An Adventure in Africa

Dietmar – you won’t be laughing soon, that I can promise you.

As this operation gets underway, out of the blue people appear from nowhere, especially kids to take a gawp at the ferenji ( local term for foreigner). We are now down to 5 wheels! but wait the spare is going flat, hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.  On the bright side, the road is in good shape.

We are off again and taking in the views, some of the best to be had anywhere.

After a while we stop at a small town to have one of the wheels repaired – this is an experience in itself as we become the latest tourist attraction and whilst the wheel is being repaired we are inundated with questions from kids and teenagers: what’s your name, where do you come from … I tell them I come from Wales, they ( about 20 ) reply “but where is Wales Mister” this is a tough one but I reply “you know Ryan Giggs” “yes we know him, a Walesman for Manchester United”.

Tip, when discussing geography and you can’t explain where a place is, find the name of a footballer then they will know exactly where you are coming from.

Time’s moving slowly and then the begging begins “YOU FERENJI, give me some money, pens, t-shirts etc”. It gets to be a bit annoying when finally on of our crew has had enough and pipes up with the perfect retort “YOU” (pointing to one of the smart guys) “YOU GIVE ME 1 BIRR TO LOOK AT FERENJI ZOO” (us in the bus ), it raises a laugh and they get the message. The tyre is now fixed and we are off again.

We arrive in Debark for lunch and to pick up an armed scout and “guide” - I use the term loosely, you’ll see why soon.

We turn off up to the mountain road, now on our way to the lodge, but wait, don’t we have another puncture? we are now back down to 4 wheels again.  We limp that last few kms to the lodge and the views are so cool, also the Gelada Baboons are out in force to meet us.

They live on the tops of the mountains and eat only grass and small plants.  They sleep on the side of the cliffs for safety from predators during the night.

The lodge is fantastic and the rooms well decorated with solar heating, which isn’t working at the moment because it is cloudy, moving on. From the lodge where we enjoy a welcome juice trundle off to our rooms which are higher than the lodge, about 150 m along a semi-steep path.

After leaving Belgium at a mere 60m above sea level to 3260m + a steep walk, I am not the only one dying through the effort, but hey, no pain no gain and for the location worth every last gasp.

We take time for a short nap and go for a wander amongst the baboons and to check out the birdlife. Here we see a lot of new bird’s, this is really good for Jayne, some new ones are the Lammergeyer, one of the biggest raptors ( birds of prey )in Africa , a white backed or white headed Ibis, a hornbilled Raven according to our guide, of sorts, still birds we have not seen before.

We then go with the lads for a steep walk down and a steep walk up a hill to check out the cliffs and mountain side where the Gelada’s live, but as with any mountainous area, Brecon Beacons in my case, the weather can close in extremely fast, and of course there were big storm clouds moving in very quickly, so Jayne and myself decided to make a run for it, down and up and just make it, but what a killer.

We return to the bar for a refresher, no Tusker ( Kenyan beer) time here but in Ethiopia we have what is known as a St George time which is the equivalent.  The hotel staff light a lovely fire which is round and central to the bar -  some of the gang turn up and we enjoy a few bevies with our meal and then turn in for the night.

7^th June

After breakfast we depart at 08:00, further into the park to try and see the Walia Ibex and the Simien Wolf or Fox depending upon which camp you are in. We see a Klipspringer on the way and the views are amazing, a bit hairy as it would take just one driving error to drop at least 500m.

We pass this stunning waterfall which we shall check out on the way back.

We are now at the top of the range and the terrain is very tough for the locals to eke out a living but they seem to manage.

It becomes very cold when the sun disappears and the soil pretty stony, we see many people barefooted, with little clothing, but they have adapted to it.

Oh, oh, guess what, another puncture. Ok lets get out and sort it -  the driver is looking very sheepish and will not look anyone in the eye, guess what, he did not put any spare wheels back in the bus, so now we are in deep doodah. We are about 30km from the Lodge on a gravel/stoney road. We all try to get a mobile signal from various peaks and the driver manages to get through.  We understand that a spare is on its way, so the “guide” and driver have their lunch, then the driver promptly drops his seat back and instantly falls asleep.  Honestly, this is driver/guiding at it’s worst, with no concern for the passengers and in the meantime he allowed  2 of the passengers to wander off alone with no idea of where they are going !!!

