Ethiopia-Land of surprises

Whatever perception one has of Ethiopia (protracted by the mass media, war ravaged, famine, drought) it took us by total surprise. After the dusty border town we crossed the dry southern region. As we approached the highlands the landscape with the most extensive contiguous area of fertile land amazed us. There is not one iota of soil that is not tilled, planted, harvested, re or de forested. The road was generally good tar but not one minute of the slow and curving drive was without a human walking, working, lazing, kids shouting “you, you” or driving cattle & goats etc.

Our aim was the Bale Mountains but when we reached Awassa – the only town in the south, that could change money (and that was not at lunchtime!) - we had had enough and found a Hotel on beautiful lake Awassa , still a rift valley lake.

"Lake Awassa at sundown"

Here we could take stock of the damage done in the last week of dust, corrugation and rocks and to acclimatize a bit to these fertile surroundings and its people. We had a choice to either camp in the extensive grounds with huge trees & lots of forest birds or take a Banda (free standing room) in this worn 70’s style hotel.

"At lake Awassa monkey power replaces solar power"

Colobus monkeys took an immediate liking to Konstantin and made him their playground and perch.

A taxi driver of an Indian three wheeler, spontaneously helped us find all the necessary places for welding and soldering of rattled equipment and tried to assist us getting setup with the internet connection, but no luck here. The state run ET ETA system does not link in easily with ours and is overloaded, so we have to rely on Internet cafes.

After a good clean up session we approached the local Branch of Toyota for an assessment of Konstantin who had developed a “sore throat”. But this was the filthiest, oil soaked ‘garage’ we had ever seen, with 10 and 13 year old youngsters assisting. We decided to rather take Konstantin’s precious innards to a more trustworthy place.

A lot of rain had fallen in the Bale Mountains and thus our decision was made to go to Addis Ababa and do the northern historical circuit first.