Lalibela - Gondar - Bahir Dar and back to Addis Ababa

We woke at the crack of dawn and with Arturo in tow headed to the airport.  We didn’t quite allow for a power cut at the hotel, resulting in a return to the hotel for a forgotten handbag, followed by a flat tyre and formula 1 speed pit stop and a less than speedy queue at the airport to get through security and check-in.  Finally though we were all aboard and back to sleep for the hour flight to Lalibela.

Lalibela traditional huts

On arrival the hotel touts were out and we settled on the “Helen's Hotel” (Hels may have had a small part to play in that decision!) and hopped into a minibus through breathtaking scenery to town. Helena like her namesake hotel was feeling a little shabby and so Arturo and Izzy headed off to explore. 

Lalibela is one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities and many of its sites hark back to its founder Saint Gebre Mesquel Lalibela's childhood in the holy land and Jerusalem, including the river “River Jordan”. An undulating town, every corner of Lalibela brings another vista and its reputation with tourists resulted in lots of young boys following us and calling out “where you from?” “pen” “money” “you!”.  We took to saying we were from Mexico as this tended to avoid the inevitable conversation starter of…”London” "Manchester United” “Wayne Rooney” and any other football terms that they had learnt.  

Arturo and Izzy bought their ticket to the group of 13 famous UNESCO protected rock-hewn churches for a preview of the sites before our tour in the afternoon (with Hels) and enjoyed wandering around taking photos and encountering the priests who continue to pray in the churches. After a lovely lunch up the hill at the Seven Olives, joined by a portrait photographer who had amazing stories of far flung travels and isolated tribes, Izzy and Arturo gathered up an ailing Hels for the afternoon tour. There was no way they were going to let her come to Lalibela and not visit the churches!

 

Arturo and our guide

The best way to describe our guide was ‘enthusiastic’, without a watch and all 13 churches to see we often had to hurry him on.  The churches were built In the 12^th and 13^th centuries by Saint Lalibela with supposedly only the help of angels!  We were navigated through the different churches with explanations about their layout, fresco paintings and guided through the winding passages that connect the sites. The churches varied massively in their size and style. Some had baptismal water pools which looked incredibly uninviting and in the rockfaces surrounding the churches were caves for hermits and nuns to stay over the major festival of New Year when the site is heaving with worshippers. There were also carved buildings that represent Bethlehem and a long black tunnel that represented the path from Hell to Heaven.

St George Church

All the churches were guarded by priests who either sat and posed for photos or read from the Holy Book. The most famous of the churches is St George, with its cross form it is also one of the most ornate and best preserved.

It was a long and hot day of site-seeing and with another early start looming we ate in Helen's Hotel and were early to bed.

Saint's day celebrations

The day of our departure was an Ethiopian Orthodox saint’s day and from our minibus we watched the locals all in white process up to the Lalibela site.  We were joined in our minibus by a friendly American, Liz, who had been volunteering in a university in Gondar and on arrival she gave us a lift into town (well not quite into…just outside and a minibus ride away) and some tips for what to see.

Gondar (which used to be the capital) is hectic and dusty and on arrival a collection of ‘guides’ attached themselves to us as we tried to find a hotel to stay in within our budget. We settled in a dubious but well placed hotel in the knowledge that it was only one night and our next stop would be the time for luxury. 

Fasilides castle

We headed straight to the Royal Enclosure (Fassil Ghebbi) to the ruins of the Emperors reigning in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries. This complex of buildings included Fasilides castle, Iyasu's Palace, Dawit's Hall, a banqueting hall, stables, Mentewab's Castle, a chancellery, library and three churches: Asasame Qeddus Mikael, Elfin Giyorgis and Gemjabet Mariyam.

We were the only “Farangis” (foreigners) there and clambered around the different palaces with their distinctive architectures with the feeling that we were visiting a chateau in France.  There were a few other people touring the palaces and some locals snatching fruit from the trees, but without a guide we happily clambered over the ruins taking photos and marveling at the cultural heritage of Ethiopia. It was incredible to see a place where the emperors had not destroyed or modified the existing palaces but merely built a new building to their specification and to the taste of the day.

Debre Birhan Selassie Church

We stopped at a café for lunch and Hels (still feeling under the weather) left Arturo and Izzy who headed up hill to the church recommended by Liz; Debre Birhan Selassie (built in the 17^th Century). A short way out of town, and several directions later, the church looked rather underwhelming. Surrounded by twelve stone towers that represent the twelve apostles, the exterior building hid well the treasures inside. It was worth the climb though with an interior covered in frescos. Hundreds of angels adorn the ceiling and biblical scenes the walls, a charming priest attempted to guide us through the stories and saints depicted but most needed no explanation. We were both impressed by the quality and bright colours of these amazing paintings and set out optimistically to see the next site of the day.

