17 NOVEMBER 2010 - Kenya's Most Infamous Road: North to Ethiopia
Kenya - an inauspicious start to the day: a melted fuse and malfunctioning spotlights had us rewiring switches in the dashboard before we left Mt Kenya.
The road from Isiolo, in Central Kenya, to Moyale, on the border with Ethiopia, has a bad reputation. Apparently, it eats coils, shocks, bushes, and anything else you care to feed to it.
Although I allegedly insisted in the Namibia Diary that our exhaust weld way back in Namibia would survive a meteor strike, it didn't survive this road. We broke the weld before we got halfway.
We had the exhaust re-welded within 20 minutes of entering Marsabit. We were genuinely outraged at the price quoted at the local metalwork shop. The outcome: we got the price of the weld job down from $19 AUD to $11 AUD.
It could all be a lot worse. We spent the afternoon drinking wine and offering idle advice from our camp chairs as an English guy (heading south) worked away next to us on his 1998 Land Rover Defender 110. The road had destroyed an Old Man Emu Nitrocharger shock absorber (it had sheared in half and was in two pieces), which had then severed their rear brake lines, leaving them with a 100km drive without rear brakes. Bushes on the rear stabilizer arms had gone, so their rear wheels were moving laterally. Their fuel tank was leaking too. They were transporting a Suzuki bike on a makeshift towing device that they had fabricated in Khartoum, after the biker came off in the Sahara and broke her wrist. The bike fell clean off the tow trailer - twice - and tumbled along the road.
It's not a great road.
We hope to reach the border with Ethiopia tomorrow night.
SC
Kenya - an inauspicious start to the day: a melted fuse and malfunctioning spotlights had us rewiring switches in the dashboard before we left Mt Kenya.
The road from Isiolo, in Central Kenya, to Moyale, on the border with Ethiopia, has a bad reputation. Apparently, it eats coils, shocks, bushes, and anything else you care to feed to it.
Although I allegedly insisted in the Namibia Diary that our exhaust weld way back in Namibia would survive a meteor strike, it didn't survive this road. We broke the weld before we got halfway.
We had the exhaust re-welded within 20 minutes of entering Marsabit. We were genuinely outraged at the price quoted at the local metalwork shop. The outcome: we got the price of the weld job down from $19 AUD to $11 AUD.
It could all be a lot worse. We spent the afternoon drinking wine and offering idle advice from our camp chairs as an English guy (heading south) worked away next to us on his 1998 Land Rover Defender 110. The road had destroyed an Old Man Emu Nitrocharger shock absorber (it had sheared in half and was in two pieces), which had then severed their rear brake lines, leaving them with a 100km drive without rear brakes. Bushes on the rear stabilizer arms had gone, so their rear wheels were moving laterally. Their fuel tank was leaking too. They were transporting a Suzuki bike on a makeshift towing device that they had fabricated in Khartoum, after the biker came off in the Sahara and broke her wrist. The bike fell clean off the tow trailer - twice - and tumbled along the road.
It's not a great road.
We hope to reach the border with Ethiopia tomorrow night.
SC
ETHIOPIA DIARIES
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19 NOVEMBER 2010 - Bitch slapped in Ethiopia
Went for a run early this morning, and got trailed by kids - it was Rocky-esque. A couple of women coming into town decided to lope along for a while too. The funniest/best jog I've ever had.
Ethiopia is a stunningly beautiful country. The people in this country are so friendly, they almost wave their arms off. But watching faranji do entertainingly white things is a team sport, it seems, and the constant close-quarters spectating gets a bit tiresome.
We have had some interesting times already.
A police officer tried to shake us down for not having Ethiopian drivers licences. We had to get quite firm about it all.
