Fat bottomed sheep make the rocking world go round
Now in Djibouti, our last port of call, after a wonderful wonderful month in Ethiopia, a perfect end to an almost perfect year, sadly now drawing to a close.....
After an amusing evening at Moyale fending off the attentions of the particularly persistent border town hustlers ('oh i am the best guide in the whole of Ethiopia, everyone is my friend and if you dont have one you will see nothing and probably be killed...'), and dining on 'cultural food' - fasting firfir and injera (a very sour pancake that doubles as your plate as well as your meal)- we headed west past huge 3m ant hills on a good dirt road to the village of Konso in the tribal regions. On the way gave a local tribes women a lift out of kindness and perhaps hoping she would let us take her photo at the end, she a little weary but eventually she hopped in with her rather large container filled with what seemed like water, so off we bumped along the dusty dirt road and as we got to her hut out she jumped and as she did her container exploded and foamed its contents all over the cruiser, she blaming us no photo and no beer! The following day we visited the surrounding villages and took most peoples advice by taking a guide; the villages nice but feeling a bit fake - every corner you turned a half naked villager picked up pipe, spun wool, pushed child to breast - poses to get the 1 birr going rate for photos - and with our guide feeling Cadie up remorslessly, and the kids screaming for pens and jumping all over the car (finally shook off after a few sharp braking manouvers smashed their dear sweet faces into the back window), we decided against going further west into the omo valley proper and what seemed a bit of a tourist trap, so headed north to the Rift valley lakes around Arba Minch instead, past kids doing a kind of umpa lumpa dance on sight of the cruiser in the hope that we would freely dispense pens, water bottles, money for the priveledge, we didnt. Arba Minch a nice friendly town, camped in a hotels grounds and were savaged by mosqitoes as an extra, next day deciding the cruiser and us needed to get back to really bad road / offroad adventure, so headed into the v scenic and v cheap Nechisar national park, bush camping overnight in the park and springing our first African puncture, a big side wall split done on a very steep and very rocky track; spent a lovely morning in the park bathing in some hot water springs & watching the zebras and birdlife around us, next day took a boat out onto Lake Chamo to see about 30 fat crocs, hippos and lots of very brave pelicans, before heading onto Awasa en route to the Bali mountains where we spent Easter. What majesty! Our camp for 2 nights surrounded by very sweet and friendly warthogs and the occasional Nyala, went trekking for a day - in training for the Simien mountians - near the park headquarters before taking what sounded like (and was) one of the best road trips in the country, the highest all weather (though still dirt) road in Africa across the Sanetti plateau, bush camping in the mist at the top and sighting the rare Ethiopian wolf, before decending next day to one of the most special places we have ever been - the Harenna forest, a strip of spell binding cloud forest with rock outcrops in the heart of Oromo country...we bush camped in the forest at a stunning spot by a stream looking up at the Harrena escarpment, the friendly locals paying the occasional visit & all sporting the latest in local mens fashion, an AK47 slung casually across the shoulder or draped cooly over the back.... after a few nervy walks alone in the supposedly lion & leopard infested forest (we only saw colobus monkeys, but some big paw prints got us thinking) we headed in cruiser on a long loop south through more incredible scenery, across rickety bridges and past charming and unspoilt villages before popping out near Negele Borana on the road to Mogadishu....from there (wisely perhaps) headed back west instead of east, spending a night back in Awasa and a brief stop to visit Jamaicas repatriated Rastas in their 'promised land', Shashemene, then headed up to Addis to get our flights out of Djib and Djib visas, Cadie getting food poisoning (again) after a night out on the sauce in what is a suprisingly pleasant and sophisticated town with some of the best food (though Cadie wouldnt agree) on the continent. Finished up our business in Addis and headed north into the Ethiopian highlands proper on a perfect tarmac road through what seemed like one of the poorest areas we have been on the whole trip, the local women of the region bent over like question marks hauling firewood or huge water containers, the men