Bombardier Q400, Bahar Dar, Ethiopia, 18 Feb 2014
Sunset, Bahar Dar, Ethiopia, 18 Feb 2014
Baha the mechanic, Ethiopia, 18 Feb 2014
Gabazi, Ethiopia, 18 Feb 2014
Baha, Tadi, Gabazi & Bini, Ethiopia, 18 Feb 2014
Breakfast time at Asala, Ethiopia, 18 Feb 2014
To ensure that the traffic in Addis Ababa didn’t result in us missing our plane later this afternoon, we all agreed upon a particularly early start and left Goba at 5.00 am in semi darkness partially lit by a waning moon. The outside air temperature was 4C and stayed below 7C until sunrise an hour and a half later. Whilst the rest of us were nearly asleep again, Corinne being very observant noted that the Southern Cross was clearly visible in the early morning sky. The route we took was now the westerly reverse track of previous days across the Balé Mountain range, past Sol Omar Caves and then through the dark and dormant towns of Adaba and Dodola. We then turned north onto the highway to Nazret. Despite the semi darkness there was a lot of traffic made up almost entirely of Isuzu trucks usually overloaded with freight which made many of them ‘top-heavy’. This explains the number of trucks we saw along the way that had rolled on corners or crashed off the road. Typically the truck drivers work driving shifts of excessive hours and to cope, they dose up by chewing on ‘chat’ a mild plant stimulant that also causes dizziness. Hmmm…..
A hearty breakfast of poached eggs, orange juice, toast and coffee was served on outside tables in early morning sunshine at the Derartu Hotel in Asela which lies at an altitude of 2300m. The hotel is owned by Derartu Tulu who made history at the 1992 Barcelona Games by becoming the first black African woman gold medallist.
The Asela region of the Arsi zone is famous as many of the Ethiopian athletes to achieve international recognition come from the town of Bokoji in the area. Several athletes like Derartu not only own hotels but have made very substantial financial contributions to the region by paying for the building of sporting facilities, maternity hospitals and community recreation centres for orphans of HIV parents. Our driver said that Ethiopians are disappointed that Haile Gebrselassie who has achieved more than most has not yet shown the same degree of philanthropy despite his amassed millions!
The 400km journey from Goba to Addis was quite fast for the first 300km but as we neared the capital the traffic became increasingly chaotic and making any distance became unbelievably slow. Masses of large trucks were weaving in amongst cars, pedestrians, bajajs, goats, donkeys and broken down vehicles. Bajajs or tuk-tuks are Indian built three wheeled covered motor taxis. They can take 4 passengers and at peak hour the roads are infested with these tiny blue taxis with their canvas awnings flapping in the breeze as they squeeze between cars and trucks. The number of near misses we experienced as opposed to crashing was testimony to the high skill of our drivers who showed inordinate skill in conditions that would scare the hell out of most Australian drivers.
After an extended lunch break in Addis where we farewelled our drivers we headed to the Addis Ababa domestic air terminal and caught a Bombardier Q400 plane for a 40 minute flight to Bahar Dar on the southern shores of Lake Tana, the origin of the Blue Nile River.
For the next two nights we’re staying at the Abay Minch Lodge in Bahar Dar which seems considerably more up-market than we’ve had for the last two nights. Yeah!!