 

Fasiladas' Bath

Fasiladas' Bath was not easy to find, after many directions and misdirections eventually Arturo and Izzy came upon the site which looks like something out of the secret garden.  With trees and their roots cascading down the stone walls the small building in the middle of the sunken pool which in New Year is used for a mass baptism ceremony was thought by some to be Fasiladas’s second residence. Around the moat are wooden tiered benches and on leaving the place we were shown a photograph of the site with water surrounding and hundreds of bobbing heads.  Exhausted from our walks and detours we flagged down a tuk tuk and headed back to meet up with Hels for a luxury supper in a nearby hotel (and use of their far superior facilities!).

 

Bahir Dar Lake Tana View from the Hotel

The next morning we headed to the bus centre.  We were mobbed on arrival with much prodding and gesturing and bemused we fought through the crowd to a minibus that looked roadworthy. This quickly filled and our fare paid (luckily there is no haggling or farangi price for transport) we set off on the three and a half hour drive to Bahir Dar.  The journey flew by passing beautiful scenery (for which Ethiopia is famous), shepherds, chickens strapped to minibus roofs (including ours) heading to market, horse drawn carts and even once stopping for the locals to pick up chat (a leafy drug used to enhance energy).

 

Bahir Dar is a leading tourist destination in Ethiopia and situated on Lake Tana is a stepping stone to exploring some of the island monasteries.  We stayed in the Ghion hotel which with its tropical flowers and restaurant built into the shade of a massive tree had seen slightly better days, however with an ensuite bathroom (our first since Zanzibar) we were in heaven.  

We signed up for a tour of the monasteries the next morning and chugged along with only a small engined boat. We passed pelicans and the local reed boats that traverse the lake and finally drew up to an island pontoon.  

Lake Tana Monastery

Our first monastery was not dissimilar to Debre Birhan Selassie in Gondar, with the same fresco painting style.  Ethiopian Orthadox churches consist of three parts: the inner sanctuary (inaccessible to all but priests), the inner ambulatory and the outer ambulatory. The outside walls of the sanctuary are usually covered with magnificent paintings and in the inner ambulatory the priests play drums. Our second monastery also in the same style was a similar experience to the first and at 100 birr (£4) we decided to cut short the tour of five having already seen the best two and after a quick detour to the mouth of the river where Hippos were wading we headed back to our hotel.

Injera

We spent the rest of the day and the following morning reading our books and relaxing.  The food was not great at the Ghion so we headed out to a smart nearby hotel and restaurant.  Arturo had not tried Injera before (the Ethiopian staple dish made from teff which creates the pancake which is used to grab the food) so we ordered a plate of this.  We were still not convinced and we decided to avoid it in future!  

emptying our poofs

Before heading to the airport we did some serious bargaining for some goat skin poofs. We bargained hard and wouldn't even budge when they asked for an additional £1 to have the stuffing removed but armed with our penknives we made a spectacle of ourselves as we ripped out the stuffing (we both had visions of customs in the UK questioning the dubious grass inside so weren't keen to risk it!).  We then made our way to the airport and back home to our beloved Taitu hotel.

After our whistle-stop tour of the north we were pleased to return to the hospital to carry on with our volunteering which is our main reason for being in Ethiopia.

We arrived in time to enjoy the May Day celebrations which they celebrated early in the hospital.  May Day in Ethiopia is also known as “Workers’ Day” and in the afternoon the hospital courtyard was transformed into what can only be described as a site of a school playground with children’s party games galore.   Only it wasn’t the children who were participating in the egg and spoon race or hunting for coins in bowls of flour using only their mouths, it was all the workers (doctors, nurses, cleaners, helpers etc).  The nuns had the very important adjudication roles which they took very seriously using the communion bell as the starting whistle for each game.  It was so wonderful to see the sisters and workers relaxed and having fun and the patients all watched enthusiastically (some were even hanging out of the windows!).  Fortunately we managed to avoid being roped into any of the games.  In fact the one game the sisters tried to involve us in was a version of musical chairs which became so competitive and even slightly violent that one of the sisters (who was a referee) ended up flat on her back on the ground!  Luckily no damage was caused.

Otherwise everything else at the hospital has been as we left it albeit a lot quieter now that they have discharged about a third of the patients. 

We continue to help with the orphans in the mornings and are also enjoying spending more time with the disabled girls.  We feel we have built up a good rapport with the young boys (whom we refer to as ‘our boys’) and we’ve realised, albeit rather late in the day, that colouring-in books are a massive hit (so much so we received a round of applause the other day from the interested older patients). We had rather an audience by the end of it – they were probably wondering how we had managed to keep them quiet for so long!


In our final two weeks in Addis we had a final push to explore some of the hot spots for food and drink. 

