Ethiopia - 3 July to 18 July 2007

What a welcomed sight to tarred roads again even though we had to get accustomed to driving on the right side of the road with our right hand drive vehicles, making overtaking quite a daunting task. Despite the rather 'computer illiterate' immigration officials, the border crossing was smooth, as for once there were no road tax and 3 rd party insurance arguments.

The border town of Moyale proved to be our introduction to the culture though we'll never cope with the ancient Amharic language. A local guide called 'Brooke' (not to be mistaken for the Bold and the Beautiful !) helped us with tyre repairs and guided us through a traditional Ethiopian meal of Njera (a large grey sponge-like pancake made from 'Tef', a local grain), Kaiwat (a spicy sauce with goat meat) and great buna (coffee). Despite selecting the best hotel in town, we soon learnt to cope with the absence of running water and camping facilities. The rooms must be seen to be believed – thank God again for our camper vehicles.

After the usual duties (cleaning, teaching etc) we were off to experience the much photographed Hamer, Benna, Mursi and Themay tribes in the Omo region, where over 40 languages are spoken. The Mursi people are known for their large clay disks in their lower lips. Our first stop-over was Konso where we watched in absolute awe how the locals ate raw chunks of meat for breakfast and some of the Globeriders were brave enough to try this, then via Key Afar to Jinka along exciting dirt roads to immerse ourselves in the weekly markets with it's picturesque peoples and ancient cultures. We were amazed to see how different Ethiopia is - the cuisine, unique language and ancient Christian religion, maybe because it wasn't diluted by missionaries and colonists like all the other African countries or because it follows the Julian calendar - it's 1999 in Ethiopia currently!!

It was absolutely amazing to see just how many people knew of Nelson Mandela, from adult to child in the most remote mountainside villages. Wherever we went, they would shout out his name in absolute glee when seeing the stickers on the vans. We even witnessed some coming up to the van and kissing the sticker.

After sleeping in hotel parking areas, we were off to Awasa via Arba Minch. Rather disappointed by the hot springs at Wendo Genet, we headed off to Addis Ababa , passing the rift lakes - Langano, Shalla, Abijatta and Ziway along great roads.

Addis, situated at 2400m above sea level and founded by Menelik II in 1887, is a sprawling mix of chic coffee shops, extreme poverty and 4 million people. The Natural museum with it's 3 million year old hominid 'Lucy' and the Mercato open air market, made the stop worthwhile - despite the despicable facilities at the Tatitu Hotel. We enjoyed a traditional meal with dancing and theatre at the Hadesha restaurant. Then the usual gas fills, tyre repairs and shopping before heading off to Lalibela.

The road was long but the breathtaking green mountainous scenery more than compensated. We again spent the night in the car park of a hotel in Dese before more exciting dirt roads via Weldiya to Lalibela, a world heritage site. The 12 th century rock-hewn churches of which we visited 12, were awe inspiring. Particularly the largest, Bet Medhane Alem, which is built like a Greek temple and which had the symbolic empty graves of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the group of 4 churches of Lalibela Bete Giorgis which are linked through a tunnel impressed us the most. Our guide Kibatu Haile, an ex army commander proved very knowledgeable. We again camped in a parking lot of the Tukul Village Hotel, but had the use of a great 'private' bathroom.

Two days later we had some 'interesting' mud challenges to bypass bogged-down trucks en route to Bahir Dar, a welcomed retreat on the shore of lake Tana . This was our base to explore the 11-14 th century lake island monasteries with their religious murals and ancient bibles written in Geez from which Amharic is derived. As the flesh is weak, the monks do not allow women at some of the monasteries which upset some of the GR women ! The hike amidst Birr hounding kids (Ethiopian currency) to see the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Isat) got the blood moving for a change, but proved less impressive as a result of the hydro electric dam built upstream.

Driving past the source of the Blue Nile to Gondar was on tar and we yet again camped in the car park of the Belagez pension. The capital from 1632 to 1868 impressed us with its Fasilidas castles and palaces, built by various emperors, and known as the Camelot of Africa, but appeared more Portuguese. Unfortunately, Fasilidas bath was empty and being restored, but the splendid religious murals in the Debre Berhan Selassie Church compensated.

GR1 made a day excursion into the rather cold wet Simean National Park with its majestic 4000m mountains and dramatic topography as a result of erosion of basalt lavas.The brown gelada baboon with it's red chest and long hair on it's head was an unusual game sighting after seeing bombed out tanks all over Ethiopia .

The beautiful scenery with little towns seemingly stuck in the dark ages and in poverty, continued on our way to the border at Metema. We were very lucky to hit Ethiopia at this time of year to revel in the splendour of the luxuriously green mountain side scenery as it only stays this way for 2 months out of the 13 months.

All in all, Ethiopia really impressed us with everything it had to offer. It is a country that will take to you to extreme highs with it's breath taking natural mountainous beauty, fascinating tribes people, ancient cultures, religious sites and friendly traditional people. And then, on the other hand, she can bring you down to depressing lows regarding her poverty stricken nation living in heart breaking conditions.

Regrards - The Globeriders