Given up on getting a Sudanese Visa in Addis Ababa. Some people have been waiting here 7 weeks without success. Booked a flight to Cairo even though its USD480 each. At least that way we know we will get one for sure!
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Author: ivan
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29th January 2006
Still ‘stuck’ in Addis Ababa awaiting a Visa for Sudan. Been here for two weeks but hope we may not be here too much longer or we may go ‘stir-crazy’ in cell block F of our £3 per night hotel (no extra charge for the fleas!).
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18th January 2006
Our introduction to Ethiopia started at Customs. A guide called Antony latched onto us (you are rarely alone in Ethiopia!). We stayed in a pretty rough hotel at the border where they slaughtered goat for supper outside our room with a huge sabre! We had injera (like a huge pancake with the consistancy of foam rubber) and goat meat. OK, can’t complain too much for the equivalent of 60 pence!
The following day was a muslim holiday and a huge outdoor gathering was taking place in Moyale. It also meant we had to go on before we could get the tyre fixed. We stayed the night in Konso the capital of the Omo region we had come to see, again a rough hotel (as no campsite) and injera and spicy goat!
We met a local guide Greisha near the Tourist office who took us to a couple of villages and a stunning gorge known as New York! The village of Mecheke was interesting, the local tribes have a complex culture. Every 18 years the new generation takes responsibility and a pole is erected to mark the event. They also have community houses where boys live until they marry.
We then went to Key Afar a local town with a weekly market. However en route we were stopped at a police checkpoint and asked for our papers. We had read that sometimes the police wanted a letter from the Tourist Office in Konso, Jinka or Addis but we were told in Konso that it wasn’t needed. The local police thought differently and insisted on escorting us to the local police station where we had a major debate through an interpreter with the local Sergeant. In the end I told him I wanted his name and he refused to give it so I went to a group of onlookers at the compound gate and asked them for it. They told me they knew it but wouldn’t tell me. By this time however the Sergeant was worried why we wanted his name and agreed that we could take an armed officer to Key Afar where they would decide.
We duly took the officer to the station at Key Afar where the senior officer was happy that we had a valid visa and an entry stamp at Moyale! So all sorted.
In Key Afar we met a local lad who directed us to somewhere to camp (the ones in the guidebook had all closed). We had a huge gathering of inquisitive local kids here, one of whom Mekonen later acted as guide to some of the local villages and markets. We also met Amanuel who we gave a lift to Jinka and back to see his uncle (another policeman). It turned out that the police escort we had to Key Afer was also a relative!! When we later returned to Key Afer we met Amanuel’s sister on the road and she invited us for coffee and to stay in their compound. They insisted in demolishing their fence so we could get George in and generally made us very welcome and comfortable.
The local museum at Jinka about the local tribes and their customs was very interesting. They have a bull-jumping initiation for boys and also a tradition of body scarring.
One of the Hamer tribe women we met in a village showed us her son who had eyes that were swollen out of their sockets. We later enquired of a Norwegian Hospital Doctor who worked at the local Lutheran Mission what might be the problem. He explained it was an eye infection and that sadly his sight would have been lost. A very tragic thing to see, his mother had taken him to the Doctor in Jinka but sadly it was too late for anything to be done.
Mekonen took a lot of the photos in the villages and markets. The locals expect 1 birr for their photo but he kept snapping away, cheeky fellow!
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8th January 2006
We spent 3 nights in Samburu National Park. We helped retrieve another vehicle which was stuck fast in a very boggy patch which didnt improve our tyres or clutch but we couldnt leave him there! We were very fortunate as Samburu is very dry but we still saw a lot of wildlife. In particular a pride of 14 lions including two cubs and a very battle-scarred male. The monkeys and baboons were a pest at the campsite but otherwise it was a very pleasant site by the river. It even had a shower! There are also other interesting animals in the Park like Gerenuk (like an Impala but with a long thick neck) which browse Acacia on their hind legs. The reticulated Giraffe and Grevy’s Zebra are also rather different to the other species seen elsewhere. Unfortunately Samburu is too crowded for comfort especially with microbuses which does detract from both the experience and indeed from conservation. Amazingly we had to explain to an Abercrombie & Kent driver who asked what we were looking at that there were 11 lions immediately opposite across the river. We are getting rather good at this animal tracking and spotting! We saw our eighth Leopard of the trip here (although we can’t claim to have spotted this one!).
