Mar 21, 2016 - 14 March 2016 - Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

A very long drive day today to Debark, through magnificent scenery - mountains everywhere, it was like being in the Himalayas without the snow! The road was bitumen until the last 40km or so, then became dirt and very steep and windy so we were throwing up lots of dust and it was very slow going. Very few other cars on the road, just a few people on the side of the road. It's amazing how people just materialize out of the bush whenever we stop, especially when we stop for a wee on the side of the road! We stopped for lunch at the small town...

Mar 21, 2016 - 18 March 2016 - Gondar, Ethiopia

On the morning of the 18th we headed out of the mountains for the trip to Gondar, the old capital of Ethiopia. We thought it would be a quick trip - how wrong we were! First of all, as we headed out we noticed a truck in front of us blowing a lot of smoke. Pretty soon this truck was broken down in the middle of the road, blocking traffic in both directions. We were stuck and as we waited there hordes of children magically appeared over the mountain with baskets to sell. They were pretty poor, most of them bare footed and clad is ragged old...

Mar 13, 2016 - 12 March 2016 - Aksum

Here we are in Aksum, with its Unesco World Heritage historical site reputed to be the home of the Queen of Sheba and the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant that Moses brought down from Mt Sinai. Who knows if this is true, but it's a good story! Aksum is also famous for the huge decorated stelae scattered throughout the area, the largest of these reaching 33m tall. These were chiselled from granite taken from a quarry 6.5km away, and how they got them to Aksum and erected them is still a matter for speculation - some people think they...

Mar 13, 2016 - 11 March 2011 - Danakil Depression

Well, what an amazing few days we've had! A few of us decided we wanted to visit the Danakil Depression in north west Ethiopia, the hottest place on earth and home to an active volcano, Erta Ali. As it is on the list of foreign office places not to go to, we had to sign ourselves off the Drago trip for the duration. Our guide, Dasta, made all the arrangements, and at 8am on 8th March we left Lalibela in a minivan for a very long and fast drive to Mekele for our stop for the night. The scenery on the way was increasingly mountainous and at...

Mar 6, 2016 - 6 March 2016 - Lalibela

Our day started a bit slowly as our 7.30am start got delayed till 8.30am as cars had parked too close to the truck in the car park and we couldn't get the truck out. It took quite a while to find the owners and get them to move their cars. Our journey to Lalibela was through some amazing scenery and over some of the worst roads I have seen - the last 60km took us 3 hours due to major work on the road. But we reached Lalibela around 5pm and settled into our hotel with spectacular views of mountains and an electrical storm brewing. Today...

Mar 4, 2016 - 3 March 2016 - Bahir Dar

Only 5 hours in the truck on 3 March to reach the beautiful town of Bahir Dar, on the edge of Lake Tana. And what a beautiful town it is - the main street is lined with huge palm trees and the whole place looks very tropical with bouganvillea, roses and impatiens everywhere. We had lunch at a restaurant on the banks of the lake then headed to the Blue Nile Hotel, our home for 3 nights, where we were each handed a welcome red rose. Our room is small but we were greeted each day with a new towel sculpture on our bed, plus lots of rose petals!...

Mar 4, 2016 - 2 March 2016 - Debre Marcos

A big drive day today as we leave Addis to head to the small town of Debre Marcos. Our drive took us through farmland which could easily have been western NSW apart from the thatched huts of the residents. It was harvest time and people were busy cutting crops and removing the grain, sometimes with the help of cattle, and then stacking the hay in huge haystacks which were dotted along the landscape. We watched men transporting haystacks on their heads to a central place where they were incorporated into one large one. There was also a bit...

Feb 29, 2016 - 28 February 2016 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A late start this morning (10am) which allowed us time to walk to the bottom of the waterfall (watching out for the crocs!) and a bit of a nature walk before breakfast. Then it was back in the bus for the 5 hour drive to Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and the end of this leg of the trip. We also meet up with Tim again - he has driven the truck from Sodore to Addis as it was not possible to take the truck to Harar. Addis is at around 2500m so the climate is lovely - hot during the day but cool at night, and no humidity. Our hotel is a bit...

Feb 29, 2016 - 27 February 2016 - Awash National Park

We left Harar at 8am this morning for the long drive to the capital, Addis Ababa, breaking our journey tonight at the Awash Falls Lodge in Awash National Park. A sad incident on the way - we came across many people standing on the side of the road gazing over the side. We stopped in case there had been an accident and we could help - there was an accident but it had happened the day before. A bus had lost control, or lost its brakes, and gone over the edge, killing 65 people. All the bodies had been removed but people were still milling...

Feb 26, 2016 - 24 February 2016 - Lake Ziway

We arrived late last night in Lake Ziway at a beautiful hotel, in the dark so we couldn't really see what was there. Our rooms were lovely and Michael, the Englishman who owned the hotel, was very friendly and I think glad to have English speaking guests. We had a lovely meal and a few beers, and tomorrow our plans have changed to avoid the riots and we are taking a bus to the ancient walled city of Harar for 2 nights, which sounds fantastic. We will catch up with the truck in Addis Ababa later on. Early this morning a few of us were up for...

Feb 26, 2016 - 25 February 2016 - Harar

Here we are in the ancient city of Harar, after a 12 hour trip in a hired 20 seater bus so not much room to spare. The landscape on the way was very volcanic with deep black soil that looked very fertile. Rain was threatening all the way and we had a few spots, but further up the road there was a cloud burst and severe rain and some flooding - our bags on top of the bus got a little wet! There are about 5 gates into 9th century Harar old city and the city is a hive of activity with markets, about 84 mosques and one catholic church, all...

Feb 26, 2016 - 22 February 2016 - Wondo Genet

A fairly long drive on 22nd to reach the town of Wondo Genet, which means green paradise, a name apparently given to it by Haile Selasse many years ago due to its lush vegetation. Before that it was just plain old Wondo, named after its founder. It has hot springs which flow into a large swimming pool and a few smaller pools, so we spent a few happy hours soaking away the dirt of the last few days. Our hotel was quite unusual and looked a bit like a spaceship, not sure of its history or why it was built that way, but it was reasonably...