Trip from South Africa to Egypt - and beyond?

Detailed Journal

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Kassala (Sudan)

Tuesday 23 December 2003

It took some time to get everything sorted out, and for me to put back on the tent, etc.  Finally, I got back to the hotel at about 11h00 - and then it took another hour to pack everything back in - and I managed to get some extra space as well!

At 13h00 I left Addis Ababa, and had a lucky break and found virtually no traffic on the way back towards Awash. Since I reached there shortly after 15h00, I decided to continue east - I needed to visit Somaliland, Djibouti and Sudan before 16 January, when the visas started to run out. I could always revisit Awash on the way back.

From Awash, the road to Dire Dawa was quite a surprise - it was newly tarred, and so I got a long way before sunset. Typically, the first reasonable campsite I found (an old road cutting) was at around 2 600m - the highest point on the route I was later to discover. So the sleeping bag was also used on top of the duvet - it wasn't likely to drop below freezing, in which case I would have slept in the sleeping bag.

Wednesday 24 December 2003

At first light I was off again, through beautiful scenery. It took another hour to reach the Dire Dawa turnoff, and then on to Harar. On the way I stopped off at one of the nearby lakes, where there were thousands of Pintail and Shoveler, with Garganey, Wigeon, Gadwall and Ferruginous Duck in small numbers. I took a quick trip around the walled inner city of Harar, before returning and continuing east. The tar ended here, and since the damaged BF Goodrich tyre was slowly deflating, I changed it over to the Goodyear as a precaution - I would now find someone to insert one of the spare inner tubes I carried - it should still work, but not in tubeless format.

The road from Harar to Jijiga was quite a reasonable desert road (photo), and had been properly built, even if it was rocky and potholed. At Jijiga I should have turned off the main road, but since they had started tarring the next section, I decided to continue south-east, even though I couldn't use the new road as it was being worked on. About 50 kilometres further on, I turned north-east and found a reasonable road to follow. However, after a while the road deteriorated to a "true" desert road - no made-up road with foundations, just tracks through the arid bush.

It then took about 2 hours to reach the Somaliland border. The drive was very interesting, as all such drives are, with nothing to guide one except the GPS, and one has to just have confidence, and have a bit of luck (photo). Twice I checked with people as to whether I was on the right road, but I was unable to communicate with either - they didn't even recognize the names of the local towns!

The border itself was extremely informal. There were two ropes strung across the road, each with a single plastic bag attached to make it visible. The first one I was waved through - the person manning it didn't speak a word of English. At the next, the word immigration was the only word I could understand, so I handed over my passport, which two people "read", it was returned, and I was waved through. No stamps, nothing.  Very easy - and also convenient, since I could also return by this route (since my Ethiopian visa only allowed a single entry, I hadn't left the country!) However, my current plan is to go through Djibouti anyway, and it should be easy to get another visa for Ethiopia there (3 years ago it had taken just 24 hours).

After crossing the border, the track continued for another hour - I was only cruising along at 30 km/h, the optimal speed on these types of roads. Eventually I found the tarred road - which I wasn't even expecting. Since it was over two hours before sunset, I decided to try and find the only known locality where Archer's Lark has ever been found. After travelling along the road (west) for about 5 km, I saw a small track which - according to the GPS - might go near the site - according to Lincoln Fishpool's book. After driving for 5 km, I found myself within a kilometre of the site, and there were even tyre-tracks leading down towards it - but they looked as if there might be thorns. Instead of driving I walked down a bit, but realised it would take a full day to have any luck trying to find this elusive bird - I don't believe many people have seen it since it was discovered in the 1930's. On top of that, the vegetation didn't look right - so I needed to check the information I got from John Miskell by e-mail.

On my drive from Addis Ababa I had seen several species of birds.

