13 February 2007

A little jaded the morning is spent sorting out washing as the contents of my bag smell ‘fouler than a bucket of smashed crabs’ (thanks to Tom for the use of one of his favourite sayings). A lazy old day and off for lunch round the hectic streets of Douala trying not to get run over. Back to the German Seaman’s mission in the evening for sausage and chips.

14 February 2007

The postman has clearly got lost so I give up waiting and join the rest of the group sorting out flights to Ethiopia. For some strange reason a flight to Addis is £430 while a flight to Cairo stopping in Addis is £370…..we book the latter and I then head off for the German Seamen’s mission which has a pool and will serve as a base for a few of us until the 20^th when we fly to Addis. Others have opted for the beach or Mount Cameroon – which at 4095 metres is an active volcano and not a climb for the feint hearted. Only Tom and John R are keen to take it on! Barking! Stu and Dylan have dropped what’s left of the truck off at the docks as it leaves on the boat for blighty on the 18^th…. Not quite sure why we are here so early but that’s one for Overland club to answer or avoid as the case may be! Total journey distance to date 13,479km! 11 weeks gone, 14 or 15 to go!

15-18 February 2007

Not a lot to report. Should have mentioned that Alan left on the 13^th. All very sad to see him go but he has decided to go home for a month before joining the Oasis Overland tour in Eastern Africa. I would not be surprised if we bump into him on the journey south. We will certainly recognise the king of bling from the garish outfits he has bought on his trip across West Africa…..not sure which was my favourite….the shiny purple caftan, the green and vanilla tie dye batak or the fluorescent yellow rug with thousands of silver sequins.

Alan at his most active while travelling down the Niger at New Year.

Dylan left for Wales on the 16^th. Top bloke and excellent driver. Not sure how he has managed some of the roads or the long days in the heat but he will have certainly earned the fry up he was looking forward to in Heathrow. I will miss doing mock Brigitte rants at him out of the window and the good natured abuse I always got back in return. I was going to put in a photo of Dylan but can't find a better one than the one with the Chicken head at the start of the Dogon tour. Well worth a look for those who have not seen it before.

The rest of the time at the Seaman’s Mission has been spent topping up on food during operation fat (wasting away….if you believe that?), either way lots of steak and sausage and the odd lager has been taken on board. Trying to drink lots more water as well as the heat and the aircon both dehydrate.

The possible highlight of our time here has been the twenty or so Cameroon seamen who, in bright orange suits, went through there safety drills in the pool yesterday. I really hope the boats are safe as not one of them seemed to be able to swim, even with a buoyancy aid on. One of them could not do a width of the pool giving up after 3 yards and walking the rest of the way across (and it’s a very small pool!). Lots of shouting, laughter and splashing around though and very entertaining. Apart from that it’s very quiet….Michelle, Dave and I are at the Seamen’s Mission while Stu and Cindy are across at the Catholic Mission. The rest are due back tomorrow when a few more farewells will be said (and lagers drunk).

19 February 2007

Having had a dodgy stomach for a few days and a little time to spare I bite the bullet and run the gauntlet of going to the Doctor’s. £6 for a consultation where I am not sure he really tells me anything but prescribes some rehydration salts and a couple more antibiotics also ordering a couple of tests which is in an annex to the clinic that is a taxi ride away. When I finally make it there they tell me the blood urine and stool tests cost £71….. what a bargain….had I been anywhere else but Africa I would not have bothered but thought it better to be safe than sorry. I hand over the money and the necessary samples and arrange for the results to be e-mailed to me given that I fly out to Addis Abeba the following morning. I ask what they are looking for and am told they check for various amoeba, Typhoid and Malaria. Convinced I have none of these I head for a pharmacy and the hotel.

Feeling generally better about life Dave and I decide to get lunch at the shack down the road. Now with hindsight it might not have been such a good idea to eat from a shack but Dave has been here several times before and reports are good. Fish and plenty of greens hit the spot but within 2 hours I am lying on my bed with severe diarrhoea which is followed a few hours later by the now usual bout of vomiting. Top fun and wonder if I can get my money back on the rehydration sachet. Not the best final evening before the end of the first part of the trip but such is life.

20 February 2007

Linda at her happiest and most positive!!!