Hailu and his friend King

Hailu (since we last wrote we have learned how to spell his name!), who has become a friend of ours over the last month, took us one evening to a great bar near our hotel called “Free Town” where we enjoyed listening to good music on the rooftop terrace with a log fire.  Very cool!  We were delighted to listen to music other than that of 'Teddy Afro', a renowned Ethiopian artist who was sent to prison for 2 years for, as we're told, singing about the government/poverty and whose music has been banned from radio and television.  Saying that, we have actually bought his CD (it would be rude not to having lived and breathed his music in every cafe/minibus/taxi/shop since we've been here!).

Last weekend we treated ourselves to a night out in “H2O” a newish club in the smart area of Bole.  We were accompanied by our new friend, Uli, from Austria, who has fallen in love with Ethiopia having been here as a volunteer in this hospital and others for 9 months previously and is now back to study to become a nurse.

Alliance Ethio-Francaise with Uli and Arturo

Mad

Completely and utterly fed up with eating rice and tomato sauce or spaghetti and mince everyday, we’ve also spoiled ourselves at some better restaurants, including “The Cottage”, “The Backyard” which are both great for steak, and most recently “The Alliance Ethio-Francaise”.  We were so impressed with the latter we decided to head there again for dinner with Uli and Arturo followed by a concert by Madjo, a Franco-Senegalese singer, and her band.  It was a free concert in the open air and despite their having lost all their instruments and CDs amongst their lost luggage when they flew into Addis they were fantastic and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Limited grocery choices for dinner!

Arturo who has now left Taitu Hotel to live in a flatshare (he is here for 4 months) hosted us for a delicious mashed potato and ratatouille dinner as he wanted to show off his cooking skills in his new (cockroach infested) kitchen.  We’re not sure what cooking skills he managed to show off seeing as he was very happy to stand back and let us girls sweat over the stove!!  It was a fun evening nonetheless and so exciting to eat home-cooked food.



We couldn't leave Addis without tasting the traditional Ethiopian coffee (even Izzy who doesn't like coffee). Deliciously smooth we can see why it has a great reputation and is famous throughout Africa.

It would be a crime to come to Addis and not to visit The National Museum which houses a number of archaeological artifacts and details the history of Ethiopia from prehistoric times to the modern day.  Most importantly, the museum houses the famous “Lucy” the oldest hominid that has ever been discovered.  She is an incredible 3.5 million years old!

We also enjoyed a trip to the Ethnological Museum, held in the law block of the Addis Ababa University which is the site of Emperor Haile Selassie’s old palace.  It is a fascinating museum which amongst many things includes details about the various tribes of the south (it’s a shame we haven’t had time to visit the south as well). However, most notably we were able to walk into the bedrooms and bathrooms of Emperor Salassie and his wife (complete with a bullet hole in one of the mirrors from the 1960 coup d’etat when Emperor Selassie was away on a state visit to Brazil!).

Also on our list was a trip to the stunning Holy Trinity Cathedral where Emperor Salassie and his wife have been laid to rest.  We were extremely lucky to be shown around the inside of the cathedral by the priest himself whose grasp of the English language was sufficient enough to provide us with an interesting tour.  The priest was adorable and perhaps slightly impressed by our very limited Amharic insisted that we take a photo of the two of us with him at the end of the tour. He was chuffed with how it came out!

Finally, one of our biggest highlights in Addis since we arrived here a month ago was the opportunity to visit the Born Free Foundation which sits hidden away on the outskirts of the city.  This charity was set up by the actors from the film ‘Born Free’ and Stephen Brend (who we had been put in touch with) is now managing the ever-expanding site as project director.  The charity provides a home to rescued cats (mainly lions and cheetahs) and baboons.  We were extremely lucky to see 3 new baby cheetahs who had just been rescued in a bit of a hairy battle from an illegal trade in Somalia.  They hope to be able to eventually release these back into the wild when they’re a bit older.  All the lions seemed to have rather sad stories involving captivity and mal-treatment, whether they were rescued from the palace in Addis, cages at various army barracks or as chained pets.  They appeared very happy in their new leafy homes though.

Wrong side of the road donkeys!

Today we leave Addis and all its donkeys and goats and fly to Nairobi where we will be for a few days before Hels very sadly flies back to the UK and Izzy heads back to South Africa to continue with her trip.   Obviously there will be floods of tears as we bid each other farewell, but what a great few months!!

Ethiopia - Addis Ababa

Salaam from Addis Ababa!

One of the things we have had to get used to here in Ethiopia is the fact that they follow the Coptic Calendar as opposed to the western Gregorian Calendar. Today it is actually 9th April 2004 and we celebrated Easter Sunday a week later than the rest of the Christian world. The time they use is also different so when we start work at the hospital at 8.30am (Kenyan/Western time) the clocks will tell us it’s 2.30 pm! This has taken a bit of getting used to and we have to ensure that if we arrange to meet someone we confirm whether it’s Ethiopian time or ‘Western’ time.