Back-tracking to the tar road, I then headed towards Hargeysa (the capital of Somaliland) which was less than 20 kilometres away. One of the last e-mails I received when I checked my e-mail on Monday evening was one from Iqbal Jhazbhay, who had helped me with the preliminary information on planning this leg of the trip. He informed me that he would arrive in Hargeysa on Wednesday afternoon (flying in from Addis Ababa) and I could contact him at the Maansoor Hotel. So I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay there as well. Sadly, his flight was cancelled, so I didn't get to meet him.

Thursday 25 December 2003

I slept quite late, and even had breakfast at the hotel, so only left at around 09h00. I set off on the good tar road to Berbera, and I was cruising along relatively slowly, looking out for larks and other birds. It took two hours to reach Berbera, and I drove through the town and out onto the sand-spit protecting the harbour. As I found in many east coast areas, the sea was completely bereft of birds, and only a very few waders and herons were to be found. After spending only a short time in the harbour area, I continued on to Burco (Somaliland pronunciation is VERY difficult - Burco is best pronounced as "Bauro"). The road was in very bad condition for about 5 kilometres, but then it became excellent tar again. After about 20 kilometres I reached the escarpment, and it was a beautiful drive up, with fabulous views (photo).

At the top of the escarpment was the village of Sheik, which the manager of the Maansoor Hotel said was the turnoff to Gacan Libaax (I never got the pronunciation of this right). However, other authorities state it is better to approach from the old (very poor) road between Hargeysa and Burco. I intended to visit this area on the way back, as the majority of the endemic species I was looking for occurred in the area - but Ceerigaabo (pronounced Erigavo) was my real target as it also had the rare Warsangli Linnet.

After reaching Burco, I was advised to continue on the tar road for a further 50 kilometres or so before turning east and then north. The road direct from Burco was much rougher and dustier.  I then relied heavily on my GPS system, as there was no-one to advise me on the route (photo). However, I did meet one vehicle en route on my way there, and another on the way back. In addition, I did pass through several villages, where trucks were parked - most travel by night.

The drive way very interesting, running through a desert area that had had recent rain (one storm!) - so the scattered bushes were green, and there was quite a lot of grass, albeit very short (first & second photos). Strange rock formations (actually termite mounds) appeared in one area (third and fourth photos). There were huge number of larks, including several endemic species. One of the birds I was really wanting to find finally appeared at sunset - a Little Brown Bustard (fifth photo). Just before sunset I had reached a wadi, and decided to camp there.

Some locals soon arrived, and demanded money for me to camp there - which was not really unreasonable. After a long haggle, we finally agreed on 10 US dollars, which was also not unreasonable. It was a fabulous night without clouds, and the stars were so bright.  However, as the evening progressed, the wind got up, but dropped later in the night.

Friday 26 December 2003

First thing in the morning, I continued on the drive to Ceerigaabo, as the road started north. As usual, one had to be very careful about keeping to the "correct" track - old ones were often washed away (photo - the drop in the photo was about 2 metres). By 10h00 I finally reached the town - which is almost impossible to describe or photograph. I have never seen such chaos (the explanation came later - see next week). The road in wound through and across heaps of rubble, and in several places one drove across what clearly used to be houses.  Even where there were houses, they were fitted in amongst heaps of rubble. However, after following what appeared to be the main track I reached a petrol station - which had diesel for sale. Even here it only cost US $0.40 per litre (it was about $0.30 in Hargeysa).

The road from Hargeysa produced a wealth of endemic birds.

After topping up my tank, I continued north towards the escarpment, where the juniper forests could clearly be seen. By 11h00 I had reached the top, and the main road clearly went down what looked like a very interesting escarpment. However, there was another track which went west (I later learned towards what used to be the Governor's forest lodge). I drove along this track for a couple of kilometres before coming to a ruined house (the forest lodge). On the way I had stopped in a clearing and immediately saw a "white" bird sitting on a bush in the open.  It seemed very wary, but after a few minutes I got a better sight of it - the Warsangli Linnet!