Wake feeling much better and get sorted for the flight from Douala to Addis. Despite reports that it is possible to drive trough Chad and Sudan we have, quite rightly, opted for the safe option of flying over these potential troublespots. After saying farewell to Linda it’s a short taxi ride to the airport and we check in keen to emphasise that we are staying in Addis for the night so do not want our bags going to Cairo (as it says on our tickets). After getting prime seats at the front of the plane we sit for over an hour while they try to fix the aircon. Eventually we are kicked back off the plane and sit in the departure lounge for an hour watching various men in suits run around replacing the aircon unit. There are slight concerns when a group of passengers get out prayer mats and start praying in the direction of the plane but they are not nervous fliers just strict Muslims facing due west. We eventually take off 3 hours late and with the time difference it is nearly midnight when we land in Ethiopia. Given that it was cheaper to book tickets for Cairo we are treated like transit passengers and given a hotel for the night. Pretty handy really as we had not chance of finding our own accommodation at 2 in the morning. With Cindy heading on to Johannesburg we say our farewells. With John also leaving for Cairo the following morning the group is a bit glum as they have been such a huge part of the tour, always solid, positive, hard working and most of all good fun to be around. A crucial attribute when you are cooped up on a truck for three months.

Cindy on the canopy walk in Ghana!

John checking out a length of rope at Vollubulis (Morocco)

21 February 2007

We are woken at 6.30 by an alarm call from reception to remind us that the bus leaves at 7.45 for the airport and our flight to Cairo. The hotel is only booked for half a day so get up and go for breakfast before returning to the room to pack. One of the hotel staff bangs on the door repeatedly saying we must go as the bus is going. I explain that we have visas (bargain at $20) and are staying in Ethiopia. He leaves only to return twice more, each time more agitated than the last. When I leave the room at 8 he comes flying up the stairs, grabs my bags and starts running downstairs towards the bus. I eventually wrestle my bag back off him and join the rest of the group in reception while we try to find the hotel we are supposed to be meeting our new driver at. After a couple of hours we get a call with directions towards the Israeli embassy and pile into a mini bus. Not sure it is the best idea to ask for directions to the Israeli embassy in a largely Muslim country but we get away with it and find the small hotel which only has 7 or 8 very basic rooms. The good news though is that with 17 Birr to the £ and 3 Birr for a beer and 7 for a meal Ethiopia already has won a fair few hearts and minds. Feeling well enough for alcohol again the evening is spent in the bar with food ordered from the restaurant down the road (same owner). Beef curry and rice for 30 birr and 3 birr a beer is not the trickiest equation and I am sure the majority of you can work out what they add up to!

22 February 2007

Wake up on the floor of the room Tom and I are sharing having lost the toss of a coin for the double bed. A little dry mouthed and lightly fuzzy we head for the delights of the Abyssinia café over the road where a colossal 7 Birr (40p) is spent on a cup of clove tea (fantastic stuff), a coffee, a danish and a doughnut. We then pick up Su, Michelle and Fran and grab a taxi into central Addis. At 7000 feet Addis is a good deal cooler than we have been used to off late and it makes a refreshing change to walk around in a climate similar to Britain in early May. We head to the National Museum where we meet Lucy who at 3.2 million years old is the oldest skeleton uncovered anywhere in the world. We suspect that Tom has a thing for older women but Lucy was not at her best and even Tom has to draw the line somewhere. Fran is quite happy though as she has found someone that she is taller than although both have bits missing. Lots of other artefacts and fossils and plenty of stuff relating to Haile Silasse including his throne.

The rest of Addis is not too spectacular but has a very nice relaxed feel to it even with a population over 5 million. Everyone is amazingly friendly and everything is fantastically cheap. We walk for several kilometres, stopping for lunch before eventually finding the Merkato (market) – reputedly the largest in Africa. Thousands of stalls and a very busy and daunting place selling everything under the sun. Every plastic container you can imagine, gym weights made from iron bars with massive cogs welded on the ends and thousands of spices. We fail to find the Kalashnikov stall or the men who make sandals out of old tyres, heading back to the hotel and our new truck which arrived just before lunch courtesy of Peter our Kenyan driver. The new truck is a great improvement on the previous one although there are a few windows missing after a volley of stones as Peter drove through the night in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. A block of eight seats to the rear has glass to all sides giving excellent views and at the front is a padded and very comfy u-shaped seat. It may sound odd but the fact that the kitchen equipment and tables are all clean and relatively new is a huge bonus. Simple pleasures!

