Day 63 - 1st January 2010 (23rd April 2002 Ethiopian calendar) - Ethiopian/Kenyan border

Point of departure : Marsabit

Point of arrival : Yabello, Ethiopia

Accommodation: rooftop tent @ Yabello Hawi Hotel

Km travelled today: 454km Cum: 11 004km (gravel 254km cum 2 855km)

Countries so far: 7/16

Where to next? Addis Ababa

Total number of photos taken: 63 (cum 3 011)

Happy New Year!! However we have entered a time capsule and travelled back in time - in Ethiopia it's only the 23rd April 2002. Oh it feels so good to be 7 years younger.

In 1582 the Christian world dropped the Julian calendar and adopted the Gregorian calendar.Ethiopia did not and therefore is seven years and eight months "behind" the rest of the world.Their calendar consists of 13 months (12 of 30 days and 1 of five days, six every leap year) which works out to the same as the western calendar of 365 days per year.Their year however commences on the 11th September.

Another shake, rattle and, fortunately no roll, day today… a good back and neck massage, courtesy of the East African Highway.

The vegetation varied today, from lush green hills of Marsabit to the dry rocky desert, almost moonscape of the Dida Galgalu Desert.We came across the nomadic tribes of the desert with their camel trains and goat herds and very sparsely spread temporary settlements.The men were wrapped in their traditional red patterned shukas with long spears and feathers in their ochre hair and the women with their beautiful beaded necklaces.We did not take photographs as they don't like being photographed.The temperature was in the mid 30's by 08h00.

This section had a lot of rough gravel, rocky sections and deep tracks with high "middle mannetjies" and there was some concern about the tyres at times.However, we should possibly have been more concerned about the suspension and about 70km south of Moyale (the border), the Beast gave out some fairly expressive sounding noises from the front left wheel. A check revealed that the front left of the car was sagging compared with the right and it looks like the new shock (which we installed in Nairobi) may have given in. We "limped" through to Moyale without further deterioration.

We arrived at the border at about 14h00 and border formalities on both sides were fairly smooth and painless and took 45 minutes - pretty good considering it is new year's day.On the Kenyan side they wanted to see our Ethiopian visas (as travellers have been turned back on the Ethiopian side - they do not issue visas at the land borders) - it must be the most depressing border to be turned back,considering the 450km "road" back to Isiolo and then to Nairobi to obtain a visa. On the Ethiopian side, we completed formalities with minimum fuss … an examination of visas, stamping of passports and checking of the carnet and completing one form for the car.No additionalcosts or searching of vehicle, just friendly service.We had heard that the Ethiopian side could be a long procedure with searches, requesting copies of international driver's licences etc.

HOORAY TAR!!!!all the way to Addis.We were planning to visit the Omo Valley en route to Addis but, this had to be shelved as our priority now was getting the Beast to Toyota in Addis as soon as possible.The drive through to Yabello was in contrast to the earlier part of the day, as the altitude increased from 600m to over 2000m above sea level and at times in the rain and much cooler - the temperature dropped from the mid 30's to the mid teens.

We found the name of the Hawi Hotel from the Bradt guide and after arrival, and checking the rooms (not too bad for 140 birr) we opted to camp (nothing like our own bed and linen) and were accommodated in the parking lot of the hotel (for 50 birr).The ablutions were not great but they still went out of their way to make us comfortable and allowed John to fetch water from the well and cold drinks from the hotel. Our set up attracted a lot of attention from other visitors and staff in the hotel … obviously not a very common occurrence.

We have come to terms that the toilet facilities in Ethiopia will not be great SO, armed with our toilet bag (contents: clothes peg, toilet deodorant spray, toilet duck disinfectant, toilet paper, sterilising spray and trowl), we will tackle any privy that we encounter. We need to add a swine flu mask as well as sunglasses (to stop the eyes from watering).

A chance to chat at last and the realisation that we were both now relieved to have made it through the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, both of us with some unexpressed trepidation earlier, neither wanting to concern the other about our thoughts.Happily however, the shiftas seemed to have taken a new year's break and certainly did not hassle us.Even this makes some sense, as commercial truck traffic in either direction was virtually nonexistent save for two or three buses.

We are happy to be in Ethiopia.