After that, I did a bit more birding in the area before some locals found me - and clearly indicated they did not want me there. I later discovered that this was due to the fact that there are many gemstones in the area, and they don't want people looking for them.

After returning to the main road, I started down the escarpment - which was really impressive, dropping from over 2 000 metres right down to sea-level. I started down at about 14h00, which gave me about 4 hours to drive the 100 kilometres to Maadh on the coast. However, this proved too ambitious, the road is not one that can be driven at speed at all - going up or down, and so at least 5 hours should be allowed for the journey, including passing through a rough rock-tunnel (photo). However, it could take much longer if you want to spend time viewing the scenery, etc.

Anyway, after a couple of hours, when I had descended to 700 metres (altitude), the support arm (torsion bar) on the right of the rear axle failed. It appeared that the garage in Addis Ababa had not tightened the retaining bolts tight enough. It had damaged the mounting, and so was not easy to fix. I did the best I could, and then continued down, trying to find a nice level area to do a better job. By the time I reached about 300 metres, the road was easier to drive, and I stopped at sunset at a river crossing - and yes, there was even water in it.

Because I needed daylight to see what I was doing, I decided to camp there, and hope I could get the mounting welded in Maadh in the morning.

Saturday 27 December 2003

The day started early, because at about 05h00 a police truck stopped to find out what the problem was. My presence had been reported, and so they had driven down from Ceerigaabo to find me. I was later to discover that I had not followed the proper protocol. If a foreigner visits a town like Ceerigaabo, he is expected to introduce himself to the District Governor, who will then facilitate their visit, and ensure their safety. This process became more important after the murder of an Italian and two British workers in the country a few months before - the killings appeared to be premeditated attempts to destabilize the country, but it is unlikely that tourists would be targetted since these people were living where they were killed - so were "easy" targets.

Anyway, the police were able to help me fix the arm back to the chassis, but they told me that there was no welding equipment in Maadh, so I should actually return up the escarpment without delay - they would accompany me. So soon after sunrise we drove back up - a slow process anyway, made slower by me trying to minimize the force on the arm. Even then, I couldn't stop the bolts failing again when I was quite a way up - at about 1 500 metres. Luckily there was a level area where it happened, so we were able to fit more bolts (I carry quite a lot of spares), and finally reached the top at around 11h00.

On the way up, I was able to spot several endemic species of birds, as well as some strange mammals, including many Pectinators.

First stop was the District Governor - to whom I apologized for not knowing the protocol. He was very nice about it, and instructed the police to escort me to the best garage, and then to post 2 guards to keep the local children under control - I was probably the first white person seen in the area for several months - Ceerigaabo is very isolated, and since the country is still not officially recognized, few aid agencies or NGO's operate even in Hargeysa - let alone somewhere like this.

The mechanic at the garage was very competent, but some of the methods used were pretty basic. In order to strengthen the lug on the chassis, they had to cut out a piece of metal, cut a 25 mm hole in the middle, and then create three bolt-holes. This was all done using a hammer, cold chisel and steel punch. However, the result was a s good as anything I have seen - amazing skill. Then this was welded ontoo the chassis. We also tried to fix a failing seal on the clutch piston - it was leaking quite heavily. Although they didn't have the correct rubber in stock (they had a surprising range though!), they were able to stop the leak - and I would get the proper seal either in Hargeysa or Addis Ababa.

That night I stayed in the Saanag Hotel, which looked very basic on the outside, but had electricity and running water - the shower was very welcome. However, that night it got very cold, dropping to about 5° - and it felt even colder.

Sunday 28 December 2003

The Governor had asked if I would take a policeman with me on my return journey - because (a) the policeman had been visiting Maadh for a festival, (b) for my security and (c) to show me the way. I was not going to argue, and it would be interesting to see how close I was to the "correct" way. We set off at sunrise, and set off along the road I had used to arrive. In fact it turned out I had used the correct track - which was very surprising given the way the tracks wander all over the place.

