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DAY 119. SAT 02/06. Bahir Dar to Lalibela. 310 kms. Total 25153 kms. Asheton Hotel. N12 02.068 E39 02.962
Only ended up leaving Ghion Hotel at 11am which was a little late considering the distance and state of the road we had to travel today to reach Lalibela. The 1st 60 kms or so are great as we headed back the way we came into Bahir Dar along the tar to just past Werota before turning off east onto the rough and stony road towards Lalibela. (Signposted Weldiya; Junction at N11 57.020 E37 42.607) Also there are numerous sections of road works which make the already bad road worse. About 30 kms before the turn off north toward Lalibela, at a small town of Filakit, is a good Total fuel station: N11 46.053 E38 44.188 - we refueled here as it is cheaper than both Gonder and Bahir Dar. We reached Gashema N11 41.296 E38 55.425 where you turn north towards Lalibela late in the afternoon still a couple of hours away from Lalibela. The road improves here in that it becomes quite good gravel but is very steep and windy. It was shortly after dark when we went past the Lalibela Airstrip where the road finally becomes tar. Went straight to Seven Olives Hotel (N12 02.129 E39 02.826) but they were charging too much to camp so a guide showed us to another, cheaper place, Asheton Hotel, while hanging on the back of the landy. All in all it had taken us 8 and a half hours of driving time to do the 310 kms. As it was so late we decided not to cook and rather eat in the hotel restaurant. Was quite looking forward to eating something different from what we usually prepare but unfortunately they didn't have much left on the menu. Inga had macaroni with tomato sauce which was very similar to our usual variations of pasta that we cook, so a little disappointing. Rob went for an egg sandwich which was slightly different in that we had hardly had any eggs up till now on the trip. But at least the beers were good. (St Georges again) After dinner we were soon in bed in the tent, camping in the secure car park.
DAY 120. SUN 03/06. Lalibela. 0 kms. Total 25153 kms. Asheton Hotel. N12 02.068 E39 02.962
Shortly after breakfast, after giving the guide lurking around the hotel preying on the tourists the cold shoulder, we headed off into town to see the Lalibela rock hewn churches. The ticket office is left down the road at the small square in the centre of town past the Seven Olives Hotel. Entrance is now 200 birr pp as it has recently doubled in price. Bit of a money grabbing attempt by the Ethiopians, something to do with cashing in on all the visitors they are expecting in September for their millennium, (as they have a different calendar and clock to us) and it is now more expensive than the pyramids in Egypt! At this price and given our low opinion of them we elected not to take a guide and it was fine without one. They 1st group of 5 or 6 churches are directly behind they ticket office and easy to find. A caretaker will generally open up the church and let you in and the priest will show you around and then show you the way to the next church. Unfortunately some of them are covered in scaffolding and tin roofs (to give them some protection from the weather) which makes photographing them difficult but they are still spectacular to see - carved down and out of solid rock. After the 1st group you walk out and around to the left and up the hill to the start of the 2nd group of churches atN12 01.894 E39 02.677. These were closed for lunch between 12'ish and 2'ish so we went back into town for some lunch. Had a njera this time with spicy bean and onion sauce which immediately became one of our favorites as well as the compulsory beers and cokes. Decided to go back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and stopped in at few souvenir shops on the way. Later in the afternoon Inga went back to have a look at the 2nd half of the churches and bought 2 lovely metal worked Lalibela crosses (125 birr) on the way back while Rob stayed at the camp and wrote a bit of the blog. That was enough for us having seen the 10 main churches. There are more churches around - one called the monastery church up on top of the mountain as well as cave churches etc in the surrounding area. All in all we really enjoyed Lalibela and the churches (despite the extortionate price) and the hassle which we were expecting to be really bad from beggars, touts and children was not too bad - quite low key and easy to deal with. Or maybe our initial shock had now worn off and we weren't letting it get to us anymore?
