The rest of Ethiopia

Our hotel in Debra Markos

We left Bahir Dar at lunchtime after a long journey back from Lalibela and wanted to get ahead of things and head to Addis Ababa. The road was really good (with a few sections in gravel) but required lots of dodging and swerving with loads of cows, goats, sheep and people on the road. Eventually we decided to stay in a little town called Debra Markos. We visited the only camp site as shown in the Lonely Planet….mmmm was not very nice, so Peter and Andre mentioned that they had spotted a hotel just at the start of the town. it was 3 months old and they only wanted 200 bir for a king sized room....what a great hotel and definitely well recommended.

The next morning we left at about 10am so that we could arrive in Addis Ababa nice and early leaving the guys enough time to sort out their front tyres, which to this point had all but fallen off the wheels

Pen  please?

Herding some donkeys down the steep Nile Gauge roads

The roads were great and scenery was unbelievable, Ethiopia at the moment has been the most beautiful African country I have seen. The people are friendly, the children are excited to see us and wave every time we pass them. Its such an amazing feeling to see how excited and happy they get when I wave at them.

The old Nile bridge built by the Italians

The new bridge built by the Japanese

On the way we stopped off at the Blue Nile gorge, a brilliant road, about 9 months old, descending from the mountains about 2600 meters above sea level to the river itself ....the bridges are pretty amazing....water was not flowing as we expected, but we were told that there was a damn wall further up stopping the flow of the water and apparently they only open the gates on Sundays...... so we continued on the winding roads.

The first 150km was great roads, there were a few gravel sections....which I think I did well to negotiate, however on the last gravel road, one with an angled incline, I was not so lucky. I was following Lindsay quite closely....BIG MISTAKE. He slowed down to much, which then caused me to slow down , then big problem.......I didn't have enough power on the bike by then to pull me out of the rut, so I had to let the bike fall.....all because of Lindsay....damn male drivers. Now I know not to follow him again.....anyway with little effort we got the bike up and off to the top, Lindsay then had to help Russian Andrey to get up too, he had dropped his bike. So before we knew it, this is what the trip was all about, Lindsay , Andrey, Peter and myself were trying to pull the bike to the top......what hard work......damn. Also Peter's 4 x 4 was overheating on the gravel after chasing after us up the mountain trying to film some of the riding and not watching his temperature gauge.

Pete's Landy overheating and Andrey (left - out of picture), on the 1200GSA, on another one of his 'trips'

There is definitely something that everyone is learning from this trip, a 1200GS adventure is a definite NO NO for a trip like this, well unless in the hands of a very experienced rider.

Eventually Peter got his car running again and we were on our way up the pass, not getting very far before Peter's car started overheated again, we could see how frustrated he was, but we stayed with him in case he needed us. This happened a few times before his cooling system finally gave in and blew a pressure valve with only 160km to go to Addis. We then waited on the side of the road and tried to fix it. Poor Peter was so stressed and couldn't understand why the car was overheating. Lindsay then suggested he goes back to the town to find some sort of valve to close the opening. In the mean time we stopped some Norwegian guys that suggested that we stop a truck and tow or put it on the back of truck.

Lindsay arrived with a bolt that fitted, but we didn't think it was a great idea anymore as Peter was unable to pin point the problem and didn't want to damage anything on the car. Eventually Peter decided to pay a truck to take him to Addis........one problem averted, but another one lingered, Lindsay's front tyre was showing threads already.

Finally, with Peter's car on the truck and heading for Addis, we decided we would get a move on before it got too late, cautiously, as we were worried about Lindsay's front tyre. It was a great ride but pretty cold and we had to stop to layer ourselves once again and also take the chance to warm up inside with a hearty cup of soup. Then, just 24km from Addis, Lindsay's tyre burst, what luck that we had put some Slime (tyre sealant) in otherwise, at 70km/hr, things could have turned out rather nasty. We took the first available opportunity to flag down a truck to get the bike safely into Addis, this at 9 in the evening..

Arriving in Addis at 10pm, we could not get hold of Andre or Peter so had to opt for the first available hotel which in all its glory could very well have been a brothel.....oh yes!!! it definitely looked like one. Anyway we stayed there for the night as the driver did not want to take us any further.

The next day we headed to Wim's Holland house where the rest of the group was , Lindsay just gaffer-tapped his wheel to get there as it would be easier than trying to get another truck or trying to sort a tyre from our current location. The place is so nice, they have a beautiful camping area.....green grass and a secure area to park and work on the bikes, beer on tap, very nice food and excellent hosts. We stayed for 5 days because we heard that we wouldn't be able to cross the boarder into Kenya over the weekend because customs for the bikes are not open on weekends......typical Africa. So we enjoyed the amazing food and i'm sure we all put back all the kilos we lost in the last month or so.

The crew: Aisha, Pete, Wim, Raheel, Adnrey, Andre, Lindsay and myself

Wim, the owner even gave Lindsay an old used front tyre that a previous overlander left behind to replace the blownout front tyre he had, which was soon fitted, hopefully it gets us to Nairobi with no hassles.

We also met a dutch couple, Robert and Clary (double dutch), living in Australia travelling around the world in about 7 years .. amazing. They also have an amazing truck, from microwave, toilet, bbq, shower, fridge/freezer all inside the truck … brilliant.

Aisha, Pete's wife, having left us for New York, we met two new friends at Holland House, two kiwis on bicycles who asked Pete for a lift to Isiolo … so they will join us for the next few days.

Gina, Tony and Pete at the pricey Safari Lodge

We then headed off to Kenya boarder, the roads were pretty good, the traffic some of the worst we have come across, loads of pot holes but ok to ride on. We then decided to find a camping spot near Lake Langano and headed for a lodge signed 'beach camp' but only found a really nice looking Safari Lodge with prices to match, but no camping, just out of our budget. As we were leaving, we bumped into Gina and Tony and their little boy Connor, who were away for the week at a holiday home along the lake ….... they offered us a couple of rooms for the eve, which was so great. Before leaving the lodge, we had a good old chat, a couple of beers and some lunch, the tab very generously picked up by them as well, how blessed. The road to get to their place was a bit hair raising, but we all made it through no problem.

Lake Langano

In the morning, some of the guys took a quick dip in the croc and hippo infested cream coloured lake before heading off towards the Kenyan Boarder, were we are going to overnight on the Ethiopian side and then leave early the next morning to cross over to Kenya and head onto the dreaded Moyale to Marsbit road, reportedly the worst road in Africa, a real bike killer, only time will tell......

Our final campsite in Ethiopia on the Moyale border