Another full days drive took us to Yabello which is the last port of call on the way to the border. The small town is merely a transit stop foe people travelling to/from Kenya/Ethiopia. The best place in town is Yabello Motel which was busy with travellers. We had a bit of a scare here when we tried to buy fuel and they told us they had none. However, we persisted and managed to fill the tank for the next leg. Most of the rooms at the motel were full and the...

Firstly many thanks to everyone for your Christmas and New Year messages, and secondly an apology for taking so long to update the website, but it's a bit difficult trying to keep up to date from the front line!!! Yes, unfortunately we managed to find ourselves slap bang in the middle of the rioting and shooting in Nairobi at New Year and have been unable to send any messages. You can read all the excitement from our Nairobi blog!! We managed to drag outselves...

Our journey to Addis was 200k and was to take us 2 days. Our first leg was to take us to the Blue Nile Gorge where we had been told the road was closed from 12.00 until 5 p.m. for repairs. We arrived at the road block at 3.30 and we were lucky that the road opened at 4 p.m. instead of 5. The road down into the gorge dropped 1000 ft which was rocky and stony for 20k down to the bottom with lots of waggons and buses. Vehicles were allowed over the bridge one at a t...

Our journey to Bahir Dar on the shores of Lake Tana, Ethiopias largest lake with squadrons of pelicans flying over its surface, took us through many villages dropping down several hundred feet onto flatter land. Again people were walking along the sides of the roads from village to village carrying anything from bundles of firewood on their heads to huge clay pots of water on their backs. Also we passed 4 or 5 burnt out tanks and armoured personnel carriers left ...

We did all our paperwork on the Sudanese side of the border, it was a lot easier getting out than in and crossed into Ethiopia. The border officials in the border town of Gallabat were all Manchester United fans so a quick chat about football usually eases the formalities and we were soon on our way. The scenary was absolutely breathtaking we couldn't believe what a beautiful country Ethiopia is. There are rolling hills all green with vegitation a feast to our ...