DAY 121. MON 04/06. Lalibela to Weldiya. 288 kms. Total 25441 kms. Hotel Lal Weldiya. N11 50.038 E39 36.325
Had breakfast and lovely Ethiopian coffee in the hotel this morning so we could leave earlier where we managed to upset the tour guide hanging around the hotel by suggesting to an Israeli backpacking couple that they need not take a guide to visit the churches (also slipped them our ticket, which is valid for the duration of your stay, to see if they could sneak in on our old ticket like we had done at Blue Nile Falls) Obviously this upset him as he had earmarked them as potential customs so we had a bit of a row with him?. Hey, it's a free country and we were just expressing our opinion! But what is it with us and tour guides????? But anyway, we had decided on a different route out of Lalibela. Instead of going directly south again back toward Gashema and then continuing east towards Weldiya we decided to head north towards Sekota and then east to Korem before finally heading south to Weldiya and hopefully on towards Desse, so we left quite early - just before 10 am. We had heard and read that this is a good gravel road with spectacular mountain passes and lovely views. And boy were they right. Very steep and windy, constantly crossing mountains and rivers. At the junction about 15 kms south of Sekota (N12 31.164 E39 04.673) we headed east towards Korem thinking that most of the mountains were behind us. But it actually became worse constantly up and down between 2000 & 3000m, much of the time in 1st gear or even low range on the steeper bits. Only made it to Korem around 4.30 pm where we joined the tar road south towards Weldiya. Pretty good tar road south towards Weldiya although still very steep, windy and mountainous in places. Only made it to Weldiya just after dark so we had to find a place to stay. Most people tend to stay over in Desse, as Weldiya is a bit of a dump, on their way to and from Lalibela, so we had no info on where to stay which meant we just had to ask at a decent looking hotel we saw - Lal Weldiya - and see if we could camp in the garden. At 1st they said 138 birr or something but then Inga produced a receipt from the last place and we got it for 40. Not the best camp though as we camped around the side of the hotel near the staff quarters amongst the sun dried chilies and drinks crates. But it didn't matter; it was just a place to stay for the night. Although it was a much better quality road than yesterday it had still taken us longer today to do a shorter distance: 9 hours! Again being late and food being so cheap we decided not to cook and just headed down to a roadside bar/restaurant in front of the hotel and devoured another njera and bean sauce. Rob had a Dashen beer this time to start with which was disgusting, probably mainly because it was warm before switching to a much smoother St Georges draught. Came to 16.5 birr for a meal for both of us, 2 beers and a coke - less than $2!!
DAY 122. TUES 05/06. Weldiya to Desse. 124 kms. Total 25565 kms. Tosa Pension. N11 08.329 E39 37.922
As we didn't reach Desse yesterday we decided to overnight there tonight. So it was not a long drive (124kms) but still took us 4 hrs as the road was mainly gravel again with literally hundreds of detours around storm water culverts that are being constructed (eventually under the new road) so quite frustrating! Arrived quite early so tried a few different places before settling on Tosa Pension where we camped in the drive way. [Ghion Ambassadorial Hotel N11 07.528 E39 37.879 very expensive camping and Fasika Hotel N11 07.391 E39 38.041 very cheap camping, 20 birr, but car park was full and they wanted us to wait an hour before parking which we were not too keen on] Later in the evening we tried at a real African style bar nearby for dinner but unfortunately they had just stopped serving food so we just had a few quick drinks. Then walked quite far into town before finding the great Blue Nile Restaurant where we had a lovely njera with 2 different meat sauces before heading back to bed.
DAY 123. TUES 06/06. Desse to Addis Abeba. 403 kms. Total 25968 kms. Baro Hotel. N9 01.841 E38 45.214
Had a pretty long stint on the road ahead of us today - over 400 kays - so longest since Egypt days. Before leaving we fuelled up almost all of Cathey's tanks and jerry cans as Desse has the cheapest diesel in Ethiopia. Road from Desse started out terribly with 1st 30 kms of mountain pass on bad earth road undergoing construction. Then quite a good section of new tar but unfortunately only for about 100/150 kms. Once up in the mountain passes the road all the way to Addis is old warped and bumpy tar so bad in fact that it is often difficult to keep the car on the road never mind in a straight line. Stopped for a nice lunch of bully beef and tomato rolls which should have been nice and peaceful up in the hills in the middle of nowhere but as is always the case in Ethiopia almost immediately we were pestered by 4 or 5 adults and kids staring and asking for pens. In fact it is impossible to stop anywhere in Ethiopia even for a quick roadside pee without being hassled so you tend not to stop as often and only when absolutely necessary. Anyway it took us 10 hours to reach Addis and we arrived after dark again. Would have been an absolute nightmare without the excellent tracks4africa city gps map/layouts on the 300m scale, which have been fantastic in East Africa since Egypt, to find our way into Addis and to the hotel but managed easily with these excellent maps. Almost straight into Baro Hotel. Again quite late and with hardly any money left it was just more bully beef and tomato sandwiches for dinner. Luckily though enough money for one beer before bed for Rob - Meta Beer this time, again excellent! Also our 1st sight of Spanish overlanders driving an old clapped out Jeep with massive roof box and jerry cans tacked onto the outside?. Interesting!!
