Ethiopia - New country, new bugs...

The last two nights in Khartoum we spent at a campsite in the outskirts of town. Upon arrival we met a British couple that had just spent a year in Africa and now were heading north, home. They gave us a lot of information about the road ahead and also told us that it’s dangerous to drive too fast on convex roads; they had rolled their car in Masai Mara doing that. Four weeks and a new body later they could leave Kenya.

Leaving Khartoum we set course for Gedaref, a town near the border to Ethiopia. Since we’d learned from our mistakes, we decided to find a cheap hotel in town rather than to risk having to get up in the middle of the night to fold up our tent due to the winds. This was however easier said than done. Gedaref turned out to be less than a one-horse town… barely a one-donkey town… The three hotels the town had to offer can in retrospect be categorized as follows: The first was too expensive, the second wouldn’t let us see the room before we paid and the third wouldn’t let us stay without us showing a marriage certificate. The town didn’t feel like a place we’d like to park our car unattended anyhow, so we set course for the bush-camp waypoint were our Brazilian friends were staying.

Reaching the campsite all seemed great: the location was nice, there were no houses nearby and the wind was completely still. Tired since our last night in Khartoum had barely offered any sleep at all we went to bed at 8 PM.

In the middle of the night Kina woke me up, the wind was tearing the tent apart… or so it sounded. Kina went out (I was barely conscious) and tucked in the rain cover under itself, thus disabling the wind from catching it, and the problem was solved. When she came back in I asked what time it was and we both first thought her watch was broken… it was 10PM.

Happily that our problems had been solved so easily we were soon fast asleep… only to be awakened by a tornado tearing the tent apart, though this time it was for real. Shocked we got dressed (poorly) and went out to commence the rescue operation. The wind was so fierce we had to scream on the top of our lungs to communicate, even though we were a mere three meters apart. Furthermore the wind carried so much dust and debris that we could barely keep our eyes open. A few minutes later we had however, somehow, managed to get the tent packed up, together with some of our belongings such as a book, a flashlight, a water bottle and some underwear. At least the tent was now safe. We were now in the car, it was just after midnight and we realized we had a long night ahead of us. It was however rather cozy, since we were dry, the tent was safe and we had front row seats to a spectacular storm. The car was rocking in the wind while the sky was covered in thunder and lightning. It was actually quite impressive.

The next day, our last in Sudan, offered an amazing change in scenery. As we got closer to Ethiopia it got greener and greener, while the appearance of the people changed from the modest Muslim dressing we had gotten accustomed to during our time in northern Africa, to more “traditional” African. Also people were now carrying stuff on their head to an increased extent.

The border crossing was a breeze. Getting out of Sudan was really easy once they realized we were not entering the country, but leaving it. Control isn’t as strict here as in Schengen… Getting in to Ethiopia was equally easy; though it took a while if you count the time it took to drive from the border and immigration office to customs office, 35kms inland. The distance took a good two hours to cover since the roads were in an appalling state. The nature was however simply breathtaking! After two months of sand, dust and desert the lush, green hills of Ethiopia seemed like paradise! Thanks to the altitude and the rain season the air was also crisp and clean, something our lungs really appreciated after dusty Sudan.

After a few hours of climbing the hills we found a wonderful place to camp, offering a breathtaking view of the mountains and also a river and a waterfall. Best of all, it was no wind what so ever. Confident that we would now, eventually, get a good night’s sleep we set tent and went to bed. The very same second that Kina lay down, uttering the words “This should be ok”, all hell broke loose. Rain, thunder, lightning, and wind shook the tent. We decided not to give up so easily this time and spent the next 20 minutes holding the tent down… which proved to work since the wind soon subsided, though we now had an in-tent pool by our head-side, where Kina had struggled to keep the rain cover from being torn to pieces. As we were now really tired some water couldn’t keep us from getting some sleep, so we just moved our pillows a bit, happy that we got a big tent.

We would however not get away that easy… I woke up at around 3 AM, feeling rather uneasy. My stomach was upset and I couldn’t get any rest. An hour later Kina woke up, asking what was wrong (why suffer in silence?) and that was my cue to get up, go out and throw up. For the third time in a week I now had to make a bed in the driver’s seat, since it was closer to the “bathroom” from there. I’ll spare you the details, but Kina didn’t get much sleep either…

The day after Kina did the driving while I was sitting in the passenger seat trying to get as much fluids down as possible. Tired and sick, the kids running beside the car screaming “YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!” were even more tiring than they would have been otherwise… though the kid using his penis as some kind of boxing ball was actually quite amusing. We are however still trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to achieve with his “stunt”. We will remember him though, so if that was his goal then mission accomplished.

After we had just passed a group of kids I had to get out… my stomach was still not happy… I went out to the front of the car and through the corner of my eye I could see some of the kids come running, screaming the now classic “YOU! YOU! YOU!” and “Give money! Give pen!” Well… they got something all right… I didn’t see this myself, but as Kina told me one of the kids had just reached me when I began throwing up, thus shocking the kid sending him away screaming with a priceless look on his face. Guess he will think twice before running after a Land Rover again.

We stopped in the town of Gonder, where we found a fairly cheap place to stay. The room is a dump, but the garden is really nice. Best of all, it’s really quiet.