Kenya

Sorry no pictures, the internet connection is not working that well.

Well we crossed the border into Kenya and I must say that the Ethiopia / Kenyan border is one of the most efficient I have been through. My first few days in Kenya however were not all that great. Due to the states of the roads, very heavily corrugated mud roads, even though on some days we were traveling for over 12 hours, we were only traveling a couple of hundred kilometres. By the time we finally reached tarmac, Franco our driver got out of the cab and kissed the road!. In total we did 4 bush camps before reaching anywhere. Thats 4 days without washing and spending 12 hours a day cooped up on the back of a bouncing truck. It was certainly an experience. We have now made it through the worst part of the entire trip, so it should be plain sailing from now on.
I'm currently in the Kenyan city of Nakuru. Yesterday I went on my first ever game drive. It was amazing. I saw so many animals, I managed to see 3 of the big 5. There were white and black rhino's, hippo's, buffaloes (they look like they are wearing judges wigs)water bucks, Thomson Gazelles, Impalas, hyena's, monkeys, baboons, zebras, giraffes and 7 lions! The lions were so close to the road - it was fantastic. The drive was through Lake Nakuru National Park, the only thing I did not see was Leopards but they are so elusive, the wardens only see them once a month. I have yet to see elephants but they should be in Southern Kenya.
We are now driving en route to Uganda. We will be coming back to Kenya but first we will be visiting Uganda, Rwanda and the mountain gorillas.

Lake Tana to addis Adaba

I spent a couple of nights camping besides Lake Tana. This is the largest lake in Ethiopia 3673 squared km and the source of the Blue Nile. We took a boat out onto the lake to see the source of the Nile and amazing we also got to see a hippo! My very first hippo. Every one was so excited, we were like giddy school children. I also took a walk around the Blue Nile Falls. These used to be spectacular but recently alot of the water has been diverted into a hydro-electric dam. The waterfall was still beautiful and it made a lovely 2 hour walk. the biggest shock came when we returned to the campsite. There was thundering, then there was rain. In fact there was heavy rain all night. I couldn't believe it - I'm in Ethiopia and I.m getting wet. The next day we drove towards Addis Adaba and although the rain stopped it did not warm up. Spent all day sat in the back of the truck, sat inside a sleeping bag to keep warm. They do say Africa is a land of surprises!.
Had a couple of days in the capital Addis Adaba. Went to the national museum and saw the skeleton of Lucy - the oldest remains of human desent found anywhere. I was surprised at how small she was - about the same size as a modern chimpanzee. Leaving Addis we are going to be crossing the border into Kenya and then having 6 bush camps in a row. These are going to be particularly nasty. The roads are so bad that on one day we are only expecting to travel 20 km! We will be travelling until dark, setting up camp as late as possible and leaving whilst still dark so nobody knows we are there, this is to avoid any trouble with local bandits. After 6 days we should have made it to the Ugandan border so we can relax. We will be coming back into Kenya and doing the south of the country and the national parks around mid- December. This next week is going to be fun, fun , fun for me!

Off the truck for a while

I had a mini holiday from the truck as a small group of us (6 in total) flew up to Axum to see the steelie there. We could have gone by bus but it would have taken over 14 hours on really bad roads so we opted for a $40 plane ticket instead - it only took half an hour plus we got wonderful views over the mountains. The steelie are large tomb structures but the two main steelie are 27 metres high and are carved all the way to the top. There is also the remains of a 30metre structure but this is laying on pieces on the ground. Axum is a pilgrimage site for Christians as according to the Ethiopians this is where the Ark of the Covenant is. No one is allowed inside the monastry to see the Ark but the priests are adamant it is here. The priests did show us a book over 1000 years old that is still used in services, The pictures were so vivid even after all this time. The book is being removed in a couple of months to be encased in glass in the national museum so we were lucky to see it. We arrived on a saturday and on sunday morning a speciall mass was being held in the streets. It is held every couple of months and pilgrims from all over the country make their way to it. The replica Ark of the covenent is paraded around town with the priests waving incense and playing instruments. The pilgrims all wear white robes and follow the path of the ark. Would you believe that we all got up at 4.30am sunday morning to watch the procession. Not many people can say they have seen an Ark of the Covenant but I can! As well as being home to the Ark, Axum was also home to the Queen of Sheba. Ethiopia prides itself that it could trace all its emperors down the Soloman line - the first emperor being the son of King Soloman and the Queen of Sheba.
From Axum we took another internal flight to the mountainous village of Lalibela. Lalibela is another famous destination on the christian pilgrimage trail but this time due to the rock hewn churches. 700 years ago King Lalibela wanted to recreate the beauty and sacredness of Jerusulem in Ethiopia so that devout christians would not have as far to go. So in the course of 23 years and alot of labourers he carved 11 churches into the rocks. They started at the top and carved the churches as they excavated downwards. they really are incredible to see. This is the church of St George which even has 3 crosses carved into the top of the roof. The churches are still used today although most of the underground passages that link the churches have been sealed. From Lalibela it was a 10 hour journey to rejoin the truck on the shores of Lake Tana at the town of Bahir Dar. Its going to be strange being part of a 25 person group again.