DAY 124. TUES 06/06. Addis Abeba. 37 kms. Total 26005 kms. Baro Hotel. N9 01.841 E38 45.214
Had almost enough money for tea and macchiato before hitting the town for admin and shopping etc. (we were 1 birr short but luckily they were ok with us paying the rest when we came back from the bank) Macchiato in Ethiopia is excellent too. Heike, who we met earlier in Luxor, was always raving about them and she was not wrong! (Thanks for the tip! Rob was hooked on them from then on) 1st stop of the day was the Sheraton Hotel, one of the best hotels in the world, up to $2800 per night - only for heads of state and oil barons. No, of course we were not staying there! But it is one of the few places with a visa ATM. (N9 01.256 E38 45.624) By this stage we had decided to do the Omo Valley/Lake Turkana route so we needed enough cash to last us a few weeks. We did attract a few sideways glances pulling in to the car park amongst Hummers et al and entering the lobby disheveled looking amongst pure opulence. Mission accomplished though, 1st ATM withdrawal since Aswan, Egypt! We then headed for the Immigration Office which we found using the Lonely Planet map - one of the few times these maps have been useful - to enquire about the border crossing/exit stamp where they assured us we could get stamped out at Omorate, the Ethiopian border town, which was good news even though the town itself doesn't appear on most maps. Next stop was the Customs HQ, behind the Ethiopian Hotel, near the Immigration Office, (N09 00.911 E038 45.245) to get our carnet stamped out. Luckily they did it straight away without asking any questions. All that was required was a photocopy of the white customs import paper that we received in Shehedi on entry. Then the heavens opened for a bit of a downpour so we used the time shopping in a nearby supermarket and stocking up on all the necessaries. Quite reasonable too - just under $30 - for 2 baskets. Just need to be careful which brand you buy as sometimes imported brands are 3 times more expensive than local brands. After that we headed to a little independent Land Rover parts shop at N9 00.887 E38 44.737 where we picked up another oil filter for the next oil change and a new windscreen wiper blade for the passenger side which had packed up. Great little shop too - 1st time for us in Africa that we have bought new parts off the shelf and not robbed them from an old landy in the yard! Luckily we have no other mechanical issues or defects so don't need to spend any extra time in Addis sorting anything out. All that was left was to visit the Kenyan Embassy at N9 01.931 E38 46.992 to enquire about our onward visa. They were closed for lunch so we decided to do the same. Hit a nearby restaurant (Ras Amba, N9 01.915 E38 46.262) for great kai wat njera, coke, beer and macchiato. On returning to the Kenyan Embassy, Rob spoke to the lady behind the visa window who didn't seem quite sure of things. We were under the impression that South Africans didn't need visas for Kenya (which is in fact true) so we asked her if this was true (as we were both changing over to our RSA passports on entering Kenya) and she said we could either get them her or on arrival. So we left a bit more confused than when he arrived without mentioning the possible complications arising from our route i.e. only being stamped in by immigration in Nairobi, as no immigration on the Kenyan side of the Omorate border. Anyway headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon on the internet emailing fellow overlanders and updating the website. Had an email from Reto & Victoria which hinted that it may be better to have your Kenyan visa beforehand in case you get stopped on the way down to Nairobi - at least you will have something in your passport and may not be deemed to have crossed the border illegally. Made sense so we resolved to go back to the Kenyan Embassy in the morning and investigate further. Walked around the streets above the hotel looking for somewhere to eat but all the places seemed to have turned into loud and raucous nightclubs/beer halls. Headed down the other way and found Pizza Corner which surprisingly was filled with a lot of locals and had a great and cheap pizza to share and a coke each before retiring back to the hotel where we were camping in the pleasant, shady parking lot.
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