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Well I've finally made it into the capital of
Ethiopia and have just realised that my updates
have been pretty sparse over the last few weeks,
so I'll split it up.
Northern Ethiopia
and the Simien Mountains
After the sweltering heat of Sudan, it was a pleasure
to ride into the cool
highlands of Ethiopia.
The city of Gondor is around 250km from the border
and at an altitude of almost 3000m, it was a pleasure
to wear long pants and my fleece again.
From Gondor, I went up to the Simien mountains
with a Belgian couple for 5 days of trekking,
which was quite incredible.
However rich this country may be in natural beauty
though, it is starkly constrasted by poverty.
It was incredible to see how little the rural
people survive on up there in the mountains.
At most villages, we were stopped by people asking
us to treat their ailments, as medical care must
be paid for and they are generally too poor to
afford the cost of first trekking 2 days to a
health clinic and then having to pay for their
treatment.
Gondor to Addis
Ababa
I arrived back in Gondor in time to celebrate
my birthday with a private overlander group I
had previously met in Khartoum.
The next day I headed off to Bahir Dar, which
is on the shore of Lake Tana, the source of the
Blue Nile.
Although only 170km distant, it took me 6hours
to get there.
As you may have guessed from that, the roads here
are not too good! They are mainly gravel, but
are made of sharp granite and have the odd large
rock sticking up, waiting to pinch your tube/
rip your tyre. It requires heaps of concentration
to avoid these little traps. Not to mention the
wandering livestock and stone throwing, stick
waving sheperds.
Bahir Dar itself was a mixture of paradise and
poverty...again!
There were a lot of streetkids around and by this
this time I was starting to get sick of the constant
hassle form everyone. It's a bit of an accumulative
affect, but by the time you've had 30 people hassle
you in one day, asking for money etc, it gets
a bit annoying.
Bahir Dar to Addis
was a big trip.
I tried to do the 390km in a day, but was not
possible.
Again the road was mainly gravel or very bad tarmac,
until the last 150km which is a newly built road.
The highlight of this trip was crossing the Great
Rift Valley. This a descent of almost 1300m in
20km and the same again up the other side. But
it's a real obstacle course, as the track has
been ripped up so badly by all the trucks using
this route.
The worst thing about this stretch of road was
the percieved threat of hostility I felt from
the locals.
All along the road, the farmers/herdboys would
throw insults/ wave their sticks at me as I drove
past.
This threat of hostility was confirmed for me
by 3 groups of cyclist I met when I arrived in
Addis.
From seperate incidents, one had a broken arm
and the other a huge gash on his head from unprovoked
attacks by locals along this stretch of the road.
I have no idea what the reasoning behind their
hostility is, but it is a real disappointment
because as long as this continues, these people
are never going to benefit from tourism.
Well, thats is all for now, I plan to spend a
few days relaxing in Addis, service my bike etc.
before heading SW to the Omom region where, weather
permitting, I would like to go and visit the Mursi
tribe.
I will be crossing the border to Kenya on the
21st in convoy with a few of the other private
overlanders, so next update will more than likely
be from somewhere near Nairobi.
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