We are spending the majority of our time in Ethiopia in the capital, Addis Ababa (which means ‘New Flower’). It is a bustling city which feels completely different from the rest of Africa. There is a massive diversity from the stately buildings, beautiful people, coffee shops, good restaurants and rich culture to the poverty on the streets, groups of donkeys being trotted along the main roads in and amongst the cars, chickens / goats riding on the mini bus taxis, derelict buildings, and general dirt and decay.  We are in the rainy season and every day it goes from raining cats and dogs to bright sunshine although at a high altitude it is never particularly hot.

 

We are staying at Taitu Hotel - the oldest hotel in Addis Ababa which is quite evident. Despite the decay of this hotel we love it and it is an absolute treat to be in beds after our overlanding/camping experience. The staff are wonderful and they find our attempts at Amharic hilarious; the communal bathroom is not so wonderful but we are sure we have both seen worse….at least that’s what we keep telling each other.

Music for the Patients for Easter (with a random chap off the street)

Ethiopia is an incredibly religious country and it has therefore been fascinating to be here during the Easter period. Whilst we had been making the most of Taitu’s fasting vegan lunchtime buffets since we arrived here (we ate more fresh veg in our first 2 weeks than we did for the previous 4 months), on the eve of Easter Sunday the streets were lined with chickens and goats being sold to make wonderful dishes to celebrate the end of Lent.  It wasn't just the streets that were full of activity.  The hospital where we are volunteering celebrated with lots of music, palm leaves made into rings and head bands, party outfits (where possible) and hair braids for the girls.  


From Taitu our trip to the hospital ‘Missionaries of Charity Home for Sick and Dying Destitutes’ is a very easy 10 minute minibus taxi ride. The cost is 5p each! It’s utter carnage trying to find the right minibus since whatever is written on top of the minibuses means absolutely nothing to us (see photo). Nonetheless, eventually we find one which we’re told is going to ‘sidist killo’ and we hop on and hope for the best.

 

The hospital is accessed from the street by a discreet brown gate. Behind this is a warren of wards.  On our first day we were guided around the massive compound by Highloo who looks after the volunteers and visitors. The hospital is made up of a female and male section, divided by a white line on the ground. These sections consist of wards dividing patients into HIV and TB, physically and mentally disabled, wounded (e.g. car accidents), elderly/dying and other patients with weird skin diseases that we have become like professional basketball players at dodging (just in case they are contagious, no one seems to know!).  The patients wear an array of donated pyjamas and clothes and cover their heads with thick colourful blankets. On the other side of an alleyway is the orphanage which we didn’t even realise existed before we got here. This has a large playground which mostly seems to act as a washing line for all the babygrows, nappies and generally filthy childrens’ clothes.  Occasionally there are a few bemused disabled children sat stationary in a merry-go round, perhaps this is to dry them? There is also a mother and new baby section, classrooms for the orphans, a nursery and a physio room. We tend to spend our mornings between the physio room and the nursery.

On our first day we were actually assigned to the disabled girls’ ward in the hospital which we entered somewhat hesitantly to meet the 30 or so girls.  Ranging from bed-bound to fully mobile, most of these have grown up in the orphanage and moved across to the hospital.  We spent the day painting nails, drawing, blowing bubbles and showing off our new phrases of Amharic (we learn it from a book!!) - please ‘Ibakhi’,  hello (this is the easier version of it) ‘Salaam’ and after hours spent trying to remember thank you ‘Amisaganalo’ (much to the hotel staffs’ amusement the night before) we discovered that in fact they use “ishi” meaning ok instead. Our most ‘useful’ moment was at lunch time when Izzy fed the local pancake dish, Injera (using her hands), to a girl tied to a railing;  unfortunately more ended up on the floor than in the poor girl’s mouth. Meanwhile Hels was feeding porridge to a lovely bed-bound girl, Mimi, which she then proceeded to vomit up all over the place. With two volunteers already in this area and unsure of how useful we really were we headed to the orphanage physio room in the afternoon to see if we could help there (our two lunch victims must have heaved a sigh of relief!).

There are two lovely physios here, Denai (male) and Amemalet (female). We hesitantly asked if we could help and were ushered in and literally handed babies. During the physio the waiting babies play with the toys or clamber over the physios at work; we are the defence against this disruption and generally scoop up crying babies.  On our first day we were introduced to a few of the little ones who we now look after in the mornings. Ethiopia a beautiful 6 month old baby (we were asked if we wanted to adopt her on day one; incidentally we do!); Amanue who we think is 3 (he was abandoned), has the most adorable smile and loves the bouncer attached to the ceiling in the nursery, twirling the rope all the way then flying horizontal in a fit of giggles as it unravels, despite his disability we see improvements every day and Hels is teaching him to eat on his own with great success; Rosie who is about 5 and both physically and mentally disabled.  Her favourite song is ‘Old Macdonald’ and she sings “ee-i-ee-i-o” to prompt us to sing it.  She hasn’t quite grasped the idea of personal space and when she isn’t clambering all over us, her face is glued to our cheeks. We also met the adorable Mickey who never cries and has an endearing two tooth grin which is a real challenge to bring out, tickling his feet seems to work best!