upright and resplendent on colourfully decorated horses - more stunning scenery as we dropped a 1000m into the blue nile gorge, before climbing back up to the plateau again, spending the night at a road side hotel before making it to Gonder next day and the chance to explore some lovely castles- another oddity for Africa - before we bobbed off to the Simein mountains the next morning, picking up our compulsory scout (with ubiquitous AK47) for only 3 bucks a day on the way up; camping with cruiser and scout way up high on the escarpment. Up for the sunrise next morning, we trekked through hundreds of gelada baboons all very upclose and personal (a whole lot of shagging / screaming / fighting going on), we even witnessed the famous tree shaking ritual of manlyhood, all as close as the guerillas were, i.e. right next to us, just as beautiful but a fair bit louder (much more of them), and all for free.....and all on a cliff top backlit with one of the most stunning views there can be anywhere in the world, the Abbyssinyian Abyss . Next day walked a good distance - we are quite fit these days - along the escarpment to another stunning camp spot near the enchanting village of Geech, grateful for the enterprising local selling beer (at twice the market price, but we werent complaining). Sans cruiser that evening we slept in a tent hired from the tourism office which sadly was infested with fleas that loved the taste of Tom, probably thanks to muffin our mule who carried it up.... Up again with the lark next day we walked to the famous viewpoint of imitgogo then all the way to our first camp. Next morning back in cruiser we dropped down off the escarpment - shedding layers of thermals - and north into the abyss then out again up to the town of Askum, arriving eventually after spending an hour in a town 60km to the west wondering why none of the town layout matched our guide books map and none of the locals had heard of the hotel we were looking for - wrong town stupid! Askum famous as the center of an ancient animist religion, as well as the supposed home of the Ark of the Convenant (except you cant see that of course, being as it dont really exist). You can however see the Stone Henge of Africa, lots of obelisks dating from 300 AD or so, and as we enjoyed the feel of the town so much we decided to stop for an extra day and take in a few more sights. Spent the day walking in the hills and seeing a few famous tombs and quaint villages, being treated to a prayer from an ancient text by a monk at an old monastery with stunning views of (again) the breathtaking surrounds....next day took a road so dusty it needed 4 wheel drive to pull through, with white eye lashes, white hair and skin that looked like it was covered in way too much foundation headed for the vertiginous rock hewn churches of Tigray, all of which are perched on the top of flat topped mountains, and most requiring rock climbs to get to them... we found one that would be hard(ish) to get to, and guided by a young priest took on the first pitch, a steep ascent up a couloir (well couldve been a couloir, sounds good anyway)...the couloir doing for Cadie who parked herself in the animal quarters (a cave) half way up, Tom & priest continuing up the cliff face in bare feet (better grip) & not looking down, at the top meeting the main priest who gave a tour of the first church, carved wholly into the cliff face - dating from the 7th Century and decorated with some pretty frescoes - but the real fun was to be had at the second church round the corner, getting to it achieved by edging along a narrow ledge over a 200m precipice - the church itself just a couple of small rooms hewn out the cliff, the view to the plain below terrifying but exhilarating, shimmied back down picking up Cadie on the way before speeding off to Mekele for more cultural food, which is spicy and quite good, though we did decline the offer of raw meat (thick steaks) with big chunks of fat attached...
Before the big push east to Djib and home we had enough time to stop in famous Lalibela, taking the longer dirt road to get there over endless mountain passes, past the sweetest baby donkeys you've ever seen and yet more incredible scenery, the road taking longer than anticipiated we bush camped in someones field, naturally being discovered though as ever not a problem.....Up (again) at the crack off dawn sped to Ethiopias most famous attraction, 11 churches carved completely out of the rock & thus free standing, manyl linked by a series of pitch dark underground tunnels...in each church a priest giving a prayer from some dusty old book, letting you take his photo etc for a 1 birr fee, and the fleas giving you a good going over for free..!!