We made good time, and had reached Burco by 16h00, and so decided to continue on and try to reach Hargeysa. We made it down the escarpment before sunset, and it was just getting dark as we crossed the bad stretch of road into Berbera. The road to Hargeysa was relatively smooth, but the problem was the roadblocks - which comprise a piece of string across the road. Luckily the policeman knew where they were, so we were able to stop OK. However, I nearly hit a donkey that decided to make a dash across the road.

We reached the Maansoor Hotel at 21h00.

Monday 29 December 2003

The morning started with me meeting Iqbal Jhazbhay, and then the chaos started. It was great to meet Iqbal, who I discovered is actually the honourary Somali Ambassador to South Africa. The next person I was to meet was Hassan Bahir - who provided me with the visa in Addis Ababa.

Iqbal then warned me that I was a bit of a celebrity, being the first tourist to have driven to Somaliland from South Africa (or - in fact - anywhere beyond Ethiopia or Djibouti). Also, I was close to being the first tourist - full stop! So I needed to find time to meet with the Foreign Minister!. By the time we had finished breakfast, I had already met the Minister of Information & National Guidance, who informed me that the local radio wanted an interview, and also newspapers wanted photographs! I was then invited to lunch on Wednesday, but at that stage I was planning to leave on Wednesday morning - I actually had lost all track of time - and couldn't remember what day of the week it was, or the date.

I quickly escaped to do some birding, and went off in search of the elusive Archer's Lark. Following John Miskell's directions (which were quite different form the GPS co-ordinate given by Lincoln Fishpool) I found the road I should have come in from Ethiopia. Also, there were some quite extensive areas of yellow grass (photo). I looked at various areas, none looking too promising.  However, one place looked better, so I stopped and took a walk through it. There were lots of birds around, and several Singing Bush-Larks, which look quite similar to Archer's Lark. However, one was behaving differently, and flying more directly before dropping suddenly into the grass. While I could track the Singing Bush-Larks after they landed, this one bird was invisible, and would leap up and fly off without warning - and not where it landed.  I spent over an hour chasing this bird, getting three reasonably clear sightings, but in none could I see the pale median stripe on its head - which should have been diagnostic. The bird certainly seemed to have a narrower tail, but that was somewhat subjective. I felt fairly confident that this was the elusive bird, but would return later to check it out.

Anyway, before lunch I gave the interview for the radio, and then Iqbal informed me that my late afternoon / evening was now fully booked - first the meeting with the Foreign Minister, followed by a meeting with the Danish De-Mining Group, followed by a meeting with the Ethiopian "delegation" (unofficial) resident in Hargeysa.

We started off by meeting Edna Adan Ismail in her hospital - what a remarkable woman! She had started building a hospital in Mogadishu in southern Somalia in the mid 1980's (having been the wife of the President, and the UN World Health Organization representative in Djibouti). However, before it was completed, the civil war began, and she was forced to leave the country. In the early 1990's she returned to Hargeysa - and the video she has (which she kindly showed me) was totally unreal to me. The Somali warlord had truly systematically destroyed the city (using South African mercenary pilots). EVERY single building had been shot up and demolished - there was absolutely nothing left. I couldn't believe that it was even possible to cause as much destruction as was so clearly visible. After the city was destroyed, the population was down to around 10 000 - but has now returned to about 200 000. The city has been rebuilt from scratch, with every building having been pulled down, and then a new city emerged from the ruins. This would be a major task for any country to undertake - but Somaliland is not (yet) recognized by any other country - so can get no loans or other funding. With the national government having an annual budget of US$ 40 MILLION - to rebuild a complete city on 10 years is almost a miracle. Much of the funding has come from Somalis who live and work overseas, and one estimate indicates that as much as $300 million is sent back to this country every year. Nonetheless, the country desperately needs help. When I have the time I will put together a more detailed report on Somaliland - it really is a remarkable country.