We had our second police escort of the trip as there had been bandits shooting at vehicles along the main road from Samburu North towards Marsabit. However the police escort vehicle drove so fast that nobody could keep up with it which I think left the convoy more exposed! This apparently is typical, we have heard this from other overlanders. However when we got to Marsabit we heard that a vehicle had been held up and robbed shortly before the town. This road the A2 is known as the “worst road in Africa” and is in terrible condition with massive corrugations. The World Bank has given funds for this road to be repaired and tarred twice (it goes all the way from Egypt to South Africa) but the money has gone missing!! This is Africa! We even saw a compound full of yellow construction vehicles that had just been canibalised rather than used for the road repair! As a result of the condition of the road we had our third puncture of the trip but also the welds on the brackets that hold on the second spare tyre and sand ladders gave out. Luckily there was no one behind us when I saw the spare tyre bounce off (25 feet in the air!) so we could retrieve it. We had the type repaired (the inner tube had several holes!) and the brackets welded in Marsabit when we arrived.
There is drought in this part of Kenya causing famine so people are desperate. When we joined the convoy in a small town it was full of refugees from further North who had abandonned their homes when their livestock had died. Many people along the road asked for food and/or water. We stopped and gave some water to a Samburu man and two women (in traditional dress) but generally you feel powerless to help.
On the way to the border on the worst road in Africa we got a 2nd puncture, this time a 5 inch nail! Unfortunately it also damaged the side wall of the tyre as it suddenly deflated. The person to stamp the Carnet was absent when we got to the border but we waited around and the customs guys arranged great Ethiopian coffee! They told us there was no need for a stamp but I didn’t want to risk it!
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2nd January 2006
Spent a day in Lake Nakuru National Park after an intro to Kenya roads, the worst in Africa yet (apparently the road budget funds disappear!). We spent Christmas at a campsite near Njoro which served a traditional Christmas meal! We also sang Christmas carols with the family! One of the lads from an overland truck was very drunk indeed (from around 6pm onwards) and was pretty badly behaved.
The flamingos at Lake Nakuru are stunning, there are up to 1.5 million of them! There are lots of raptors here, quite a few white Rhino (we saw 27) and we found a pride of 11 Lions including a big male & 3 cubs.
We then spent almost 4 days in the Masai mara, the road in is slow as it is in dreadful condition. We saw lots of lion here including 21 on day 3! Also two lots of cubs. We also saw Genet cat twice, lucky as they are usually nocturnal. The Mara plains are stunning and without a GPS it would be easy to get lost. 4×4 is essential as there are lots of steep river crossings. Sadly we didn’t see any cheetah but we did see a leopard. Used a good campsite called Aruba just outside the park where the staff (mostly Masai) were very friendly.
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24th December 2005
Stayed at a campsite at the Amabere caves where our guide Wilson showed us the volcanic crater lakes and the locals catching grasshoppers which are in season after the November rains and are a highly-prized delicacy! There were grottos here.
Went on to the Kasenda volcanic crater lakes after crossing the equator just North of Queen Elizabeth National Park. There were black & white colobus monkeys and huge birds called the great blue Turaco. Met a Belgian couple, Marlene & Guy, who were overlanding in a South African bakkie (pick-up).
We noticed the fuel tank was leaking again, the third time from exactly the same place! We resolved to get it fixed again in Kampala.