But you have to laugh – note snoozing driver behind Agy.

We estimate about 1 hr for the wheel to arrive and wait and wait, still nothing; 1 ½ hrs later Jayne and myself trek to the nearest peak and try calling the lodge and the manager and Nega tours. Eventually we get through to the manager and he explains that they have to go to Debark to get the wheel fixed, a round trip of 90 km. Eventually they arrive 3 hrs and a bit later - the weather has already closed in and you can only see about 20-30m.

As you can see there are no trees around so it’s a lucky break for the driver.

Finally, the manager arrives with a spare wheel and you can imagine the feelings of everyone.

We have to head back to the lodge but stop at the waterfall en route, what a site, something never to be forgotten.

If you are ever in the Simien Mountains check out the falls.

Another little compensation is catching a glimpse of a couple of Menelik’s bushbuck.

We return to the lodge and have some discussions with the bossman there, insisting he accompanies us to Gonder for the morning flight back to Addis the following morning.  We have to do this as our faith in his abilities has been severely dented due to fact that when we asked him about the spare wheels he assured us that they had already put one back in the bus. I knew for a fact that this wasn’t true, having just checked it out for myself.

Now reading this you’re probably thinking “what a nightmare” – but in actual fact we had quite a laugh about it.  I think part of the problem is expectation and we tend to forget that this country is very new to tourism and thus has little experience in this field.

8^th June

Time to say goodbye to Simien lodge – would like to give a special mention to Mohammed who has been absolutely fantastic, nothing has been too much trouble and would actually make an excellent manager.

We nervously set off on our journey back to the airport. Quite right to be afraid as yes, you’ve guessed, one more puncture.  We arrive at Debark and the manager, extremely embarrassed in the accompanying hilux, bundles us into what we would call in Kenya a metatu – minibus. We now have a 3 hr drive ahead and it goes really well, good driver and no punctures at all.  However, about 20km from Gonder we smell something burning occasionally but can see nothing wrong, but we arrive at the airport safely and on time.  The burning smell turns out to have been due to a melting  tyre through heat conduction to the wheel rim, should have took a pic but we were glad to get there in 1 piece.

I spot Mr Nega our tour operator as we arrive and go to see him to discuss the incompetence and unprofessional manner of his driver.  Strange but his command of the English language has deteriorated since Friday and he keeps thanking me as I congratulate him on the poor quality of his staff. On further examination of Mr Nega’s business card I see he is in fact an expert in the Semen Mountains – that’s why the journey didn’t go swimmingly.

As for the manager of Simien Lodge he seems to have evaporated.

I think you know the saying “ TIA” , THIS IS AFRICA, from the movie Blood Diamond.

But despite everything, the weekend has been great.

Before departure EACH DAY give your vehicle a good walk around and check all the serviceable spares and jack are there, it could have turned out so differently.

Be wary if you are going to use Nega Tours based in Gonder, I shall not use them again but we have used Greenland tours in the past and found them excellent.

Simien Lodge and the mountains are stunning and we will return there in the future to see the Simien Wolves and the Walia Ibex, the staff there are very friendly and professional, but the manager had to be forced to take action. I shall be sending an extract of this blog to the owner in France.

Anyway, I shall sign off now as you are probably bored with these last few paragraphs and will report later.

Agy.

22^nd June

It’s the great Ethiopian Run today – are we participating? Of course! Are we running – are you mad?  I’ve once again taken the soft option of official photographer.  Many of my colleagues are running and the atmosphere is great.

Pictured middle-right is famous Ethiopian runner Heile Gebre Selassie.

It’s an old-fashioned workhorse, designed to travel for thousands of miles with no frills and we love it.  Can’t keep calling our new baby ‘it’, can we?  What sort of a name can we give him (too masculine to be a girl) – lightening – noo, certainly not uphill at any rate; the beast – think that’s already been done.  I think I like Monty, but Agy’s not too keen.  In fact, he’s just described it’s aerodynamics as resembling a brick so that’s what we’ll call him.  Well, since The Brick came into our lives, we haven’t looked back and Ethiopia has become our oyster.