Getting back to the meeting with Edna - if being Foreign Minister wasn't enough, she has also built from scratch a maternity hospital. The hospital was started in 1998 and finished in 2002 - and was fully functional when I was there, with two operating theatres, laboratory, library, computer centre and a complete wing dedicated to training nurses. Edna managed to build this and get all the funding to keep it running - so it was not surprising that she was the first Health Minister before being given the Foreign portfolio.

There is so much more I could write about her - not least her knowledge and love of birds - but after two hours we finally took our leave.

From there it was on to the Danish De-Mining Group. Not a Dane in sight! One American and two Brits made up the contingent. One of the Brits soon exposed himself as a Scot - when I was asked what I wanted to drink I asked for Scotch to be told there was none. It only took a few seconds for Laura to pull out 5 different scotches for me to choose from! I was then informed that I would not be leaving Somaliland on Wednesday - I had to spend New Year's Eve with them.

After another hour, we left them to move on the see the Ethiopians. We had an interesting chat with them discussing various political possibilities, and they were able to confirm that I could cross the proper border, and there would be no problem with my visa - if necessary they would issue me one at the border - something now available to South Africans entering Ethiopia.

We made it back to the hotel at 21h00, and had a late dinner, and I met with one of the local "fixers" (Yassin Kahen Booh who - like all Somalis - has a nickname - in his case Yankie Kilo) who would be able to arrange transport, guides, etc for other tourists - one of the things many people wanted to know, because I know of many people who would like to visit the country. He also promised me he would contact the local birding expert, so I could meet with him in the morning.

Tuesday 30 December 2003

After such a tiring day, I again got up late, and just managed to write up about 8 e-mails ready to send. At 12h00 I met with Mohamed Eggeh Kille - nickname Fox (Dawyo in Somali) who is the local birding expert. He worked with John Ash and John Miskell in the 1980s preparing the bird atlas of Somalia. He was also the Director of the national Forestry Ministry, but has since left to establish the Somaliland Ecological Society. Again, as soon as I have time I will put together a document for those who would be interested in visiting Somaliland, covering the key issues of how to get there, who to contact to make arrangements, where to stay and where to visit.

In the afternoon I joined a local entrepreneur / engineer called Omer Elmi who wanted to interest me in a site where he wanted to develop a tourist resort. However, his ideas were not too practical, having a nice enough mountain (photo), but it was 120 kilometres by bad dirt road (a 4-hour drive) from the nearest village. I tried to point out why the site was wrong, and where he should be looking for a more sensible site. I hope he takes my advice.

Wednesday 31 December 2003

First thing in the morning I collected Mohamed and we went out looking for Archer's Lark. He knew the two hills around where it is thought most likely to occur. However, by the time we reached the general area (and where I had possibly seen it on Monday), we realised we were wasting our time. It was still overcast, and quite windy, so no larks would be showing at all. Very disappointed.

As a result we got back to Hargeysa at around 10h00, (and I discovered that I had managed to evade a TV news crew who wanted to interview me) so I decided to try and get the axle support arm repaired again - the repair done in Ceerigaabo was not holding up too well. A local garage did a nice job of welding the front end and support, so it looked OK. Since it was taking a little time, I returned to the hotel to change and then to try and find a taxi so I could get to lunch. By chance the wife of the Minister of Commerce & Industry was at the hotel, and she just needed to go into town, and said her driver would take me on to the other major hotel in Hargeysa - the Ambassador. From my brief experience there I can definitely recommend the Maansoor as the better place to stay.

Anyway, at 13h00 I arrived at the Hotel, for lunch with the Minister of Finance! I really was being well treated here! There were just 5 of us at the lunch, including another Somalilander who was previously a journalist with the BBC. It was very enjoyable as the Minister was very active in the South African Anti-Apartheid movement, and many of the current leaders of the ANC in South Africa received their military training in Somaliland, so there is a strong link with South Africa - and my previous role in the ANC made the discussions of great interest.