Arranged Ethiopian visas in Kampala which was a fairly easy next-day service. We had hoped to get Sudanese visas in Kampala too but there is a 4 week delay!
Took George, the Landy to CMC in Kampala to have the fuel tank welded again. Eventually got it fixed after having to return because there was now a leak from the sender and the guage was malfunctioning (float stuck). They fixed the former but the latter is still a problem and they didn’t re-fit the tank properly despite two attempts. As seems to be usual in Africa lots of fuel spilt too!
Met Mark & Blanca at the Red Chilli Hideaway campsite, who are crossing Africa in a blue forward control Land Rover 101 called Grommet. They have been on the road for 14 months. We had seen the vehicle (somewhat unusual!) driving south to Livingstone from Lusaka and it turned out they were en-route to see John Finn of Livingstone 4×4 who we had previously met in Lusaka. Also met Tony again at Red Chilli.
The traffic in Kampala is crazy (Guy had warned us that it was a training ground for Cairo!). It took us over an hour to get out of the city.
We then headed to the Ssese Islands via the campsite at Musaka (where we met Patrick again who now claimed to be 12 years old and not 10!). We also met a Ugandan called John who lives in Royston and was visiting relatives for Christmas. We had an interesting and informative talk with him about Ugandan politics.
The Ssese Islands are reached via a free ferry which takes 50 minutes and seems to leave when it feels like it, early or late! It was an hours drive across the Island to the campsite run by Luke, a interesting ex-Pat Dutchman who had worked for many NGOs in Africa and had many tales to tell. The Island is lovely and is heavily wooded. The beach was fine white sand and there were lots of Pied Kingfishers hunting at the shore. We relaxed in hammocks in the shade near the beach.
Headed back to Red Chilli in Kampala for the night before heading off to Jinja and the source of the Nile. Here we stayed at the incredibly busy Nile River Explorers campsite and went white-water rafting on the river Nile. We have been rafting before in Peru and Nepal but nothing like this! We went through 4 grade 5 rapids and the boat overturned on 3 of them!! Even the safety boat over-turned twice, sadly injuring the guide who had two bad cuts to his face from the oars and was shaking badly in deep shock. This was a thought-provoking moment on the river for sure, as was the point when we stopped to walk around a grade 6 rapid (unsafe to run with the amount of water!) and a friendly local told me that someone had been drowned there the previous week (and said may god bless me when I returned to the boat to shoot the next rapid!). Lots of locals come to the River to watch the crazy Mzungus (white men) on the rapids. Being in the rapids after having been tipped out of the upturned raft could be quite scary when you went under and could see the daylight through the bubbles! We ceratinly swallowed a bit of the Nile between us! When you surface there are often a series of large waves to negotiate and you have to time your breathing between them. It is all done very safely though with many small manoevreable safety Kayaks to collect you if you are thrown away from the boat or can’t hold on to the raft in the current. It was great fun but I much prefer to stay in the Raft!! At times it does feel as if you are in a washing machine!! The grade 5 rapids were called wonderful names like Total Gunja, Big Brother, Overtime and Itanda (The Bad Place!). Overtime had a bad wave-trough named the G-spot which if you hit it, which of course we did, meant you were going to get a soaking for sure!
In the evening we watched a video taken of us during the day. This is when you really realise the size and power of the rapids you were riding earlier in the day! Sadly I didnt get any photos as I couldn’t take the camera. Good thing I didn’t too as the waterproof containers in the safety boat proved they weren’t really waterproof (lots of soggy cigarettes were smoked by our fellow rafters between rapids!).
Our guide said that the Ugandan government have given the go-ahead for a hydro-electric dam scheme which will probably destroy the rapids, seems amazing when it is the biggest tourist hot-spot in Uganda.