Next day started the push east and home, but two puncutres slowed our progress up onto the escarpment; so more time to take in the pretty villages and fend off the persistent beggars, what a show we provided to everyone when changing the wheel - Ethiopians being the indians of Africa, the kids scream and we mean scream for pens, money, books etc, or just plain old 'Faranje', even when 200ft away up or down a cliff, but despite this phenomena being particularly intense around Lal it never really bothered us, the high instance of blindness and begging amongst the population evidence of how very poor they are, and maybe begging is part of the culture - all the religous sites attract v poor pilgrims and lifes unfortunates - freak deformities every bit as bad (some worse) than you see in India, and we do feel that other travellers exaggerate the hassle that you get - we found most of it amusing (like it is in India), easy to fend off and all in all most Ethiopians (with the possible exception of those in Konso) to be very nice people indeed, and with the country itself being arguably Africas most beautiful - really unique and jaw dropping scenery throughout - vibrant tribal cultures, most of the villages still made up of picture perfect traditional houses & locals attired in traditional dress, a religion still very much lived by the people (another similarity with India) with ancient churches in the most incredible places, add the good and unique food and best damn coffee in the world....all adds up to one of Africas - the worlds - very best spots which we rate as one of our very fav countries, in the top 5, and all in all a great way to end what has been a really great year....
Well almost end, we still needed to limp into Djib through very very hot Afar country, which took a couple of days, pumping up a tyre every couple of hours that had a slow puncture......Djib itself a quirky little place, Horn of Africa meets Arabia meets the South of France, lots of French militaire here looking v gay in short tight shorts, and US military looking v dumb with those stupid hair cuts they go for, and all the locals as high as it is possible to get on Khat, the local narcotic which they chew and chew and chew.....still in between the chewing the port managed to have the car sealed into its container within 2 days of our arrival and one day before the carnet expired (a result of us using the time in Mombasa to prearrange things, meaning we could get here as late as possible), and we are were now waiting to hop on our plane home, back to the sterile grey north......no more horizons, no more colourful people, no more smelly animals / smelly people / smelly us!, no more dirt (except in Dalston perhaps).......ho hum......the places we have missed this time, Yemen, Sudan and everywhere else, will just have to wait for next time.......
Photos are of Gelada baboons, Simien mountains, Cadie in local pose, us at the Harenna forest, hippo on Lake Chamo and Konso village kids.
After an amusing evening at Moyale fending off the attentions of the particularly persistent border town hustlers ('oh i am the best guide in the whole of Ethiopia, everyone is my friend and if you dont have one you will see nothing and probably be killed...'), and dining on 'cultural food' - fasting firfir and injera (a very sour pancake that doubles as your plate as well as your meal)- we headed west past huge 3m ant hills on a good dirt road to the village of Konso in the tribal regions. On the way gave a local tribes women a lift out of kindness and perhaps hoping she would let us take her photo at the end, she a little weary but eventually she hopped in with her rather large container filled with what seemed like water, so off we bumped along the dusty dirt road and as we got to her hut out she jumped and as she did her container exploded and foamed its contents all over the cruiser, she blaming us no photo and no beer! The following day we visited the surrounding villages and took most peoples advice by taking a guide; the villages nice but feeling a bit fake - every corner you turned a half naked villager picked up pipe, spun wool, pushed child to breast - poses to get the 1 birr going rate for photos - and with our guide feeling Cadie up remorslessly, and the kids screaming for pens and jumping all over the car (finally shook off after a few sharp braking manouvers smashed their dear sweet faces into the back window), we decided against going further west into the omo valley proper and what seemed a bit of a tourist trap, so headed north to the Rift valley lakes around Arba Minch instead, past kids doing a kind of umpa lumpa dance on sight of the cruiser in the hope that we would freely dispense pens, water bottles, money for the priveledge, we didnt. Arba Minch a nice friendly town, camped in a hotels grounds and were savaged by mosqitoes as an extra, next day deciding the cruiser and us needed to get back to really bad road / offroad adventure, so headed into the v scenic and v cheap Nechisar national park, bush camping overnight in the park and springing our first African puncture, a big side wall split done on a very steep and very rocky track; spent a lovely morning in the park bathing in some hot water springs & watching the zebras and birdlife around us, next day took a boat out onto Lake Chamo to see about 30 fat crocs, hippos and lots of very brave pelicans, before heading onto Awasa en route to the Bali mountains where we spent Easter. What majesty! Our camp for 2 nights surrounded by very sweet and friendly warthogs and the occasional Nyala, went trekking for a day - in training for the Simien mountians - near the park headquarters before taking what sounded like (and was) one of the