At about 15h00 we finished lunch, and the Minister kindly gave me one of the really nice pictorial maps of Somaliland, as well as some other pictures - I didn't want to open them as I feared they would not close properly again - and I still have to get all of these back home - and it will not be easy to keep them clean. The Minister also gave me a very nice cap with the Somaliland flag on it. To many these gifts might seem small - but compared to the national budget, they were the equivalent of a South African Minister giving me gifts worth around US $ 1 000.

Once back at the hotel, I went to collect my Landrover - which looked fine, and then have a brief break before my next appointment - with the Danish De-Mining Group.

Iqbal and myself arrived at about 20h00, and the P4 Bar had a wide range of drinks available, ranging from Ethiopian beer, Ethiopian and South African wine, some Champagne (of course) and a wide variety of spirits from good Scotch through to some very dubious Ethiopian liqueurs. I was able to contribute my last bottle (750 ml) of Carlsberg Beer which I bought in Malawi - at least it was Danish! I also drank somme of the reasonable Ethiopian red wine before finishing off with Glenmorangie - really very civilized for a dry country (the bar was legally permitted to exist - apparently). Others were not so fussy, and Ralf - one of the German team members who was working in Puntland (to the west, and not safe for tourists to visit) - decided that he liked the Ethiopian coffee liqueur. However just after midnight he vanished - having finished off half the bottle. No-one else did anything more than sniff it - and that was enough to ensure none of us even tried a sip.

The New Year was welcomed in the traditional way, and I only made it back to the hotel at around 02h00.

Thursday 1 January 2004

I knew I wasn't going to be getting up early, but managed to leave the hotel at around 09h00 and drove north-west along the main road towards the proper border crossing between Somaliland and Ethiopia. About 50 km out of Hargeysa is a small town where a well-known "Englishman" lives - John Drysdale. Since Iqbal was visiting him in the morning, he had suggested I drop by on my way - so I did. One would never know John was 80 from his energy and workload - he is currently surveying the farms in this area so that proper title deeds can be established for the owners of the land. He has already been doing this for nearly 5 years - and seems set to keep going for many more.

I tried to find out if he was any relation of the Drysdales who my family knows in the UK - and was able to confirm that they were definitely related (so long as the UK Drysdales were the "proper" ones). However, he hardly knew any of the Drysdale family in the UK, even though they all are descended from some a small family of people in the 15th century who changed their name out of rather urgent necessity (they had stolen some sheep from the King). Anyway, we chatted for about an hour since John had been living in Somaliland for many years, and survived through the civil war in the late 1980's.

Previously - because I was unable to travel through Eritrea - I had decided not to leave Somaliland via Djibouti. The road through Somaliland to Djibouti is quite reasonable, but from Djibouti to Ethiopia was (in 2000 when I last drove it) in terrible condition - and apparently the status has not changed. Hence I would also give Djibouti a miss on this trip, and take the "easy" road back to Addis Ababa.

One of the most depressing sights (common throughout the drier areas of Africa) is the damage caused by plastic bags and other non-bio-degradable rubbish - it just collects on the outskirts of the village.

From there I was able to reach the border at Tog Wajaale by around 12h00, where it took over half an hour to get through the Somaliland border - they have an interesting idea that you have to pay 10$ for a visa to leave the country - an idea I have never encountered before, but it did seem to be official policy - very strange. However, I got the Somaliland stamp in my passport, and was able to leave. On the Ethiopian side I was not sure how they would take the fact that my visa was a single-entry visa, and I had already entered once. However, they understood perfectly, and didn't bother to stamp the passport again, but just waved me on. About a hundred metres further on I was again stopped, and the immigration official there also took the same attitude. So now I was back in Ethiopia, with all my documents back in order.