After that first day we were both delighted and surprised to be asked back and it is in the orphanage where we find ourselves each morning.  Our routine involves both helping out in the physio room and playing with the babies and toddlers in the nursery, feeding them, changing their nappies (there are no pampers – the kids are layered up in cotton triangles which often don’t keep a lot in as Hels found out when a baby peed all over her crotch during a feed) and putting them to bed.

With there normally being only 3 staff and about 17 babies it is impossible to give the babies one-to-one attention.  It is therefore important that we share out our hugs and kisses equally and do not get too attached to any one baby (or babies).  It’s quite hard as some of the babies and toddlers clearly require more interaction than others and invariably cry as soon as you ‘move your love’ to another child.

Despite our communication difficulties it is great that, with much pointing and acting, we are trusted by the 3 ladies whose job it is to look after the children.  At times we have been left in the nursery with all 17 of the children without any supervision.  It is at these moments that we're glad we know the Sound Of Music from start to finish and nursery rhymes which helps to calm the room. 

Feeding time seems to happen at all hours with a variety of food from porridge to bananas, rice and injera.  This is done with varying success, often with two or three spoons and babies at a time before we move on to the toddlers.  After lunch is nap time and like all babies/toddlers they normally don’t like being put to bed at midday.  It is at this point that we do a runner and leave them in the capable hands of the workers.  Once we were recalled in a slight panic as a couple of the workers thought they had mislaid a baby; it ended in fits of laughter when they realised that Izzy had put her in the wrong room! Thankfully they haven't banned us from returning although the man at the gate has since started checking our bags (joke).

Whilst in the orphanage we have met both a Canadian lady who adopted a little boy a year ago and a Swedish couple who were in the last stages of adopting one of the babies, Hosanna. It seems like a lengthy three month process but seeing the lovely couple with Hosanna, a beautiful giggly little girl, it looked like an incredibly emotional and happy union. 

Faleker

For lunch we often pop to our favourite little eatery Amba for a swift bite to eat  which normally consists of rice and meat or pasta and tomato sauce. We have built up quite a rapport with the staff there particularly Faleker who beams when we enter and does the Ethiopian handshake which includes a shake and a shoulder nudge. 

In the afternoon we spend our time in the main part of the hospital.  On meeting Alice in Kenya she mentioned Abebe the nurse who does dressings and a troupe of young patients between about  6 and 12. We mostly split our time between these two groups. In the afternoon when Abebe and the other nurse Abush do the ward rounds we do the very ‘important’ job of folding muslin to make dressings before they are sterilised.  We rather enjoy this manual labour in the calm of Abebe’s office and a few other nurses and doctors do pop in to say hello (perhaps they are actually coming to stop us singing?!). 

Abebe and Abush

The rest of the time we play with the group of young boys who have a range of injuries and illnesses from tumours to cancer or broken limbs.  We brought them playing cards, skipping ropes, crayons and balloons all of which are a great hit and the moment we are spotted the gang run up asking for ‘cartas’. They are a feisty bunch and we have stopped our fair share of fights. We do understand, however, that they are all a long way from home and most have been left by their parents for months so we try and give them a little motherly attention too.   It is impossible to mention them all, but here's a few just to give you a little flavour (sadly but understandably we are not allowed to take photos in the hospital). Soloman (six) has an enormous tumour over the right hand side of his face, he runs around in bright yellow dungarees (why these have gone out of fashion we have no idea!). Apt (six) comes from a hunting (with bows and arrows!!) family and is incredibly dark skinned and tough, at first the other boys didn’t let him play with them and after a couple of days and many scraps we saw why. Rashad is smart and often the leader in cards and also the biggest cheat (this is ‘Labar’ in Amharic and we use this word a lot, as well as ‘Mestet’ meaning share). Mushi the cutest of them all is only 2 and his father stays with him in the hospital, he runs around in grown up shorts that make for trousers on his little legs.  We have been lucky to have help in the form of the charming Fikere (who we think is in his 30s).  He speaks pretty good English and has helped translate and explain some of the group and hospital dynamics. 

The nuns keep a fairly low profile however when we do speak to them they are charming and so dedicated to the children and patients.  They live on site and only get to visit their homes every 10 years, slightly ironic therefore that they are donated plane food for their meals!  There are a stream of volunteers, NGOs and charitable groups that seem to come and go in the hospital normally while we are holding a screaming child with another naked on the nappy changing table whilst smiling politely. The nun in the orphanage, Sister Stephanita, is so gracious with everyone coming through and makes us feel like our volunteering is of value to the children.

