{"id":397,"date":"2014-10-30T09:24:48","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T07:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/?p=397"},"modified":"2019-02-26T09:34:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T07:34:39","slug":"ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/ethiopia\/","title":{"rendered":"ETHIOPIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

To say the least – I was stunned by Ethiopia!<\/p>\n

The picture I had in my mind of Ethiopia was of famine ravished people as thin as sticks living off parched land.\u00a0 Sooooo wrong \u2013 well at least the parts of the country that I have visited.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2079\"<\/a>

Near Awassa<\/p><\/div>\n

This was the first of the East African countries that we have entered into per vehicle on our trans African trip that drives on the right-hand side of the road.\u00a0 This immediately says that there is a whole lot more surprises waiting for you.\u00a0 When we entered at Moyale on the Ethiopia\/Kenya border you immediately notice all the changes in yet a new country.\u00a0 Suddenly you cannot read the sign boards next to the road as it is in Ahrmeric (only spoken in Ethiopia,) the Samburu women carrying barrels of water in a unique style on their backs with different looking cattle grazing in the harsh background,\u00a0 coffee served in small cups which let all the hair on your body stand up straight and blue Fiat taxi\u2019s all over the city in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A Samburu woman near the Moyale border post<\/p><\/div>\n

Still driving without any brakes, after our breakdown in the Kaisut desert in Kenya, and only relying on the hand break we slowly progressed up along the Rift Valley while the rain came down in torrents.\u00a0 At a nerve wrecking snails pace and with a\u00a0 miracle or two we managed not to run over one of the 75 million people that live in the country.\u00a0 Progress was slow and night was falling.\u00a0 We need to get a place to sleep where we could fix the pick-up (in Afrikaans we call it a bakkie)<\/em>.\u00a0 Until now nothing came up.\u00a0 Late night we reached Awassa and our trusty Garmin GPS told us there is accommodation in town!\u00a0 Up and down and up and down the street we drove.\u00a0 Nothing looked like any sort of accommodation to us.\u00a0 Out of despair we decided to park in front of a steel gate where the GPS said it should be and I knocked \u2013 what are the chances?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, the chances were good as the guard opened up on the knock. \u00a0After pitching and breaking up camp in the dark \u00a0every day for about 11 days in a row a bed and hot shower were appreciated. \u00a0This comfort was much needed to recharge our personal batteries before the challenges to fix the pick up the following day.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On a snail’s pace through a village in the Rift Valley<\/p><\/div>\n

We asked the German owner where we can have the vehicle repaired and she directed us to a massive Toyota dealership in town. \u00a0 \u00a0 Our hopes were high, but quickly hubby returned as they could not assist, because our specific model of Hilux was only built for the South African market and were never available in the rest of Africa so the parts they have do not fit.\u00a0 Great – on to plan B or C or D …? \u00a0Luckily Plan B lead us to a local mechanic with a very primitive garage in his backyard.\u00a0 This did not look good at all, but what are the choices?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The workshop<\/p><\/div>\n

Worth to mention is that \u00a0the work that was done in this backyard workshop lasted for a couple of months after we arrived back in South Africa! \u00a0 This was once again a friendly reminder to keep \u00a0a couple of back-up plans up your sleeve, because Africa is not for sissies!<\/p>\n

In Awassa we were recommended to an establishment in Addis (which turned out to be not exactly what we had in mind) with hourly patrons coming and going.\u00a0 So time for plan B – again!<\/p>\n

We are now running out of time as hubby needs to be in Khartoum, Sudan to start working in four days\u2019 time.\u00a0 Now we have to make a decision whether I will drive with hubby (and take a chance to get entry into Sudan) or fly to Khartoum as a land entry visa was not granted by their embassy in South Africa. \u00a0 They probably do not get many requests in South African for a land entry visa so they just issued the standard air travel entry – but we only found out in Nairobi there is a difference between the visas. \u00a0Lesson learned: \u00a0make sure you receive the right entry visa on \u00a0your application. \u00a0 \u00a0The decision was now taken:\u00a0 I will fly to Khartoum and hubby will drive there.\u00a0 We agree that if he is not in Khartoum after three days I will need to mobilize a search party as there is no cell reception on the road he is traveling.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>

What a welcome site in Addis Abeba<\/p><\/div>\n

With my ticket bought we set off to Bole International Airport where I will be dropped and hubby will then hit the road to Khartoum as he really is pressed for time.\u00a0 Staying about 8 km from the airport we reckoned this will not take long, but little did we now that it was Ethiopia\u2019s millennium celebrations! They use a calendar which is seven years behind the Western calendar so it was the year 2000 for them.\u00a0\u00a0 We mastered the crowds celebrating their new millennium in the streets of Addis Abbaba on our way to the airport and I was dropped outside the airport building as only the traveler is allowed to enter the building on departure (unlike South Africa).\u00a0 So off I go on my very first international flight ever on my very first visit to Sudan in the hope to see hubby again after four days!<\/p>\n

\"Stuck<\/a>

Stuck in Addis traffic<\/p><\/div>\n

The impressions of Ethiopia will always stay with me as a country full of surprises and what a privilege to add another smiley \ud83d\ude42 to my travel bucket.<\/p>\n

\u201cA journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.\u201d<\/span>
\nLao Tzu<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Want to follow our route?<\/span><\/p>\n

We can help with your route planning – send as an e-mail<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To say the least – I was stunned by Ethiopia! The picture I had in my mind of Ethiopia was of famine ravished people as thin as sticks living off parched land.\u00a0 Sooooo wrong \u2013 well at least the parts of the country that I have visited. This was the first of the East African countries that we have entered into per vehicle on our trans African trip that drives on the right-hand side of the road.\u00a0 This immediately says that there is a whole lot more surprises waiting for you.\u00a0 When we entered at Moyale on the Ethiopia\/Kenya border you immediately notice all the changes in yet a new country.\u00a0 Suddenly you cannot read the sign boards next to the road as it is in Ahrmeric (only spoken in Ethiopia,) the Samburu women carrying barrels of water in a unique style on their backs with different looking cattle grazing… Read more ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[750,748,743,35,746,744,32,764,749,747,500,33,34,745,742],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopia","tag-addis-ababa","tag-africa","tag-ahrmeric","tag-awassa","tag-bole-international-airport","tag-east-africa","tag-ethiopia","tag-ethiopian-calender","tag-land-entry","tag-millenium","tag-moyale","tag-rift-valley","tag-samburu","tag-visa","tag-western-calendar"],"geo":null,"yoast_head":"\nETHIOPIA - 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