While the road from Hargeysa was tar most of the way, with just 30 kilometres of excellent dirt road, the next 120 kilometres from Tog Wajaale to Jijiga was in terrible condition - as is so common with Ethiopia dirt roads - their tar roads are (generally) excellent. The 80 kilometres from Jijiga to Harar weren't too bad as the road did at least have a foundation - but it was of rock. This is due to the fact that there is no laterite in Ethiopia - the basis for all other country's roads. Instead, their old roads were carefully hand-packed rock - very impressive, but terrible to drive on. One could always recognize them by the fact there were carefully aligned rocks in the centre and at each side - and the fact that everyone drove anywhere but along them! (photo).

Just 5 kilometres from Harar, the rear end of the axle support arm failed again - this time the rear bolt had snapped. This was getting to be quite a problem, and was concerning me, as it was not too easy to stop it happening in future. However, this particular incident was very easy to fix, as I had a spare (smaller) bolt, and it was not hard to replace - although another driver kindly stopped to help. It is easier with two people, as it is necessary to jam the right rear wheel with rocks, and then slowly reverse so that the hole on the arm and the axle are aligned. By oneself, this can take several minutes, but with help, we had the whole thing fixed within two minutes! I was then able to get to the tar road at Harar, and continue along that - the bolt is under far less pressure on a tar road.

Although it was not that far to Addis Ababa, and the road is excellent tar, it is very twisty, so one can only average about 60 km/h. I decided to take a side road from Harar to Dire Dawa, since I had never visited the place before. There wasn't much to see there, so I won't be going back soon. I stayed in the government-run Ras Hotel, which was quite reasonable, and cheap (US$ 15).

Friday 2 January 2004

I left at sunrise, and cruised back to Addis Ababa, reaching there at around 13h00 - travelling back along the same road I had taken to reach Somaliland.

Once in Addis Ababa I went to the official Landrover dealer at Great Lakes. Luckily they had all the necessary parts so I could replace the whole support arm and torsion bar - but the brackets still weren't in great shape. They did some welding to make them as strong as possible - but I can't be completely confident about the support arm. I will have to bear this in mind for the rest of the trip - driving on tar is no problem, and even sand shouldn't be too bad, but rough rocky roads will be a potential problem. This means it should not be too difficult to get to Egypt, and the road across to Morocco would also be easy, but then I would ideally return the same way. The problem here would be the Libyan visas - getting one is going to be hard enough - getting a multiple entry one could be even harder. As soon as I am able to apply for the visa, we will have to see what can be arranged.

It took till about 17h00 to finish all the work on the Landrover - and then I decided to indulge myself a little, and spend a couple of nights in the Hilton hotel - where I have stayed before on my previous trips. Although not cheap ($150 per night in an "executive" room - the $150 covers bed, breakfast and drinks in the evening, so is actually cheaper than their "standard" rate), the hotel is set in lovely gardens in the centre of Addis, and is a great way to relax.

Saturday 3 January 2004

Waking up at around 08h00, I was able to watch a Peregrine Falcon sitting on my balcony - a great way to start the day. Otherwise, nothing else planned for today - other than to update the website.

Sunday 4 January 2004

Waking up at around 06h30, I had a quick breakfast and was off at sunrise (about 07h00). I knew it would be a full day's drive to reach Bahir Dar, and hoped that the road would be in better condition than when I last took it - almost exactly a year before.

They had finished tarring the road right up to the lip of the Blue Nile gorge, so the first 150 km was very easy. However, the gorge was still a poor dirt road, although they seemed to have started filling in the worst of the potholes prior to tarring it. Nevertheless, it took 3 hours to cross, as one had to drop from 2 500 metres altitude on the south side to 1 000 m at the bridge and back up to 3 000 m on the north - all in about 30 km of road. It is a breath-taking sight all along the road through the gorge.

Once back up on to the plateau, the road was in very poor shape until one reached Debre Markos, where another road-building team had completed another 50 kilometres of good tar. After that the remaining 150 km to Bahir Dar was poor stony road, and I only arrived at Bahir Dar at 17h00 - about an hour before sunset.