Peter is an instant hit. A typically relaxed African male, he has loads to tell about Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania etc and we spend the next few hours sat chatting while sampling the local ales. After another fine spread of local food from the restaurant down the road the subject turns to alcohol strength. Peter is convinced that Tusker (a Kenyan ale) is stronger at 4.5% than the Ethiopian St. George’s (also 4.5%) because it comes in a bigger bottle…..the idea being that the bottle gets weaker as you drink it….hence half a bottle is only 2.25%. We spend several hours trying to explain ABV etc to him but to no avail, he just thinks we are trying to hoodwink him and just keeps shaking his head with a wide grin.

23 February 2007

Egg and Bacon sarnies for breakfast. A rare treat!

Su is not so well and suspects she has the same bug I have just seen off so I volunteer to accompany her to the hospital. Yes, it was nice of me! She is seen fairly quickly at first but we then wait for an hour and a half for the Doctor to show. Not too much of a hardship as The Last Samurai and Gorillas in the Mist are showing on a TV in every single department. Arriving just before ten we finally leave after 3 with little to show for the wait but a few pills. Back to camp to meet the rest of the group and the return of the truck which has had the windows repaired and looks a lot cleaner.

24 February 2007

An early morning haircut (he wanted 5 birr but I beat him up to 10) and then I pack my stuff on the new truck. We head north out of Addis with a view to getting across the Brunel gorge. Peter has told us that it takes two hours to cross the gorge and on arrival at the viewing platform it is easy to see why….it’s absolutely vast with very steep sides. Before we descend to the valley floor we stop off at the Debre Libanos Monastery. An impressive place set high on the valley side. As we arrive we are given the rules re entry which basically dictates no smoking, no menstruating women and no-one who has had sex in the last 48 hrs. In the end it is the 50 birr charge and none of the other odder rules that sees us get back on the truck. After one more quick stop to admire the view we free wheel, with the engine off, all the way down to the valley floor. This takes an hour before we cross the bridge over the Blue Nile and head back up the other side and onto a hotel for the night (rooms are as cheap as camping round here so it’s beds all round although the en suite is a bucket shower). Tom and I decide to hit the town but only manage to find one pub with any life (and that’s just the TV with some shocking Ethiopian music channel) in what is effectively a lorry park. Not sure I have been anywhere quite like this before and we certainly stand out. Return to our beds relatively quickly for an early start the following morning.

25 February 2006

Breakfast at six! Yes that’s SIX in the Morning! Stunning sun rise although this is clouded by the glut of carbon monoxide fumes coming from a pick up truck whose engine is being constantly revved by the driver. Leaving at 7 we cover the next 350km relatively comfortably. The drive as ever is not entirely incident free. The electrics and horn took a pounding on the journey from Nairobi to Addis and neither are functioning too well so without a horn or indicators we are unable to give the usual warnings to those around us. On many roads this would be ok but the Ethiopian definition of road awareness is to stand in the middle of the road with your back to oncoming traffic. How we miss the various pedestrians, cattle, goats etc that choose to attempt suicide is beyond me and very much down to Peter’s abilities as a driver. At one point an overtaking truck cause us to slam to a hault a matter of inches behind a petrified donkey and cart. A little later on two men carrying a 20ft stick decide to chance it and run across in front of the truck which is rapidly bearing down upon them. I think the decision was taken by the bloke at the front who decided he could make it but did not allow for the twenty feet of wood behind him or the bank on the other side of the road. In the end we run over the last foot or so and are lucky not to cause any lasting damage to the shoulder or collar bone of the increasingly pale looking log bearer.

Forget what you might think of Ethiopia. What we see is thankfully not the barren wasteland pictured in famine relief videos of the 80s. The uplands we are driving through are a patchwork of relatively fertile looking farms with cattle, goats and donkeys everywhere. The whole population seems busy driving livestock, walking along the road with masses of straw perched on their heads or carrying baskets of dung for fuel. We start to suspect a conspiracy by the tourist board as the scene of rural idyll with herdsman propped on staffs, tending livestock and dressed in traditional dress repeats itself again and again. The only reminder of the past in the area we cover is the odd Russian looking tank, now stripped bare and left to invading weeds and children.