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12th December 2005
Moved on to Lake Bunyonyi where there is a lovely campsite called the Overland Camp with gardens overlooking the Lake. The staff here were very friendly and advised us to try the local freshwater crayfish. We visited the twice weekly market here where Charcoal, Sweet and Irish potato, fish and clothes are all for sale. Everything comes across the Lake by Mokoro (dugout canoe). We spent the whole morning in the market watching the world go by and chatting with the locals. English is very widely spoken here and to a high standard. There are many local languages so we are trying to learn the basics to get by.
Duncan, (people here have English and a local name!) who we met in the market offered to escort me up the hill to see the view of the Lake and all the islands. The view was well worth the climb. Later he bought us delicious fried sweet potato. We tried to help him with his maths homework but sadly it is too long since we studied maths!!
Uganda is so impressively green having so many lakes and reasonable rainfall.
Next onto Bwindi National Park to track Gorillas. We had secured a place to track the largest group (20+ individuals), this group is however the furthest away so we had 2 1/2 hours walking up and down and through the rain forest to find them. The forest was however an amazing experience, it isn’t called the impenetrable forest for nothing! We saw the two silverbacks in the group, a mother with her young in a family group with one of the silverbacks. In all we saw about 15 of the 21 in the group. Very difficult to get photos as it was so dark even in the clearing (needed ISO800 to get pictures). Also very dense vegetation obscuring the view. An amazing experience but not cheap at USD360 each!
We gave our guide Christopher a lift the following day into the local town.
We then moved on to Queen Elizabeth National Park, firstly to the Southern part at Ishasha. Here we saw tree-climbing Lions, the most amazing sight! There was a male Lion who was using a branch as a chin-rest while his dangling paws waved back and forth while he panted in the heat. The female was also in the same tree. We also saw two Lionesses in another fig tree, their favourite arboreal retreat. Also got stuck in the very black Ishasha mud, twice! Winch and sand ladders (now bent!) very useful!
We went on to Mweya on the North side of the park but the game veiewing here was disappointing. We heard lots of Lion roaring in the night but spotting them in the day is more problematic! There were also lots of elephants all around the Land Rover at night in the campsite some of them trumpeting loudly! A lovely camp site on a water channel. There are waterbuck, bushbuck and warthog in the camp now as I write.
Met Tony (three times on the road no less!), a Canadian travelling by Bicycle from Cape Town to Egypt. It has taken him 9 months compared to our 5, not bad going!
Tried to send a fax and update the website in Fort Portal. They had power and network problems so one email took virtually all morning and fax was impossible!
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30th November 2005
Great camp site for the first night, great view over the valley and it is wonderfully green here. Met the 10 year old son of the owner, Patrick who was a very bright lad indeed and he, Stephen (the neighbour) and I had a long and interesting discussion about the problems of Africa – poverty, HIV/AIDS, corruption, development, Aid etc.
Not so easy finding ATMs in Uganda but eventually found one in Mbarara where we got 1.8 million Ugandan shillings to keep us going!
Had food at the campsite the only menu item being Goat and Chips!
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30th November 2005
We were very impressed by Tanzania, some people say the people are reserved but we found them to be open, warm and very friendly. They are quite formal about greetings which is quite charming, in fact it is considered quite rude to just launch into a conversation without asking how someone is first so they is an interchange of Jambo (Hello), Habari (How are you?), Mzuri sana (very good).
We had quite a problem trying to get a ferry from Mwanza (Tanzania’s second city). At the first attempt it was booked up, at the second attempt the vehicle had to be craned on empty which we couldn’t do. At the second port we went to (on a really awful road) the ferry had an engine problem so it was going to be delayed by 7 hours (at least they were apparently waiting for a spare one to arrive!). At the third port the ferry was just leaving and we had run out of time that day anyway but caught the ferry the following morning. Luckily we were the first car to arrive so secured a place. The delay wasn’t so bad as we had an excellent Thai meal (!) in Mwanza for ?15 for two including drinks (an expensive meal).
