Gondar

The drive from Debark to Gondar was much quicker than expected and it was all on tarred road. We left Andy and thanked him for being such a great driver and getting us through the Axum to Debark section alive!

We were surprised to find our truck parked beside such a fancy hotel – the Florida International Hotel, as normally our budget wouldn’t stretch that far. As it turns out, it didn’t – we could camp on a gravel section out the back or upgrade at our own cost but everyone chose to upgrade as it was only 150 birr per night (under $10) – a special rate just for us. The room was incredible – power, hot water, a fridge, a TV and free wifi (all intermittent pending power cuts) – but we were thrilled to be staying in such a nice place. We even managed to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics! Talk about good timing.

The next day, Shaun, Karen, Dom and I took a minivan for 3 birr (less than 20 cents) to the town centre. We got a guide – Abebe – who was extremely knowledgeable. Our first stop was the Atse Fasil Compound (Royal Enclosure) with its numerous castles.

We then took a bajaj (like a tuk-tuk, complete with pet monkey)

to the 400 year old Debre Berhan Selassie Church, which has paintings all over the walls and roof. 7 archangels are painted on each beam row in reverse to each other representing the omnipresence of God.

Next was Fasilada’s bath, which is more like a huge pool with a castle in the middle. It used to be the King’s second residence. Every year on the 19^th January during Epiphany it still gets used, celebrating the baptism of Jesus Christ. The nearby Keha river feeds into it and once they’ve used the water, they drain it out again back into the river. It contains 1500m³ of water when filled and is 2 metres deep. The priest blesses the water and then everyone can swim in it once it’s blessed. Around the sides are entrances entwined with old tree roots that look remarkably like Ta Prohm in Cambodia.

That night, Shaun, Karen, Josh and I squeezed into the back of a bajaj and drove back into town as we’d organised to meet Abebe in a tej / azmari bar.

That’s right – this time we had an interpreter! We got there way too early so we were one of only two tables and hence got a lot of attention. There was lots of dancing, plastering of money on the dancer’s forehead and general teasing. Shaun’s beard was again the centre of attention as was our nationalities. I still believe a lot gets lost in translation though and you still get the impression everyone is laughing at you, not with you!

Geladas, lammergeyers and a pub crawl in the Simien Mountains

I woke up at 6am in the ‘Semen’ hotel (snigger) and my first thought was that I couldn’t believe what we did yesterday – in particular using my headtorch to light the way – so dangerous! At least I’d stopped shaking though.

After breakfast, we picked up our lunch boxes for the day’s hike and drove to the park ticket booth. There we bought our ticket and had to pay for a guide and two rangers, one armed with a rifle for good measure. I later noticed our ticket was dated 19^th November 2004 (ah the good old Ethiopian calendar!)

We took our guide and rangers and drove up and up and up to the park entrance past stunning lush green scenery. The road was very slippery and we were skidding around but at least it was daylight I guess, although the fog did start rolling in as we got higher and higher. The thought that I was crazy hiking in these conditions did cross my mind, but I really wanted to see geladas and a lammergeyer if possible. Shaun and Karen had recently watched David Attenborough’s ‘Life: Birds’ and found out about the lammergeyer that lives on 85-90% bone marrow, dropping bones from a height to crack them open and feed on.

We dropped Bruce off at the Simien Lodge – the highest hotel in Africa with the highest bar in Africa it claims – as he had a sore leg.

 

As it turns out, geladas surrounded him out the front and he saw lammergeyers on the hill in front of him so he had a great time.

The rest of us set off in the fog

and shortly after came across a large group of geladas! The dominant male had a shaggy coat, black face and red chest and was by far the most spectacular in my opinion.

I was so excited I accidentally smiled – the dominant male interpreted my bared teeth as aggression and looked as though he was about to charge me but I stood up quickly backed away before he could act upon it. Oops. Another two Geladas were mating and a baby was eating and playing,

but most were just delousing each other.

Initially they were moving away from us but then they got used to us, remaining only partially alert and sceptical.

Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett 

We left them reluctantly and walked down the mountain until we reached a cliff edge. Our guide, Mular, told us you can normally see the entire valley from here but we couldn’t see a thing – it was covered in fog. As he was briefing us on the park and the local inhabitants, the fog miraculously lifted and we caught glimpses of the green valley below.

Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett

We were thrilled. The main things we had had wanted to see were geladas and the view of the valley. The only thing which could’ve made it any better was a lammergeyer.

We amused ourselves by buying silly hats from the local kids and just sat for a while admiring the spectacular view, watching the fog roll in and out every minute.

Photo courtesy of Dom

 

Photo courtesy of Dom

 

Photo courtesy of Shaun & Karen

An Egyptian vulture flew overhead and Shaun and Karen said the only thing that could make this any better was a lammergeyer and then, one suddenly appeared!

We were told it wasn’t the season for them here but one had just flown high above our heads. Mular was so excited for us and said we are very lucky to have seen one. Another couple of them passed overhead and then another four. Reluctantly we had to leave them too as it was about to rain and the minivan wouldn’t have coped going back down the mountain in it. I came back to the hotel to relax while Shaun, Karen and Dom walked around Debark and came across a local tej (honey wine) bar which a few of us then visited that night.

The tej cost only 30 birr a bottle (less than $2) and they source the honey locally. The waitress knocked the sediment from the bottle onto the floor and then poured us beakers of the wine.

It was actually the best tej we’d had in the whole of Ethiopia – so sweet and smooth. Two locals got chatting with us – one a student studying social work and tourism, who told us he was thankful we were visiting his country. He organised for the staff to show us out the back where the tej gets made (in the room next to the one with the cow) and then they took us up the road to let us try some local beer.

It was a tiny one-room bar in a shack up a muddy road, next to an old army tank. Inside the shack, we came across a roomful of farmers from a farmer’s association, wearing Wellington boots and holding canes which we later found out they use to navigate through the mud, to cross rivers, and if they’re drunk, to fight with!

The boys got a local homemade beer (tella) each, made from barley, and I have to say I’m grateful I only had a sip of theirs as it tasted watery and smoky – I much prefer tej. A jug full of the stuff costs only 10 birr (about 70 cents) so you can’t complain about the price at least.

A lady police offer was sitting amongst them and we were told she waits to see if any fights break out. If they do, she hauls the offenders off to a cell in the police station for the night. One of our guys told us he’d been wrongly accused of being implicated in a fight and said he didn’t sleep all night in the cell as there were fleas EVERYWHERE which got all through his clothes. Needless to say he had to throw those clothes out after that!

A chicken wandered through the bar and started flapping around causing too much fuss so a child scooped him up and took him to another room. A kitten then ran in followed by another chicken. The kitten was afraid of the chicken and we thought there might be a battle: kitten vs chicken as they kept chasing each other around and having stand offs.

At one point the chicken flew about a metre into the air and landed on Shaun, causing a ruckus and it was also swiftly removed from the room thereby ending the kitten vs chicken entertainment.

After the boys finished their beers, we gave the remainder of the jug’s contents to the farmers (who insisted the entire thing went to one farmer in particular). He was thrilled! The boys then continued on to other bars on a bit of a pub crawl whilst Karen and I came back to the hotel. Best local bar experience to date I think.

Africa’s death road (Axum to Debark)

We always knew the drive from Axum to Debark was going to be tough. I guess we just didn’t realise exactly how tough.

Andy wanted us to leave by 6am to save time which we did. I started out sitting up the back of the minivan but by the time we stopped for breakfast at Inda Silasie, I was feeling lightheaded and shaky and felt like I needed to vomit so I had to move up the front. Not a good start to the day! Luckily whatever it was only lasted a couple of hours. I wonder if it had something to do with the altitude?

All sorts of domestic animals wandered across the road in no particular hurry, many not at all road conscious which was probably because barely any vehicles go up or down this road!

It’s a windy, dirt road, with barely enough room for one vehicle at times, that drops off drastically down the cliff face. But the views are incredible.

A bulldozer had to clear a path for us at one point as they’re upgrading the roads with the help of the Chinese.

We saw signs estimating a 3 year project with a completion date of October 2012 – we’re assuming they’re following the Ethiopian calendar (currently 2004!) We came to another point where we had to wait for a bulldozer to clear the road, but it appeared to be filling the road instead of clearing it! We then had to get pushed through it as we got stuck in the not-so-well-cleared path.