Ten minutes later, coming in to Shashmene (the Rasta capital of Ethiopia), a large group of very agitated people spilled out onto the road. As I slowed to a halt, a man ran out and - I kid you not - threw himself under the wheels of an approaching matatu (passenger van). Luckily the driver saw him coming and was already screeching to a stop. The man wasn't hurt; he was collared by a policeman and hauled off, clearly in great distress. There were some very ugly murmurings in the crowd...
We were still sitting there processing all this when a man jumped in front of our car and gripped the bullbar, glaring at me. He moved round to the drivers window and started talking very aggressively at me, holding the lip of the drivers window with white knuckles. "Go", I could hear Mark whispering. Staying ultra friendly and with many loud "Sorry my friend, I don't understand" I slipped the clutch and began to move. The guy punched at me, barely connecting, and I dropped the clutch and made our escape down the wrong side of the road. The end result: I got bitch slapped in Ethiopia, with no idea why.
SC
Here is a taste of driving in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, Mark was playing his Scooter anthology.
Went for a run early this morning, and got trailed by kids - it was Rocky-esque. A couple of women coming into town decided to lope along for a while too. The funniest/best jog I've ever had.
Ethiopia is a stunningly beautiful country. The people in this country are so friendly, they almost wave their arms off. But watching faranji do entertainingly white things is a team sport, it seems, and the constant close-quarters spectating gets a bit tiresome.
We have had some interesting times already.
A police officer tried to shake us down for not having Ethiopian drivers licences. We had to get quite firm about it all.
Ten minutes later, coming in to Shashmene (the Rasta capital of Ethiopia), a large group of very agitated people spilled out onto the road. As I slowed to a halt, a man ran out and - I kid you not - threw himself under the wheels of an approaching matatu (passenger van). Luckily the driver saw him coming and was already screeching to a stop. The man wasn't hurt; he was collared by a policeman and hauled off, clearly in great distress. There were some very ugly murmurings in the crowd...
We were still sitting there processing all this when a man jumped in front of our car and gripped the bullbar, glaring at me. He moved round to the drivers window and started talking very aggressively at me, holding the lip of the drivers window with white knuckles. "Go", I could hear Mark whispering. Staying ultra friendly and with many loud "Sorry my friend, I don't understand" I slipped the clutch and began to move. The guy punched at me, barely connecting, and I dropped the clutch and made our escape down the wrong side of the road. The end result: I got bitch slapped in Ethiopia, with no idea why.
SC
Here is a taste of driving in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, Mark was playing his Scooter anthology.
25 NOVEMBER 2010 - Gonder, castles, and Africa's best breakfast
Several hundred years ago, Gonder was the capital of an Ethiopian kingdom of immense riches. Castles, gold, ivory. Venetian mirrors, mammoth banquets, etc etc. Then things went down the drain. The ruins were very impressive.
But ful was better. Chickpeas cooked in a mix of butter and spices, dipped onto bread. Delicious. Africa's best breakfast?
Ethiopia has been quick, but amazing. This country has so much to offer those with time (and a tolerance for faranji fever). Alas, we have none. To The Sudan!
A word of warning to other travelers: be very careful on the roads. We met a couple in a Landrover who hit a careless pedestrian, and were lucky that he wasn't badly injured. A road fatality could earn you a decade or more in jail. We also met a biker who hit a donkey. The donkey walked away uninjured, but after the biker left, the villagers produced a dead donkey to the police, and the biker was subsequently stopped. She was still negotiating a price when we met her in Gonder.
SC
Several hundred years ago, Gonder was the capital of an Ethiopian kingdom of immense riches. Castles, gold, ivory. Venetian mirrors, mammoth banquets, etc etc. Then things went down the drain. The ruins were very impressive.
But ful was better. Chickpeas cooked in a mix of butter and spices, dipped onto bread. Delicious. Africa's best breakfast?
Ethiopia has been quick, but amazing. This country has so much to offer those with time (and a tolerance for faranji fever). Alas, we have none. To The Sudan!
