Cairo to Cape Blog
1 - 8 December 2008
A time to reflect
It was time to begin our journey from Sudan to Ethiopia. As we drove out of Khartoum it was amazing to see how a city can change so rapidly in 2 short years. The last time we drove out of town it was on dusty, pot-holed "roads" with a handful of buses. 2 years on and the change is dramatic. As we headed out of town we passed BMW, JCB, Adidas, and Mercedes outlets; not to mention South African chains Steers and Debonairs; the once dusty pot-holed road was now a super highway with slip roads, traffic lights and bumper to bumper traffic.
We always feel a little sad leaving Sudan; the World paints such a negative picture of war, gloom, poverty and destruction - if only BBC and CNN would show the World the kind-hearted, ever willing to assist, smiley faced friendly people of Sudan. As you walk down the street there is nothing but "welcome to Sudan"; to stop and ask for directions invariably turns into the person dropping everything and personally escorting you and once arriving shakes your hand and wanders off. Driving across the country we were welcomed with trucks hooting their horn and giving us the thumbs up; the kids standing on the side of the road madly waving their tiny hands; toll booth assistants shaking our hands; random people walking down the road waving at us. There was a constant sense of safety and security and a genuine feel local people wanted tourists in their country. Sudan is in a terrible state; but like all war torn countries there are millions of people living a normal life trying to survive in uncertain times; it is these people that make a country what it is - the Sudanese people have always shown us nothing but pure genuine hospitality and will always hold a special place in our heart.
On the road again
So off we are once again, back on the road heading to Ethiopia - the Land of Dungeons and Dragons; the place St George fought and won battles with mythical characters, the believed birth place of the Queen of Sheeba; the home of coffee beans and Daschen Beer.
The border crossing was uneventful; Sudan was easier than ever; a few stamps and we were through. The Ethiopian side was no different. The Immigration Building is off the main road, through a galvanized iron fence and into a basic building (a building easily missed!); while the Immigration Official completed his manual Interpol search of all our names (6 books with names hand written in - not sure the last time is was actually updated!). After an hour or so our passports were stamped and we were officially in Ethiopia.
As were we about to leave I asked what time it was and today's date - 6:30am and 23 November 2001. Funny I made it 2 December 2008 and 12:30pm, Ethiopia has its own time and calendar. Brilliant we are all 7 years younger .... only while in Ethiopia though .... bummer .... We later found out the border official gave us the wrong date, it was infact 23 March 2001!
Once across the border the tar seal ends and we are back on dirt roads, weaving our way slowly climbing toward the highlands; the scenery is very different to that of Sudan. The land became hilly, the huts were no longer square but round and as we bounced our way and the dust cleared the amount of people everywhere was astounding. We slowly climbed our way to the highlands to Gondar our first stop.
 Northern Ethiopia |
 Typical House |
Myths and Misconceptions
The first time I came to Ethiopia I was in total disbelief. Growing up in Adelaide, Australia I was brought up with the belief Ethiopia was a desert with millions of fly-ridden children, distended stomachs and starving - is that not why we all raised money and participated in the 40 hour famine! My mother used to say to me to finish the plate of food as the kids in Ethiopia were starving. Yes, Ethiopia is a poor country and people are starving, like many African countries, but we were not shown the other parts of the country. 2/3rds of the country are mountains with rich fertile top soil 6 ft deep - top soil most Australian farmers would give their right arm for. Driving through this part of the country one cannot wonder why people are starving; maybe there are too many people, maybe they have not mastered mass farming techniques or maybe the nation has become so dependent on aid there is no incentive to be self-sufficient.
Ethiopia is a stunning country embedded in history; there are castles, churches, monasteries and mosques dating back centuries. The Ethiopian people are very religious, the Christians (which make up 60% of the population) fast on Wednesday and Friday; and the Muslims celebrate Friday as their holy day. The Orthodox churches are still housed by Monks who start chanting at 2am most mornings; on Sunday the chanting continues until 8am. There are remains of castles which housed Emperors for hundreds of years and secluded Monasteries on Lake Tana guarding ancient religious books and icons hundreds of years old. There are many Christian orders still practicing ancient rituals, monks forbidden to speak and monasteries women are not allowed to enter. There are 10 year old children making the sign of the cross as they walk past a church or a religious statue, women in the markets wear crucifixes around their necks and there are dozens of little shops selling religious icons. Each year thousands of Christians make the pilgrimage to Lalibella not unlike the Muslim's to Mecca.