Bruno, Arturo and Gracie

We are extremely lucky to have had 3 other volunteers from the hospital staying at Taitu with us – Bruno – 33, French, nurse; Gracie, 27, Australian, doctor (they are a couple) and Arturo, 20, Mexican, student. They are all super and we have spent most of our free time hanging out with them, laughing endlessly. Bruno sneakily invited us out for dinner one night to a superb nearby Italian restaurant called ‘Castellis’ which boasts previous customers (with photographic evidence lining the walls) as being the likes of U2, Brad Pitt and Angelina Joli (much to Gracie’s delight and amazement), Bill Clinton and Bob Geldof, to name just a few . It was only at the end of the delicious meal that we found out we were celebrating Gracie’s 27th birthday so we took it upon ourselves to ensure that the evening did not end early and headed to the jazz bar next to Taitu to enjoy an Ethiopian Barry Manilo with an unbuttoned shirt and shiny suit strut his stuff on the stage. The music was actually really rather good and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Gracie has sadly now left us here to fend for ourselves as she has headed to France for a few weeks to learn some French before Bruno joins her there in a few days’ time to see his family before they head back to Australia where they live.

It hasn't all been hard work....!  We were very honoured in our first week at the hospital to be invited out for our first Friday night in town by ‘Highloo’ (we’re sure it’s not spelt that way, but it’s the easiest way to remember the pronunciation) to join him and his friend, ‘Desalengne’ (which means ‘to become happy’, though Hels got confused and called him ‘Sunshine’ for the whole evening and they were too polite to correct her). They took us to Yod Abyssinia in Bole where we enjoyed the local honey wine, a tasty injera (the local dish) with all sorts of different meats, spices and sauces and a fantastic performance of the Ethiopian style of dancing from a local band and 8 dancers. To say these dances are extraordinary is an understatement. Moves included ‘the chicken dance’ (a better version of the dance we did as children), a courting dance which the boys really didn’t need to explain to us, and the most memorable – the neck rotation dance which we could barely watch as we thought the girls necks might snap off – any physio would surely have jumped up on stage to stop them. What was quite a surprise to us was the real Indian influence in the music and at times we had to remind ourselves that we were still in Addis and hadn’t been transported to Calcutta.

Entoto Mountain Surrounding the City

The following night we were very kindly invited out for supper and drinks by one of Niki Payne’s friends – Rebecca Conway – together with her husband Kerry, sister Rachel (who was visiting from the Philippines) and other friends for another local experience in a cool outdoors bar called Elsa’s Bar. It was good to meet some expats and it was interesting to hear that even living the expat life out here is not as straightforward as it is in other 3rd world countries. We were very excited to learn that Kerry's office is in the British Embassy and that if we behaved ourselves (!) we may be able to visit it one afternoon (everyone who knows Addis has said that we must try and visit the embassy which has an incredible setting, a swimming pool, horses etc etc).

This weekend we're going to give ourselves a bit of a treat and we're heading north to visit some of the famous Ethiopian sites.  We are bringing Arturo with us and are looking forward to seeing more of this extraordinary and fascinating country.

2.1 - Overland - Part 2 - Zambia - Malawi - Tanzania - Kenya

Sonja – 24 – German - lover of birds, questioned everything and was shocked by everything but adorable.  Favourite saying: “NO! Really?” to everything.

Leah – 26 – Australian – Great fun and bubbly.  Has a skill for impersonating a drowning person.  Favourite quotation: “I lost my thongs last night” - she was referring to her flip flops but we’re not sure the guests eating their breakfast realised that.

Gillian – 33 – Canadian bike mechanic and ex-guide.  Favourite phrase was to say “right?” after every comment.

Kim – 24 – British – full of games for the truck.  Best quotation “I’m not allergic, I’m intolerant” after the guides had cooked a special meal for her and she had tucked in to our lasagna!

 

Before leaving Livingstone we fitted in a flight over Vic Falls in a microlight.  We swooped over the magnificent waterfalls which cascade down and lead into a zig zag river.  It truly deserves the title of a wonder of the world.

 

With our new group we then set back off on the road again with music of The Lion King blaring out of the truck speakers whilst travelling through the beautiful green rolling hills of Zambia.  

We pulled in at a local barge dock on the Kafue River (our truck’s namesake), loaded our tents and bags onto the boat and cruised down to our secluded camp where we were treated to local food and an extraordinary traditional dance display including audience participation and much gyrating of the hips.

The next day we were taken on a gentle walk to visit a local in his home and meet his large family and to see how they live before heading back to the mainland on the barge.  We took this good opportunity to have a dance lesson with the boys from the previous night’s troupe and of course Lauren (previously nicknamed "mosquito" by Karl owing to her dancing) joined us.  We then hit the road again for a couple of long driving days to Malawi.

We spent four wonderful days on Lake Malawi.  With white sands and small lapping waves it is hard to remember that this is a lake apart from the fact that it is made up of fresh water.  We met another Acacia truck there and together with them and their eccentric guide, Kalvin, led the campsite in an over-due competitive game of flip cup. 