best road trips in the country, the highest all weather (though still dirt) road in Africa across the Sanetti plateau, bush camping in the mist at the top and sighting the rare Ethiopian wolf, before decending next day to one of the most special places we have ever been - the Harenna forest, a strip of spell binding cloud forest with rock outcrops in the heart of Oromo country...we bush camped in the forest at a stunning spot by a stream looking up at the Harrena escarpment, the friendly locals paying the occasional visit & all sporting the latest in local mens fashion, an AK47 slung casually across the shoulder or draped cooly over the back.... after a few nervy walks alone in the supposedly lion & leopard infested forest (we only saw colobus monkeys, but some big paw prints got us thinking) we headed in cruiser on a long loop south through more incredible scenery, across rickety bridges and past charming and unspoilt villages before popping out near Negele Borana on the road to Mogadishu....from there (wisely perhaps) headed back west instead of east, spending a night back in Awasa and a brief stop to visit Jamaicas repatriated Rastas in their 'promised land', Shashemene, then headed up to Addis to get our flights out of Djib and Djib visas, Cadie getting food poisoning (again) after a night out on the sauce in what is a suprisingly pleasant and sophisticated town with some of the best food (though Cadie wouldnt agree) on the continent. Finished up our business in Addis and headed north into the Ethiopian highlands proper on a perfect tarmac road through what seemed like one of the poorest areas we have been on the whole trip, the local women of the region bent over like question marks hauling firewood or huge water containers, the men upright and resplendent on colourfully decorated horses - more stunning scenery as we dropped a 1000m into the blue nile gorge, before climbing back up to the plateau again, spending the night at a road side hotel before making it to Gonder next day and the chance to explore some lovely castles- another oddity for Africa - before we bobbed off to the Simein mountains the next morning, picking up our compulsory scout (with ubiquitous AK47) for only 3 bucks a day on the way up; camping with cruiser and scout way up high on the escarpment. Up for the sunrise next morning, we trekked through hundreds of gelada baboons all very upclose and personal (a whole lot of shagging / screaming / fighting going on), we even witnessed the famous tree shaking ritual of manlyhood, all as close as the guerillas were, i.e. right next to us, just as beautiful but a fair bit louder (much more of them), and all for free.....and all on a cliff top backlit with one of the most stunning views there can be anywhere in the world, the Abbyssinyian Abyss . Next day walked a good distance - we are quite fit these days - along the escarpment to another stunning camp spot near the enchanting village of Geech, grateful for the enterprising local selling beer (at twice the market price, but we werent complaining). Sans cruiser that evening we slept in a tent hired from the tourism office which sadly was infested with fleas that loved the taste of Tom, probably thanks to muffin our mule who carried it up.... Up again with the lark next day we walked to the famous viewpoint of imitgogo then all the way to our first camp. Next morning back in cruiser we dropped down off the escarpment - shedding layers of thermals - and north into the abyss then out again up to the town of Askum, arriving eventually after spending an hour in a town 60km to the west wondering why none of the town layout matched our guide books map and none of the locals had heard of the hotel we were looking for - wrong town stupid! Askum famous as the center of an ancient animist religion, as well as the supposed home of the Ark of the Convenant (except you cant see that of course, being as it dont really exist). You can however see the Stone Henge of Africa, lots of obelisks dating from 300 AD or so, and as we enjoyed the feel of the town so much we decided to stop for an extra day and take in a few more sights. Spent the day walking in the hills and seeing a few famous tombs and quaint villages, being treated to a prayer from an ancient text by a monk at an old monastery with stunning views of (again) the breathtaking surrounds....next day took a road so dusty it needed 4 wheel drive to pull through, with white eye lashes, white hair and skin that looked like it was covered in way too much foundation headed for the vertiginous rock hewn churches of Tigray, all of which are perched on the top of flat topped mountains, and most requiring rock climbs to get to them... we found one that would be hard(ish) to get to, and guided by a young priest took on the first pitch, a steep ascent up a couloir (well couldve been a couloir, sounds good anyway)...the couloir doing for Cadie who parked herself in the animal quarters (a cave) half way up, Tom & priest continuing up the cliff face in bare feet (better grip) & not looking down, at the top meeting the main priest who gave a tour of the first church, carved wholly into the cliff face - dating from the 7th Century and decorated with some pretty frescoes - but the real fun was to be had at the second church round the corner, getting to it achieved by edging along a narrow ledge over a 200m precipice - the church itself just a couple of small rooms hewn out the cliff, the view to the plain below terrifying but exhilarating, shimmied back down picking up Cadie on the way before speeding off to Mekele for more cultural food, which is spicy and quite good, though we did decline the offer of raw meat (thick steaks) with big chunks of fat attached...