In spite of the time it took to clear it, only 3 trucks were backed up behind us – no other vehicles were in sight – there really aren’t many vehicles on this road! Andy told us two buses run once daily from different places and we did see a bus come from the opposite direction at one point and wondered how it would manage.

It started to rain and a strike of lightning came down what appeared to be right in front of us in one village which terrified and subsequently scattered the locals. We went over a bridge where the water was flowing so fast underneath it that even the locals came down to look at it. At one point we saw a strange sight out of the window – a group of about 20 people walking up the road together holding a single large piece of red tarp above their heads, trying to dodge the rain. Waterfalls sprung up everywhere and the road was flooding.

There were so many times I thought we’d get bogged but we didn’t as Andy is such a careful driver. But then we came to a section of road that I swear was not a road but rather a waterfall or rocky river bed! Andy was doing really well but eventually his tyres started spinning and we got bogged in the mud.

We all got out to push, getting our feet wet and muddy but eventually got the van free.

Karen went over to a part she thought was shallow but as it turns out it was deep mud and she ended up losing her thongs in it!

Walking back to the minivan, we washed our feet in streams of water running down the ‘road’. Andy stopped shortly after as the protective underbody had come loose. A local helped us out and Andy reattached it with some rope before getting back in and driving on. It then proceeded to fall off several times and Andy kept reattaching it until he got fed up with it and then just threw it onto the roof.

On other sections of the road we had to remove rocks and a local armed with an AK47 and one with an axe and sickle helped us out.

Then we got fully bogged. We tried to push the van out but it just got more and more entrenched. The tyres were more than half covered as were the axles, and the exhaust was almost underwater.

Villagers brought us 2 spades and a pick axe and helped us try to dig it out but to no avail.

Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett

 

A few of us came up with the idea to dam the road to stop the river running through it. ‘Operation Dam’ then began with everyone collecting huge stones and damming the water to flow off to either side of our van. We were using our hands and feet to create mud and rock walls under Garrett’s guidance (you can tell he’s an Engineer!)

Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett

It actually worked as we pretty much stopped the water flow to the van. Next, we had to dig out the front and rear axles. Then with locals pulling on a rope from the front and us pushing from behind, we finally got it out.

So one hour later, we were on our way, and once we left, we were rewarded with magnificent views - layers of mountains with mist hanging over them and lush green valleys.

The delay meant we could now arrive into Debark after dark and Andy warned me he didn’t have any headlights so he’d speed up slightly to try and get there before nightfall. I joked that we had headtorches if needed but as it turns out, we needed them. I waited until the last bit of light had gone before turning mine on to try to make it last as the road was bad and it took a long time to get anywhere. My headtorch was the brightest so I was leaning out of the window, shining it on the road.

Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett

We climbed up the side of the mountain and it started to get colder. We stopped to put on more layers. The fog then started rolling in and I started to get pretty nervous. The van was sliding and we were precariously close to the cliff edge. Needless to say, we could barely see anything. I thought about pulling over and spending the night on the roadside but there wasn’t really anywhere to stop and some locals told us Debark was only five minutes away so we pushed on incredibly slowly. We could see some far off lights which was reassuring. We were close. We could do this. Slowly. And we finally made it and found the Simien Hotel. Relief. Andy told us it’s the worst drive he’s ever done. He’d done it before, but only in the dry season – and for the record, he said he’ll never do it again – at least not in the rainy season!

I was shaking for a long time afterwards but was happy to have dinner at the Simien Hotel restaurant as we didn’t have any lunch. I didn’t have any breakfast either as I felt sick in the morning so I was pretty hungry. Draught beer, vege soup and macaroni with tomato sauce never tasted so good. We were amused to find our menus mistakenly labelled as the ‘Semen’ Hotel.

We then went to bed pretty early after such a long day though we woke up at 1.30am to a lightning show – it lit up our entire room and the thunder boomed overhead. I for one was glad to be snuggled up in bed right then and not on a cliff edge somewhere on that perilous ‘road’! Never again.