Eagle, Eastern yellow-billed hornbill, Lappet-faced vulture, baboon, tiny Dikdik buck and two larger buck. The Germans change a slow puncture and we eat a sandwich whilst surrounded by bare chested local girls and naked kids which amused Gunter greatly. In Turmi, we get rid of some excess birr by filling the tank with 20litres of diesel siphoned from a Shell fuel drum, which had blatantly fallen from a passing truck. Q: How many Ethiopians does it take to pour 20litres of diesel? A: 25. We continue on and find a track into a dry, sandy riverbed and camp for the night in our most remote campsite so far.

Distance travelled since London : 12850 kms

To see the pics, click here!-------> Photo Link!