-- Log 12 --

Ethiopia – Hill Country

Left Addis much later than expected, due to a 2 hour delay in trying to send our latest update – once again mweb’s server is down on a Sunday! When will we learn! Stocked up on a few essentials, which left us with 7 Birr in our pockets (this being Sunday and no Forex was open) we headed for Bahir Dar (and a Bank) – +- 600 kms out of Addis. The navigator thought it was 445 kms!!! With the light fading at about 17.30 we started to look for a place to park for the night – not much available when you do not have any money – unfortunately! Time for desperate measures – prayer! As we were driving out of a town (Goha Tsiyon) and were considering going back to the petrol station and asking them if we could stay there for the night, we found a compound sponsored by Canada and Germany in conjunction with Ethiopia – they are involved in agriculture. They were kind enough to allow us the park in the compound and use their facilities for the night! Thank you gentlemen for you hospitality – much appreciated GTZ – N10.01.181 E038.14.801 - 8 181 ft amsl – FOC – 21/07/02. God does have a sense of humour, a couple of kilometres down the road we came to the canyon!

Ethiopian Grand Canyon – Blue Nile at the bottom - taken from 9 300 ft amsl in a motor vehicle (not flying) – the River is at 3552 ft amsl – notice the exit of the canyon in the background (the mountain we still had to climb).

Good ‘mac-murrum’ descent road, cross between macadam and murrum – it got much worse, before it got better!

Bridge over the Blue Nile at 3 552 ft amsl – not above the river!

Truck trailer wreckage fell from the road indicated on the top of the hill and wedged between the rock – distance +- 6-800 feet. We still had to travel this portion of the road

Drove all day on the murrum road averaging 30 kph, just because we were taking it easy, the condition of the road was not too shabby! We were listening to rock and country and western music on the route! Ethiopia is a land of hills, valley’s, mountains and every inch of the land is farmed by the local communities! There is very little land left fallow, and one cannot drive 100 meters without seeing somebody – there are always people around – even in the most remote places. Very difficult when you need a toilet!

Once again it was time to find a spot to sleep – Bahir Dar was still in the far distance.
When approaching the town of Injabara we came across a very unimposing sign which read stay at ‘Zengena Crater Lake’ – the road looked a bit muddy but we decided it was worth a try – what they actually mean is ‘pop in and have a look at the lake‘! There are no facilities there! But the area is very beautiful and the glen looked like a great place to spend the night! Our presence attracted a large portion of the nearby village, they are very curious people, but do not know when to go home! It was an early night for us with tea and no supper.
 

Zengena Crater Lake – N10.54.793 E036.57.764 – 8 383 ft amsl – FOC – 22/07/02

The MR W’s in the glen at Zengena Crater Lake – the glen was empty when we arrived, and began to fill with humanity within 30 seconds – news travels fast in these parts

Zengena Crater Lake – early morning

Local population from the village of Injibara

Vultures in a field – they were huge! Being chased by Dennis

Finally on the third day after leaving Addis we arrived at Bahir Dar – a pretty town on the banks of Lake Tana, which has 37 islands, which have monasteries on them.

On arrival cruised the town looking for a camping site, and checked out the Ghion Hotel and the Blue Nile Springs Hotel (from Lonely Planet). It seems that the Blue Nile Springs Hotel has been appropriated by the military and when we tried to enter the gate guard would have made a contralto proud with the height of the note he reached telling us that we could not enter! So we opted for the Ghion Hotel. Tomorrow we will take a boat trip to the islands.