The road on the other side of Lake Victoia was pretty awful too and it was a long drive. We had our first armed escort with a sub machine gun with two full magazines! There are ex-Rwanda army bandits in the woods here who shoot first before relieving you of money, goods and car. No problems but a strange feeling to have an AK47 stuck out the passenger window!! Fun in Bakoba getting somewhere to stay as so many places had closed down.
The Uganda border took some time with immigration on both sides, Visa, booking in and out with the police and customs formalities for the car. They noted the details of our vehicle (including engine & chassis numbers) about 4 times! The currency touts here take you around and pay for Road Fund Licence etc to get you to change money at a bad rate. They were not impressed that we changed so little!
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21st November 2005
After a short visit to Dar Es Salaam and a one night stopover on the coast North of Dar we went to Kims Beach South of Dar at a village called Gezaulole. There is a cultural tourism programme here supported by a Dutch organisation. We watched a local collecting coconuts from the palms on the beach. He climbed simply using a ‘rope’ around his ankles made from fronds. The coconut milk was delicious.
We went on a tour of the village with Moses who worked for the cultural tourism programme. They have a nursery for the villlage which grows trees, herbs and vegetables which all looked very healthy. We stopped at the village ‘take-away’ for hot sweet potato which was very good indeed. The local bar was entertaining with the merry regulars drinking maize beer at 10am! Also visited the local village potter and a lady making matting from woven palm fronds. We visited an island off the coast on a fisherman’s dhow where we snorkelled off the beach.
The beach is stunning here, fine coral sand and pure blue sea, only spoiled by the ex-Pats who turn up in force at the weekends!
Passed huge Pineapple plantaions on the way to Nogorongoro and stayed at a stopover campsite run by an eccentric Brit who has spent all his life in Africa and hadn’t finished the campsite after 6 years but a lovely place by the river in any case.
The temperature gauge had given up on George the Land Rover and when I investigated it transpired that the cable had been under tension (presumably since new!) and had a very frayed mass of wire where it had eventually snapped each wire over time. Got this ‘fixed’, for free at a garage in Arusha, an African repair job involving insulation tape and twisting wire. The mechanic seemed almost afronted when I asked him if he had soldered the new wire onto the temperature sender! It will work for a while I think but I got some proper connectors in Arusha for if it does work loose.
Did some food shopping in the excellent market at Moshi and posted some letters to people we had met in Malawi and Tanzania. Also got some photos printed in Arusha to send to Malawi.
The road to Ngororongoro is now excellent new tarmac finished last year having taken 5 years to complete. When we last came to Ngorongoro about 10 years ago this road was really dreadful with huge rocks and potholes in the road to negotiate. Unfortunately (for us anyway) this had led to more visitors and even many lorries now using this road and then going through the Serengeti National Park, not good for conservation! Going to the crater is expensive, USD285 for one day (including two nights camping). We made the most of it being first in the crater after a 5.30am start. The road down into the crater down the rim is very steep, and the ascent road even more so! At the entrance gate they tried to persuade us to take a guide (we are supposed to strictly), a masaai boy of around 14 was offered but didnt like the look of the cramped conditions in our cab! We saw so much wildlife here this time (the previous visit had been disappotinting). We saw black Rhino near the Larai forest, bat-eared foxes with young and a cheetah. Photographs in the crater were difficult with the heat haze and distances from the road to the animals. On the second night there was a huge bull elephant in the campsite browsing within a few metres of our vehicle! And on both nights buffalo came to graze the grass around the vehicle.
We then moved onto the Serengeti for 3 nights. There was so much wildlife here with the migration in progress there were huge herds of Wildebeest and Zebra. And inevitably predators when there are 1 million Wildebeest! We saw no less than 38 Lions in the three days!! Some of these were hunting too which was a bonus. We saw another Leopard (the sixth of the trip) which was also hunting but couldn’t get very good photos in the long grass. We went to the Mara river hoping to see the Wildebeest crossing but it was getting late to go too far up the river.