32th on my journey.
In the morning, we had spectators come out of the moonscape to see us pack and get off to an early start. The road tarmac was good and the scenery lovely as we climbed up to 2500meters. Stopped at Yabelo to fill up with fuel and had something to eat (our first Tib – a spongy sour cold pancake with a hot meat dish inside) at a lovely little roadside hotel. The ride today was very pleasant but the last 100 km was one long main road, with villages every 2-5km. (Passed the 8000km mark.)
People walk everywhere and animals cross or stand in the road.
We fuelled up in Dila and decided to check into a hotel.
Then, we went to find a place to eat and we met up with Cindy an French PhD student in anthropology. We shared a Special Tib (4 different meats on that sour dough) the we had a Lamb Tib followed by coffee. Great coffee here in Ethiopia.
Nic and I both had a very bad night because of the noise. We were up at 5.30 and on our way by 7.30. First part of the road was rough and hilly as we made our way down To Awasa. There we stopped at a roadside restaurant and had breakfast. Typical Ethiopian with fried potato chunks, Ethiopian style scrambled egg on bread and cold peas. This we followed with a glass each of 3 different juiced in artistic layers. Very good. Next-door was a Toyota Service centre where Nic got a wiper blade that disappeared somewhere in Kenya.
From Awasa the road was very good all the way to Addis. Now we hit real brown dry desert country with a wind directly from the front. I had to close the visor of my helmet to prevent the dust from getting into my eyes.
Addis is a fair sized city but with a large population 2million+. Found a reasonable hotel. The Extreme Hotel at $25 per person breakfast included.
Three days in Addis Abeba
At breakfast we met Guenther and Erika Main, both work for Deutche Bank in Nuremburg. Then we set off to find the Sudan Embassy. What struck us that people don’t know the street names, cannot read and maps mean nothing to them. Then back to submit my application. You only get an application form once they receive the photo copies (must come back later to pay).
So Nic had to go to Egyptian Embassy. We used the Hilton foyer as our base because there we could nearly always get someone who could direct us in the right direction. Nic managed to get his Egyptian Visa in one day. Great service Egypt.
While at the Hilton we saw a guy with a ZA triptique on his back. I went up to him and asked ‘ Is jy ‘n boertjie’ to which he replied ‘ My Magtig, ja’ He was part of Mike and Janette van Ginkel’s Rolls Royce over Africa Trip. They have a whole team supporting them.
In the afternoon, at the Sudan Embassy we met the Rolls team again and arranged for a film shoot at 6.30 pm. One of the team members Koos Roets is a video reporter doing an 8 part series for KykNet.
We had our film take with me arriving on the scooter at the Hilton and then greeting Janette and later Mike asking me to tell my story. Koos filming it all. Nic and I invited to have dinner with them. Had a great evening.
I was hoping to get my visa this morning so I could hit the road but will now only get it this afternoon.
Got my visa and ready to go tomorrow morning. Got a bit irritated this morning at 9 am because I was told that my Visa could be collected at (. What I had forgotten is the fact that Ethiopia uses a different calendar and time. They are in their Millennium year and their time starts at 6am. So 3 o’clock is actually 9 am and 9o’clock is 3 pm.
Nic and the Rolls crowd will only get their visa on Monday. I will have a two-day head start on all of them.
This evening Nic and I went to the Blue Top Restaurant for Pizzas. Of the best I have had anywhere.
Said goodbye to Guenther and Erika, they left for Germany this evening.
The adventure goes on!.............................