During our four days we were taken on a village tour by a local guide (who stuttered throughout) and were escorted by local lads with amusing names such as “Chicken Pizza”.  This was a bit of a theme of the area and we therefore felt it important to create our own names:  “Banana Split” (Izzy), “Strawberry Shortcake” (Leah) and “Rice Pudding” (Hels).  That afternoon we sailed, canoed and swam over to a nearby island for some jumping off and snorkeling amongst the rocks.

After Lake Malawi we had another couple of long days in the truck crossing the border to Tanzania in order to make our way to Dar es Salaam.  This capital city is bustling with crazy traffic - well done to Tony for getting us through without a scrape.

We stayed there a night before jumping on tuk tuks early in the morning to take us via a small local ferry (for which the UK health and safety would have had a field day) to the main cat which sped us in just 2 hours over to the spice island of Zanzibar.

Lee, Kim, Lauren, Hels, Leah, Sonja, Izzy and Gillian

We spent our first night in the capital, Stone Town, a fascinating place with history of slave trade, tiny alleys, markets and spices. We were guided around the town and on to a community project where we were shown all the spices and fruit plants grown in the area.  We were then force-fed so much fruit that we ended up rolling out of there.  What a wonderful day.

After Stone Town we headed north to a beautiful white sandy beach where we relaxed, read our books and drank cocktails. The group went on an amazing snorkelling trip where we viewed millions of tropical fish off a private island and ate a delicious fresh tuna lunch before sailing home on a dhow boat.

The following day we met the two lovely American girls, Annie and Hunna, who were joining us for the rest of the trip up to Kenya before heading home after a university placement in Cape Town. It was a shame they only joined the trip in Tanzania as it would have been good to get to know them a bit better.

We weren’t ready to leave Zanzibar but jumped back on the ferry where we met some amusing young Maasai men who would grunt loudly whenever an attractive lady appeared on the television.  A tuk tuk ride later (with Hels at the helm for the last part – what was the driver thinking?) we were back in Dar for an early night before embarking on a 2 day journey to Arusha.

We also bid farewell to Lee who was staying in Dar/Zanzibar to teach taiquondo (at least that’s what we understood).

Our early start was somewhat delayed by a breakdown in Kafue's starter motor. After much fiddling with spanners (in the dark) by Tony, our only answer was to bump start. Now this truck weighs more than a herd of elephants so this was no easy task. In fact us girls (plus Prosper and Sammy) struggled so much that the wonderful Massai security guards stepped in to help and we finally managed it with a lot of huffing and puffing.

We spent a night in Moshi en route to Arusha from where we could see the snow capped peak of Kilimanjaro towering above us. After another long day on the truck we arrived in Arusha at Snake Park Campsite run by the formidable Ma.  Intrigued by its name we immediately headed into the snake park to terrify ourselves by seeing all the many types of snakes lurking in the undergrowth.  To steady our nerves we hit Ma's bar for some drinks and to introduce our Zimbabwean Prosper to darts.  We wish we hadn't as what we thought started out as beginner's luck soon turned into a white wash at our own game.

Olduvai Gorge

After a magnificent cooked breakfast (a rare treat) the next morning, we set off in 4x4s on our next safari trip to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater (our driver was the shy Mirage). On the way we visited the Olduvai Gorge and a museum which houses paleoanthropological artifacts from the area. Tectonic movement and volcanic activity over the centuries have created a unique archaeological site excavated by the Leakeys who then founded the museum. 
 
We later arrived at our bushcamp set to rise early to spy the best game (assuming they hadn't spied us during the night on one of our midnight trips to the loo!).

Serengeti means “endless plains” and other than a few rocky outcrops and acacia trees the land was flat and ideal for spotting game. We were thrilled to catch lions basking on rocks and also to encounter three young male lions who crossed our path to sit under a shady tree right next to our 4x4. On our way back to camp for lunch we spied a leopard hanging out in a tree.  This on top of seeing hundreds of wildebeest moving in the migration, zebras, giraffes, buffalo etc and a close encounter with three hyenas that Sonja spotted prowling through the long grass made for a spectacular morning.  That afternoon we made our way to the Ngorongoro Crater and passed some of the most beautiful land yet which is all owned by the Maasai people.  It was at this point that we both considered giving up our conventional lives and becoming Maasai wives (although we were slightly put off by the fact that a lot of them take more than one wife)!  

 


We arrived at our campsite on the ridge of the crater to find 4 elephants making their way to our bathrooms as we were setting up our tent literally metres away. What a close encounter (too close for comfort?!).

 
The next morning we descended into the crater. Words and photos don’t do this extraordinary place justice and we felt like we were in a scene from The Lion King with animals at every turn. As well as spotting a rhino and countless wildebeest and zebra we felt privileged to watch a really wild encounter.

Stand Off Between Lion and Mr Warthog

A pride of 7 lions were on the prowl for lunch. Spotting a family of warthogs they began their stalking. Mr Warthog turned to face them down distracting the lions while Mrs Warthog trotted her young to safety before he scurried after her (warthogs can run faster than lions...). Missing their fast food lunch the lions (accompanied by three scavenging hyenas) strolled around our vehicles finding shade and cover from oncoming game.