We arrive in Bahar Dar in time for lunch and then head for the Blue Nile Falls. Time is precious as the dam that now sits next to the falls is not fully operational today and so we have a chance to see them at something resembling there best - which is apparently rare at this time of year. Tom, Fran and I choose to walk the full loop getting a boat back across the Nile before returning to our hotel on the banks of 3600km sq. Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile. Manage to catch a great punch up at the end of the Chelsea v Arsenal Carling Cup Final and the evening is again spent in the bar talking to a mad Croatian Geologist (too much politics and religion – lots of talk about Tito and Stalin!) and once again revisiting the debate about ABV with Peter (who is increasingly being known as Mr 4.5%) before retiring to our new and much roomier A-frame tents. A proper ground sheet and more relative luxury even if they take a little more time putting up.

The Blue Nile Falls!

A curious bird the Pelican, its beak can hold more than its belly can!

26 February 2007

One rather happy Ethiopian fisherman in his leaky papyrus boat!

Up early for a tour of Lake Tana, a visit to some of the 29 monastery’s that sit on the 37 islands of the lake, which date back to between the 11^th and 16^th centuries. Perhaps not quite what we had hope but the final island certainly had a chilled vibe although the decision to replace the roof of the circular wooden church with corrugated iron is again a disappointment. Heading back to the hotel via the source of the Blue Nile we spot a hippo wallowing in the shallow waters….not a bad morning all in all even if we got a bit soaked heading back into the wind.

Caring for siblings starts at a young age in Ethiopia......

Another good lunch sat looking out over the lake, watching the Weaver birds, Pelicans, Hornbills and Cormorants that frequent the rather lush gardens of the hotel. Tough old life. Lunch consists of Injera, which is served with most traditional Ethiopian dishes and is a large (14 inch) round flat national ‘Bread’ prepared with the indigenous Ethiopan cereal, left yeast and water. It usually ferments for about 3 days and is then baked so it resembles a large pancake. Add to this some Berberi sauce (a hot mix of a range of spices), various chick pea potato and other mixes and you have one great meal. Unfortunately, because it is lent, (like Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year) this is a fasting period so most Ethiopians do not eat any animal products including egg, milk and cheese….the menu therefore reflects this although lamb is available for the less devout amongst us.

The afternoon is spent typing up my blog as computer problems (wretched thing keeps shutting down) have prevented me doing any typing whilst on the move.

At Dinner Tom reports that his Mum (who reads this blog to keep tabs on her wayward son) thinks my trip revolves around upgrading to nice hotels, pastries and alcohol…..I would at this point like to refute this but fear I am not in a position to do so. All I can say to Mrs Greenfield is that your son regularly follows in my footsteps. Can I take this opportunity to mention a few other relatives of fellow travellers who have time to waste to read this rubbish….. all friends of Dave, Big Mo Pauly, Aunty Anna, Anne Ganderton and Dickie as well as a big hello to Fred Mitchell. Would be lovely to hear from you all and happy to pass any messages on. I will endeavour to include mentions and photos of your loved ones as and when the opportunity arises. Needless to say they are all doing you proud…although Tom does have his moments.

The evening is spent in a local bar which the manager of the hotel takes us to. A tiny place the size of a small living room it is packed with people sitting round watching traditional Ethiopian dancing, a man on drums and on man wearing what looks like traditional Scottish attire, with the bandiest legs you have ever seen, plays a jig on a small instrument with a bow that looks more like a bow saw. The results are all very impressive but the dancing almost impossible to master. The basic technique is to get your hips and shoulders to tremble while at the same time shaking your head around like a demented chicken. Tom is first on the floor to try this and the results are so bad that the rest of us are confident enough to get up and prove we can do better. The results are pretty comical to say the least and finishes with a sort of dancing joust with the male dancer who is keen to show all of us how poor we are with a staring competition thrown in for good measure. The only annoying aspect of the evening was when the lead singer introduced the English amongst us as the twins of America….quite a lot of anti American feeling in Ethiopia. You could almost think they had got there foreign policy wrong at some point??!!!

PS It's the Julian calendar here so days start at 6 o'clock....this means that five o'clock Ethiopian time is 11 in the morning in English time. All very confusing. The real bonus is that it's the 20th of June 1999 here which means I am 32 again in 9 days time.....trust me I do plan to party like it's 1999! Back to the Future in real life!