However, I wasn't rushing this part of the trip, and so the drive was not too tiring, and quite a lot of birds were seen en route, including a most unexpected Grasshopper Warbler. I camped the night at the Ghion Hotel - right on the edge of Lake Tana.

Monday 5 January 2004

Leaving Bahir Dar soon after sunrise, I drove north towards Gonder. This road is not in good condition, and the 180 km took 4 hours. Just as I reached the tar road about 20 km outside Gonder I turned east towards Sudan. This road was nearly complete when I drove along it last year, and was now complete - although it was only a dirt surface. Some of it was very smooth, but already in places the dust had been worn off and the rocks had started to appear - Ethiopia simply does not have the same "murram" or laterite material that the rest of Africa uses for building its roads - which is a much better surface, and doesn't have rocks in it. In Ethiopia, grading really doesn't work so the roads quickly degrade.

I reached the border by around 14h00, although had passed through customs about 35 km before the border. The border crossing was quite quick, on both sides, although on the Sudanese side one must also visit the Security Police, which takes some time for them to sort out the paperwork. Absolutely no-one requested the vehicle import letter which I waited an extra day for in Addis Ababa.

While waiting I met a group of Medicins sans Frontieres personnel taking 4 vehicles from Egypt to Ethiopia. They had crossed over on the Aswan Dam ferry, and had been forced to buy expensive fire extinguishers by the Egyptian police (curiously, the fire extinguishers were only available from the police). Since they had no need of them, they gave me one, so I wouldn't get caught out by that bit of corruption.

The Sudanese paperwork had changed since my previous trip, and I was no longer required to get permission to visit each area beforehand - a single travel permit covering the whole country is issued at the border. At least that should make travelling a bit easier.

Before 15h00 I was off again, and again the road was quite good right up to Gedaref, where it joined the main tar road. However, as happens so often in the Sahel region, the road sort of peters out at the edge of town, and you have to wander over dusty tracks to try and find your way into the town. While this is easy enough entering a town, it makes finding the right road when leaving much harder.

I was very surprised to find quite a nice place to stay - the Elmotwakil Hotel - in Gedaref, and so stayed the night there.

Tuesday 6 January 2004

I woke up early, so left Gedaref at about 05h00 and started off along the tar road towards Port Sudan - which I should be able to cover in the day - it was about 800 km and good tar almost the whole way. After about 3 hours I reached the same road-block that turned me back on my previous trip (because I didn't have the right travel permit) and was again stopped, but after about 40 minutes of checking papers and driving about 10 km to the local army commander, I was allowed to continue. From there I passed Kassala (which had a fascinating rock formation next to it - the rocks were only about 300 m high, but the heat haze meant that they were impossible to photograph properly - photo), and turned north to Port Sudan.

After about 20 kilometres, there was a strange noise and I lost all power. I tried to see what the problem was, but nothing was visibly wrong - it was just that the vehicle wouldn't move - so it seemed as if the clutch we replaced in Malawi had failed. There was nothing to do but wave down a passing truck, and get a tow back to Kassala to try and get the vehicle fixed.

It only took a few minutes to find a truck that towed me into town, and dropped me off at a local garage. We removed the interior of the cab and then freed the gearbox so we could get at the clutch - it was fine! However, the shaft from the clutch to the gearbox was loose, so we stripped the gearbox - and the primary input shaft (that connects the engine to the gearbox) had broken in two. I cannot imagine what caused that, since I was cruising along on tar when it broke.

Anyway, we spent some time wandering around Kassala looking for a spare, and none was to be found, so it left me with no choice but to go to Khartoum to try and get a spare there.

Because Kassala is right next to the border between Sudan and both Ethiopia and Eritrea - and still has large refugee camps around it - security is tight, and we had to spend two hours wandering around town getting permits for me to stay the night from the police, army and security services. Once that was completed, I ended up staying in the mechanic's father's house - he is a local teacher. There are no hotels worth speaking of in Kassala.

This was basically the end of my bird-watching, although I had not seen many species on my way up from Addis Ababa.