Before the big push east to Djib and home we had enough time to stop in famous Lalibela, taking the longer dirt road to get there over endless mountain passes, past the sweetest baby donkeys you've ever seen and yet more incredible scenery, the road taking longer than anticipiated we bush camped in someones field, naturally being discovered though as ever not a problem.....Up (again) at the crack off dawn sped to Ethiopias most famous attraction, 11 churches carved completely out of the rock & thus free standing, manyl linked by a series of pitch dark underground tunnels...in each church a priest giving a prayer from some dusty old book, letting you take his photo etc for a 1 birr fee, and the fleas giving you a good going over for free..!!
Next day started the push east and home, but two puncutres slowed our progress up onto the escarpment; so more time to take in the pretty villages and fend off the persistent beggars, what a show we provided to everyone when changing the wheel - Ethiopians being the indians of Africa, the kids scream and we mean scream for pens, money, books etc, or just plain old 'Faranje', even when 200ft away up or down a cliff, but despite this phenomena being particularly intense around Lal it never really bothered us, the high instance of blindness and begging amongst the population evidence of how very poor they are, and maybe begging is part of the culture - all the religous sites attract v poor pilgrims and lifes unfortunates - freak deformities every bit as bad (some worse) than you see in India, and we do feel that other travellers exaggerate the hassle that you get - we found most of it amusing (like it is in India), easy to fend off and all in all most Ethiopians (with the possible exception of those in Konso) to be very nice people indeed, and with the country itself being arguably Africas most beautiful - really unique and jaw dropping scenery throughout - vibrant tribal cultures, most of the villages still made up of picture perfect traditional houses & locals attired in traditional dress, a religion still very much lived by the people (another similarity with India) with ancient churches in the most incredible places, add the good and unique food and best damn coffee in the world....all adds up to one of Africas - the worlds - very best spots which we rate as one of our very fav countries, in the top 5, and all in all a great way to end what has been a really great year....
Well almost end, we still needed to limp into Djib through very very hot Afar country, which took a couple of days, pumping up a tyre every couple of hours that had a slow puncture......Djib itself a quirky little place, Horn of Africa meets Arabia meets the South of France, lots of French militaire here looking v gay in short tight shorts, and US military looking v dumb with those stupid hair cuts they go for, and all the locals as high as it is possible to get on Khat, the local narcotic which they chew and chew and chew.....still in between the chewing the port managed to have the car sealed into its container within 2 days of our arrival and one day before the carnet expired (a result of us using the time in Mombasa to prearrange things, meaning we could get here as late as possible), and we are were now waiting to hop on our plane home, back to the sterile grey north......no more horizons, no more colourful people, no more smelly animals / smelly people / smelly us!, no more dirt (except in Dalston perhaps).......ho hum......the places we have missed this time, Yemen, Sudan and everywhere else, will just have to wait for next time.......
Photos are of Gelada baboons, Simien mountains, Cadie in local pose, us at the Harenna forest, hippo on Lake Chamo and Konso village kids.
posted by Tom & Cadie @ 7:50 AM
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