Day 68 - The Rift Valley

Point of departure : Addis Ababa

Point of arrival : Arba Minch

Accommodation: rooftop tent @ Paradise Lodge, Arba Minch

Km travelled today: 548km Cum: 12 257km (gravel 116km cum 2 971km)

Countries so far: 7/16

Where to next? Omo Valley

Total number of photos taken: 38 (cum 3 087)

We left Addis at 06h00 and headed south.Our route to the Omo Valley took us along the Rift Valley which consists of a string of six lakes, starting with the most northern Lake Koka, Ziway, Langano, Abiata, Shala and Awassa.We left Addis Ababa and travelled south to Shashemene (best known for its Rastafarian community who call themselves Jamaica, formed by a group of Jamaican devotees of Emperor Haile Selassie during the later years of his reign), turning west towards Arba Minch on Lake Awassa.

The Ethiopian section of the Rift Valley runs from the Red Sea in Egypt to Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya.The Danakil Depression, an inaccessible and inhospitable desert forms part of the northern section of Ethiopia's Rift Valley.The Danakil Depression is one of the lowest points on the earth - 116m below sea level.

Today turned out to be a comedy of errors and probably the most stressful day we have had on this trip to date. It started off with the road condition from Sheshamene to Arba Minch - 257km of continual road works, cattle, goats, pedestrians, potholes (yes even the gravel road had potholes). We pick a "quiet" spot for lunch and before we have even opened the backdoor of the Beast, the crowd starts to assemble.There is no concept of personal space - you can feel them breathing down your neck. Then there is the Ethiopian wave as you drive by - the hand stretched out with the fingers folded towards the palm - "1 birr 1 birr give give". The total 505km took us eleven and a half hours to complete. A kilometre from Paradise Lodge (our overnight stop) we get a flat tyre - our first. Can you believe it, the tyres survived the Kenyan Northern Frontier District but not the Ethiopian roadworks. As we get out, so the crowds start again. We are sure that by now, a week into Ethiopia, we must have seen at least 20 million of the 89 million population and we are sure by the time we reach the Sudanese border we would have probably met another 60 million (the last 9 million living around the Danakil Depression area). Cannot see where the puncture is (so no quick repair possible - wheel has to be removed). So decision taken, as it's a slow puncture, we pump up the tyre and will change at the campsite.

Wait for this… we get to the campsite, lift the car and one more turn of the highlift jack and the shear pin BREAKS! It's now 19h30, we are tired, the car is up, wheel changed BUT we cannot remove the highlift jack. NO ONE in the lodge has a highlift jack (I don't even think the staff knew what it was). Finally, with the combination of Joachim's hydraulic jack (ours was in the vehicle and we couldn't get to it) taking some of the weight off the highlift jack and a makeshift shear pin (in the form of a steel dowl) we managed to release the highlift jack. We tried to call the AA but they were not prepared to travel out from South Africa, quite understandable. Thank you to John, Graham and Joachim as well as the security staff and others from the lodge for their assistance - a good team effort. Consolation, we had decent ablutions, a hot shower and a clean sit down toilet.