We’re slowly discovering Addis driving and my goodness does Agy like to hit the horn – he’s become a hooter-crazed maniac and toots at anything, even inanimate objects, it’s sending me round the bend.  The driving may not be fantastic here, but where is it nowadays. Nevertheless, the people drive at a reasonable pace and in general are very patient (not like you know who).  My theory is that he felt so deprived in Uganda when the horn only worked intermittently, he somehow felt it to be an affront on his manhood so he’s now recovering it with interest.

I’ll stop my moaning now and tell you of another important event which took place in early September.  My parents came to visit.  I was so anxious that they like and appreciate Ethiopia and was especially happy to have four wheels as it gave us the perfect opportunity to show off our newly adopted country.

So here’s a little flavour of what we’ve been doing for the last few weeks.

Ambo

Our first trip took us on a two-hour drive to a natural spa town called Ambo.  The town has quite a few hotels and a couple of swimming pools.

Ethiopia Hotel, Ambo

We have been along the Ambo road a couple of times since, it’s a very picturesque trip.  One of our Sunday-afternoon jaunts was particularly interesting; along the way we encountered an Ethiopian funeral …..

…. the area we are in is Oromo and the people Oromia – note the traditional headdress on the second person from the right, made from horsehair.  Another typical uniform for people from this area is peaked caps and wellies, so you can easily spot them walking along the road.  Incidentally, Oromia is the largest tribe in Ethiopia.  The town we are passing through is called Addis Alem, meaning new world.  It was once destined to become the capital of Ethiopia when Menelik II was King. Menelik II was running out of wood for construction so had decided to up sticks (get it?) from Addis Ababa to Addis Alem.  However, when he heard about eucalyptus trees and saw how quickly they grew and their uses, he decided to surround the city with them and voilà, Addis Ababa was saved.

Another interesting encounter along this route was a tornado – an amazing sight which we’ve never before witnessed.

Wenchi

Moving about 50 km from Ambo, we recently drove to a spectacular crater lake called Wenchi.  The place is idyllic. However, we were not only there for the scenery.  The French-speaking Rotary Club of Addis Ababa are running a project here in this very poor community.  So early one sunny Saturday September morning we set off in convoy to Wenchi, nestled in the mountains at 2,800 m above sea level.

Going up the mountain (3,300 m) was the easy part at this stage …
… descending into the crater was quite a different story and far worse than this looks.

The final part of our journey involved a short boat trip to discover how Rotary are working to improve the lives of these extremely poor people.  Incidentally, they are just about to donate four boats to enable the local children to attend school on the island in the middle of the lake.

Shana (middle) – you can’t take him home with you.

A special mention to the man seated first left in the picture on the right.  His name is Mitiku and he is currently Rotary Club President.  Mitiku is a remarkable man who was born here in Wenchi.  He was a shepherd here until the age of 12 when he began his education.  His studies took him to Liege, Belgium where he became a surgeon and pioneered certain medical procedures.  He is now semi-retired but still gives lectures both in Addis and abroad in his particular field.  The best part is, that he has come back here to his roots and is now determined to improve the lives of his community.

Back on dry land we take a short walk to the village tap that Rotary has recently installed.  Although lake water is potable for the locals, it causes discolouration to the teeth of the children and the new tap is linked directly to the fresh mountain spring, much more healthy.  We (and must confess I’m only here as observer) are going to install piping which feeds the tap.  Here are the boys in action:

Left to right: Diego (my Tarzan), our mate Eric and you know who.

Meanwhile, the whole village enjoyed the show...

… One brave young lady even decided to lend a hand by cleaning out the tank

Now you see her, now you don’t.

And after several hours of battle, they had successfully connected the pipe.

Finally, we ended the day with a well-deserved beer and pizza (best pizza in Ethiopia) at Negash Lodge, Woliso.  This is the town where the luckier older children of Wenchi come for their secondary education.  Rotary are currently identifying a house here for them to live in whilst they complete their studies.

An excellent day’s work and wonderful project which we hope will continue to grow and prosper.