Tempted by a limping zebra the pride considered a snack, but in the heat of the day they opted for a snooze instead and we headed off exhilarated by this rare treat (even our guides Sammy and Prosper were buzzing). 

Prosper, Annie, Leah, Hunna and Lauren

Feeling like the cat that got the cream, little did we know that just around the corner we would watch three hyenas cause carnage amongst zebras and wildebeest as they hunted them down, finally rounding up a baby wildebeest before devouring it in front of its mourning mother.  It felt like a real scene out of a wildlife documentary!

 
   

On our five safaris we were thrilled to spot the big five but felt that this wish list is overrated and our highlights have been witnessing the strange interactions and peculiar habits: from a chameleon’s strange dance across the road, a warthog standing down a lion, zebras resting their heads on each other’s backs, to hippos waddling around on land.

After our three-day excursion we were delighted to return to Ma’s and the following day were taken by a lovely Maasai guide, Jonathan, to visit a traditional village, a museum about their culture, an education centre and a market. Jonathan explained some of the Maasai customs including the circumcision of teenage boys (he dealt extremely well with our endless probing questions - all of us girls were so intrigued that no one held back...).  During this rite of passage the young boys dress in black with feathers and white faces and stay in the bush until they are healed before they return to their villages as men.  Jonathan also showed us how they construct their houses (the women build these) and the traditions within families and marriage.  They are a fascinating people and a frequent site along the roads of the Serengeti standing out in their bright red and purple Maasai blankets.

We celebrated our last night all together in Ma’s bar with our usual round of darts and some of her deadly shots. The bar was pretty lively with several other trucks based there for the night before they themselves were heading on safari.

On our last day we drove straight up through south Kenya to Nairobi where we pitched our tent for the last time set to spend a couple of days before heading to Ethiopia.  The rest of our group left one by one and a core few of us - Lauren, Prosper, Tony, a Kenyan (Nash) and Ugandan (Benjy) - headed off to check out the Nairobi nightlife. We were delighted to hear some western music to dance to and have a chance to let our hair down in a big city.

The next day we headed to visit Alice Murphy (a friend of Izzy’s) for a delicious lunch and a much needed dip in the pool to remove the haze from the night before. Alice had been to Addis Ababa over Christmas so was able to give us the low-down on the Mother Teresa hospital and we left excited and a lot more prepared for our month of volunteering.


 With Hels’ birthday just around the corner we treated ourselves to a visit to the David Sheldrick baby elephant sanctuary for the feeding hour.  It was carnage with baby elephants charging for their bottles of milk and then frolicking around in the mud.  An hilarious sight!

In the afternoon we  took ourselves off to a mini festival, “Blankets and Wine” held on each first Sunday of the month.  With Afro beats, a buzzing atmosphere and a young fun crowd we were speedily falling in love with Nairobi and as we sat on a Maasai blanket with Sonja and Prosper we felt totally at home (this might have been the South African wine talking!).

Monday was our last day and Hels’ birthday so in order to break up the enormous treat of packing bags(!) we headed to the renowned “Thorn Tree Café” for lunch. Famed as a starting point and notice board for safari travellers over the last century it was a little oasis of calm in a hectic capital city. 

What a great last day to our overlanding trip.

A Final Note.....

 

When we signed up to this overland trip we most definitely kept our expectations low. Both of us have travelled pretty extensively in the past, very much in an independent way and we knew therefore that we would need to adjust to this way of travelling. Africa is a huge continent and we felt that overlanding would be the easiest and safest way to go.

On reflection we both agree that it probably would have been better for us to have travelled the first leg up to Livingstone independently in order to have been able to take it more slowly, spend more time in Namibia and stay longer in the Okavango Delta. We loved the second leg though and with the vast distances covered (sometimes 12 hours in the truck a day) and special interaction with the locals in all the places we stayed, we really felt that travelling with Acacia was a good decision, with Tanzania just pipping Malawi to the post as our favourite country.

Finally we would like to thank our amazing guides: Sammy who answered all our questions with a massive grin and encyclopedic knowledge; Tony who skillfully navigated some of the worst roads we have ever travelled and kept Kafue ticking over while entertaining us with his library of African tunes; Prosper who endured our music and banter in the main part of the truck (despite fighting malaria for a week of the journey) and cooked the most delicious dinners for us.  Thanks guys for being amazing!

Sammy

Tony

Prosper

Statistics

Number of times asked if we are sisters: 7

Number of nights spent in a tent: too many to count!

Number of punctures: 1

Number of bump starts: 4

Number of avocados eaten: 23

Number of people who caught Malaria: 1

Number of Ma’s revenge shots each: 1 (any more and you’d be mad)

Number of countries visited on the overland: 7

Number of things stolen: 0

Number of pre-6 o’clock starts: 36