Ethiopia has its own language, calendar (13 months to a year), time and traditions unlike anywhere else in Africa.
Cows, Donkeys and Cars
Driving in Ethiopia is a totally different ball game. It is only recently tar seal roads have been built connecting major towns - up until 5 years ago all were very badly maintained corrugated dirt roads possible to travel 30kms per hour maximum. There had always been many people but when the roads were bad it didn't matter that hundreds of people, goats, cows, sheep, camels and donkeys shared the road with trucks, buses and cars. There are certain stretches one begins to question who has the right of way or infact if cars are allowed on tar seal roads!
The going was slow, bumpy and very dusty. Finally we reached the turn-off to Gondar; as we drove past the Daschen Brewery our mouths began to water - Sudan is a dry country so it had been some days between beers. Daschen beer is particularly good beer - brewed to a Belgium recipe. It was not long before we arrived at our base for the next few days - a chance to clear the dust from our ears, explore the Royal Enclosure, Debre Selassie Church and take a tour of the Daschen Brewery (highly recommended by Peter, Linda and Fred!)
 Blue Nile Falls |
 The Royal Enclosure, Gondor |
Some things never change
While the group showered, sorted their laundry and updated their diaries I was off to the local markets to see if anything had changed. Nope. Still the same; although the fruit and veg market is quite sizable it is still only possible to buy onions, cabbages, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas and oranges. Pity, as this part of Ethiopia is in the highlands and is spoilt with fertile top soil 6ft deep, a tepid climate and generous rainy season. I managed to buy some mortadella, Italian style cheese, salami, crusty bread rolls and very fresh beef (items introduced by the Italians who colonized Ethiopia 1940-1945).
Dancing the Night Away
We spent an extra day in Gondar due to some repairs needed on Fred's landie - a few body mounts needed some work after he missed a sand-dune hump in the Nubian desert!! Which gave everyone the chance for some extra time to explore, shop and rest-up. Sue and Russ took the opportunity to shop for unique Ethiopian religious icons and while out shopping met a young Ethiopian university student who was more than happy to swap local information for a chance to practice his English. Sue and Russ took the chance to hear about life in Ethiopia and politics from Alex. Alex invited them to a local nightclub that evening to indulge in some local honey wine and traditional dancing. Sue, Russ, Hans, Jenny and Fred had a fantastic time learning to dance Ethiopian style, partake in a traditional coffee ceremony and drink local brew!
So with all the sights done and more souvenirs in-hand it was time to continue to the lake-side town of Bahir Dar 180kms south.
Source of the Blue Nile
Lake Tana is the source to the Blue Nile River - the Blue Nile and the White Nile originating from Lake Victoria in Uganda make up the Nile River proper . Our first stop was to see the Blue Nile Falls about 20kms from the town of Bahir Dar; the falls are rather impressive spanning over 200m wide (used to be 400m wide until the hydroelectric dam was built) nonetheless it is still impressive Falls.
Thiemo convinced me to take a night off cooking and for all of us to eat at the local restaurant at the campsite. A chance for everyone to taste of bit of Ethiopian style cooking - cabbage, soggy chips and steak that had been run over several times simply to penetrate a steak knife; most of the group opted for fresh crumbed fish from Lake Tana, a couple braved steak and I took on the mixed grill with liver, hearts and other unidentifiable bits of beast. A simple but rather tasty local meal overlooking Lake Tana.
It is from the shores of Lake Tana I write this entry and once again hope the internet connection is speedy enough to email through. The next entry, hopefully, will be from Addis Abeba, the Capital after a few days here on the Lake exploring Monasteries, Lalibella and of course the Capital itself.
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