Gonder and the Simien Mountains

Crossing the border from Sudan to Ethiopia was more like crossing a continent due to the extreme differences in weather and geography. Went from desert and scorching heat of Sudan to the lush green cool mountainous countryside of Ethiopia. It is such a beautiful landscape - not at all what I was expecting, and certainly nothing like the images of Ethiopia I have in my head! Our first stop was the town of Gonder. (This is the place you was talking about Rupert). Gonder has a wonderful castle complex built in 1632 by the Emperor Fasidar. The castle is still intact and I spent a morning climbing all over it, you can still get up onto the roof!
Ethiopia is quite a christian country and Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting days. On these days you are unable to eat meat. This is great news for me because there is always alot of veggie food on the menu. I have eaten so well since getting here, they do like their chillies though. The food is so spicy your lips are continually tingling from the chili. Traditionally Ethiopians do not use knives or forks. Instead they scoop up their food in 'injera' which is a type of flat bread. The bread is very spongy and does look like a giant ling but once you get over that its not too bad to eat! I did take a couple of days off eating to go trekking in the Simien mountains. The mountains are breath-taking and are also home to lots of baboons. I saw my first baboons here. The males are huge and when they run they do look a little like lions especially with their hair. There are also lots of eagles living in the mountains - I saw so many giant birds. The mountains do have vast canyons and gorges between each mountain and this made the trek very strenuous. It seemed at one point as if we were scrambling vertically for hours - with the altitude, this was not the most pleasant of experiences. We camped at roughly 3600 metres and it was that cold ice was forming on the tents. Although beautiful I was very pleased when we descended the mountain again. No rest for the wicked though, I return from the mountains at 6pm and at 5am the following morning I flew to Axum - but thats another story!

Sudan

Well getting into Sudan was quite an experience. We boarded the ferry at 10am and set up camp on the flat roof, fashioning sun shades made out of sarongs. The heat was close to 40 degrees so any shade was gratefully received. After a lunch of veggie stew and rice we entertained ourselves until the sun went down by playing cards and the like - all the while the ferry continued to be loaded. Departure time of 5pm came and went but at half 7 we did set off. By this time the ferry was full and every time you moved, someone tried to take your space. Despite this I managed to sleep alright. At half past 7 the next morning the captain announced we were passing the temple of Abu Simbel. Traveling for 12 hours and we hadn't even left Egypt. By the time we docked in Sudan and passed through customs it was 5pm. Over all the journey was not as bad as I was expecting!

We drove alongside the Nile passing through small villages along the way. The Sudanese people are extremely friendly and made us all feel incredibly welcome where ever we went. Sudan used to be part of the Nubian empire, the Nubians were also Egyptian pharoah's for a short time. The upshot of this is that Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt. They are not on the same scale as the Egyptian pyramids but still impressive. The picture above is of the Meroe Pyramids.
I spent a couple of days in the capital Khartoum, staying at the Blue Nile Sailing Club. The club is famous because its headquarters is in an old gunship belonging to Lord Kitchener. To get to the showers you had to walk around the gun ship which was bizarre. The gunship is on land now not even in the Nile making it even more bizarre. The heat in Sudan was oppressive. It was difficult to do anything in Khartoum it was that hot. It was around 40 degrees but with a very high humidity making it feel so much hotter than it was. I did manage to check out the national museum's which were good but mainly I spent the time lazing around in a hammock. Apparently Ethiopia is going to be alot cooler!

Felluca Time

I have been in Aswan for 5 days now, we have had to spend this amount of time here trying to get all the visa's ready for Sudan. The main problem has been trying to get the truck successfully through customs. The truck now is on its way om a cargo ferry, I hope to be seeing it again in a couple of days.
To help pass the time I have spent the last two days and nights sailing up the Nile aboard a felluca. The felluca is powered solely by sail so it has been an extremely relaxing way of spending the time. You simply laze on the mattresses thrown on the deck of the boat and when night falls, you unroll the sleeping bag and sleep on the deck. Even though there was 13 people on our boat and the kitchen area consisted of one camping gas ring, the captain still managed to prepare three gorgeous meals a day. Sudan is an alcohol free country (if caught with alcohol you get 40 lashes) and there was a fair amount of alcohol left from our bush camps so a giant punch was made. We were sailing up and down in the sunshine, drinks in hand. Did a bit of swimming in the Nile, very strong currents. By the time all the punch had been drunk most people were dancing in the Nile. Surprisingly given the state most people were in by nightfall, only one person managed to fall off the gangplank into the river. Still giggling over it now!
Well the next part of the adventure starts here. We will be crossing over to Sudan by passenger ferry. The ferry has 200 seats and often sells about 800 tickets. We have to arrive when the ferry opens for bording just so we can ensure we have enough space to sit down in. The ferry is due to leave 8 hours after first bording and the quickest it has taken it in the past has been 10 hours. Then we have to de-embark and customs have to check everything, this is expected to take a good 4 hours. I am expecting to spend 24 hours in a very cramped environment jostling for space with families with luggage and screaming children with no toilet facillities. Its going to be fun! After Sudan its Ethiopia and I have no idea what internet access will be like in either country so it could be a while before my next post!