A word of warning to other travelers: be very careful on the roads. We met a couple in a Landrover who hit a careless pedestrian, and were lucky that he wasn't badly injured. A road fatality could earn you a decade or more in jail. We also met a biker who hit a donkey. The donkey walked away uninjured, but after the biker left, the villagers produced a dead donkey to the police, and the biker was subsequently stopped. She was still negotiating a price when we met her in Gonder.
SC
20 NOVEMBER 2010 - Addis Ababa
We were well received when we made it to Holland House in Addis Ababa - the usual overlander stop - a couple of days later. We were the first vehicle to reach them from the south in 6 weeks. It seems the difficulties getting visas, the confusion and kerfuffle caused by a very recent and very vague requirement that your Embassy produce a letter taking legal responsibility for your vehicle while in Ethiopia (we don't even have an Embassy - yet - but the guy currently setting it up is very helpful), has kept many people in Tanzania and Kenya sorting out paperwork. If you need information about any of this, the letter, the email for the right DFAT officer or the Ethiopian consul in Melbourne, email Steve (but search the HUBB for latest info first please). The good news: the letter is only likely to be a problem if you are entering from Sudan.
I got in trouble with a guard at the old palace in Addis because I apparently got too close to Emperor Haille Selassie's bed. Meanwhile, Mark was in the Empress' bathroom, almost crying with laughter because they've had to seal the toilet seat to stop people going in the Empress' loo.
Sunday morning, and we ended up driving through the crowds at the end of Addis' version of the City to Surf: all 35,000 of them.
So far, no serious encounters with Ethiopia's infamous stone-throwing children. We did see one group of boys pick up rocks as we approached. Mark got out and talked to them as I drove past. I don't know what he said to them, but all I heard as he got back in the car was: "you know what will happen to you if you throw that rock".
SC
23 NOVEMBER 2010 - Wowed by Lalibela
It's hard to know what to say about Lalibela, other than that it was stunning. Lalibela was a king who was commanded by God to build a new Jerusalem he saw in a vision. He set to. According to the locals, it was a 2-shift job. A human day shift, and an angelic night shift.
The result is a series of churches carved into solid rock. This place was special. It was also very difficult to photograph!
MR
We were well received when we made it to Holland House in Addis Ababa - the usual overlander stop - a couple of days later. We were the first vehicle to reach them from the south in 6 weeks. It seems the difficulties getting visas, the confusion and kerfuffle caused by a very recent and very vague requirement that your Embassy produce a letter taking legal responsibility for your vehicle while in Ethiopia (we don't even have an Embassy - yet - but the guy currently setting it up is very helpful), has kept many people in Tanzania and Kenya sorting out paperwork. If you need information about any of this, the letter, the email for the right DFAT officer or the Ethiopian consul in Melbourne, email Steve (but search the HUBB for latest info first please). The good news: the letter is only likely to be a problem if you are entering from Sudan.
I got in trouble with a guard at the old palace in Addis because I apparently got too close to Emperor Haille Selassie's bed. Meanwhile, Mark was in the Empress' bathroom, almost crying with laughter because they've had to seal the toilet seat to stop people going in the Empress' loo.
Sunday morning, and we ended up driving through the crowds at the end of Addis' version of the City to Surf: all 35,000 of them.
So far, no serious encounters with Ethiopia's infamous stone-throwing children. We did see one group of boys pick up rocks as we approached. Mark got out and talked to them as I drove past. I don't know what he said to them, but all I heard as he got back in the car was: "you know what will happen to you if you throw that rock".
SC
23 NOVEMBER 2010 - Wowed by Lalibela
It's hard to know what to say about Lalibela, other than that it was stunning. Lalibela was a king who was commanded by God to build a new Jerusalem he saw in a vision. He set to. According to the locals, it was a 2-shift job. A human day shift, and an angelic night shift.
The result is a series of churches carved into solid rock. This place was special. It was also very difficult to photograph!
MR