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DAY 131. THURS 14/06. Turmi to Sibiloi NP, Koobi Fora, Kenya. (Via Omorate) 202 kms. Total 27062 kms. Koobi Fora Camp. N3 56.634 E36 11.570
Left camp quite early as we were a bit worried about time as we had quite a long stretch through to the 1st campsite in Kenya and slightly apprehensive about the roads after yesterday's performance. However, surprisingly, reached Omorate in only around an hour along a good gravel road. Town itself doesn't appear on most maps but does contain an Ethiopian immigration office - near new buildings on the left coming into town (N4 48.333 E36 03.037). Immigration officials weren't there, we had to go drag them out of a hotel down the road - obviously not too busy? Enquired whether any other overlanders had been through the border recently (trying to find out where Reto & Victoria were as well as any word about John and Irena) and we told we were the 1st going this way in 2 or 3 months! So obviously we were now ahead of the Swiss. After we had our passports stamped we ended up at the Tourist Hotel, N4 48.164 E36 02.985, where we went in for our last njera and a couple of cokes. Also topped up with 20l of black market diesel (10 birr p/l - about the same price as in Kenya) just to make sure we would have enough and also changed money into Kenyan Shillings (15 birr = 100 KSh) before heading off around 1pm back the way we came towards the border. Shortly before the junction south towards the border at N4 44.893 E36 10.451 we were mobbed by a small village of local tribe's people living close to the road so we stopped to take some photos and dished out a few razor blades that they all want to shave their hair into strange tribal styles with. (Can buy packs of 5 blades in Konso for 2 birr beforehand if visiting local tribes) Once heading south from the junction surrounding vegetation becomes somewhat drier and sparser. Also numerous dry sandy river beds to cross, although you could see that they had recently been flowing quite strongly following the recent rains, sometimes with near vertical exit or entry points where the water had cut into the banks. Reached a small boom at a village which constitutes the Ethiopian border control round about WP N4 27.127 E36 13.878 where you must show your exit stamp from Omorate before proceeding into Kenya. Local people seem to cross the border freely and at will and tribes are indistinguishable from one side to the other so hardly any sense of bring in a different country. 1st town in Kenya is Illereth, N4 18.722 E36 13.679, (sometimes called Fort Banya on maps) where we were required to register with the local police at the border outpost but no other border formalities are carried out here (i.e. no immigration or customs) Being shortly before 5pm on leaving Illereth we had just about enough time to reach Koobi Fora Camp in Sibiloi NP so we pushed on. 1st section of road towards the park is quite sandy but then on reaching the park and the shores of Lake Turkana the track becomes stony/rocky filled with volcanic pebbles so it becomes like driving on marbles so quite slow going the rest of the way. Didn't see much wildlife but sunset over the lake and the rocky landscape was quite spectacular. Arrived just after dark at Koobi Fora Rest camp in the National Park where we camped on a patch of sand overlooking the lake in front of the park building with great showers and bathrooms too!
ETHIOPIA SUMMARY:
Costs:
- Camping: 30 - 50 birr per night for 2 people (generally in hotel or pension grounds)
- Diesel: 5.31 - 5.58 birr/l, cheapest in Desse. Black-market = 10 birr/l in Omorate
- Food: local food extremely cheap in restaurants e.g. a shared meal for two and a beer or drink each typically around $2 or less. Also supermarkets in Addis affordable and well stocked, cheaper than Sudan by about a third
- ATMS: only 2 that we came across in Addis in Sheraton Hotel (N9 01.256 E38 45.624) and Adams Mall (N8 59.685 E38 44.346). Otherwise visa cash advances possible at most Dashen Banks e.g. Bahir Dar
- Park Fees: Simien Mountains NP = 340 birr for 48 hrs for 2 people including entrance, camping, vehicle and armed scout
Overall:
Once we got used to the people and especially the children's in your face approach to tourists and westerners in general (which took a few days only) we thoroughly enjoyed Ethiopia and it became one of our favorite countries so far. Eventually you don't even hear the shouts of "You, You, give me birr/pen/euro", "Faranji" or "Highland, Highland!" (bottled water) anymore and even start to miss them once you leave. Also helped that we loved the national dish (njera - apparently you will either love it or hate it) as there is not that much else available. Good and cheap beers help too. If you can't deal with the constant hassle and people surrounding you will probably have a terrible time. Very lush, wet, scenic, green and beautiful country - different to the drought ravaged desert like country portrayed by the media in past history. Although we didn't go into any National Parks the animal life is pretty spectacular too, however we did see an amazing variety of bird life particularly around the southern lakes including eagles, (fish eagles and at least 2 other species of eagle) vultures, secretary birds, giant hornbills, marabou stalks etc?.
On the negative side we did have a stone blatantly thrown at our vehicle once by a young child and perhaps more subtly on one or 2 other occasions but it is not as widespread as we were lead to believe. Also not necessarily stemming from violence but more from frustration and in and effort to get tourists to do what they want (in a similar way that they throw stones at stubborn animal to get them to move and adults throw stones at groups of naughty children to chase them away) Our big gripe though was definitely about the increased entrance fees for Lalibela churches which have recently doubled and is now more expensive in real money than most other tourist attractions in the world. (200 birr pp = 22$) There is little or no evidence of what this money is being used for - either for improvement of facilities for tourists on the site or providing services and help for local people in the area and rather smacks of pure greed and money grabbing by the authorities/church.
DAY 132. FRI 15/06. Koobi Fora to outside Karsa Gate, Sibiloi NP. 95 kms. Total 27157 kms. Bushcamp. N3 33.239 E36 23.827
Before leaving the camp we had to pay the park fees (20$ pp, 200 KSh pp camping and 300 KSh for vehicle) which wasn't too bad in retrospect compared to those still to come. There is a way around the park to you don't have to pay the park fees but we elected not to do it as we had heard the road was really bad and not even the park rangers do it. But since we have met some overlanders who have done it so it is possible. At junction N4 13.311 E36 15.400 you would keep left/east and then head south to North Horr and Loiyangalani or continue south east from North Horr to Marsabit. Anyway we continued south through the park. Not that much game in the park though although it is a World Heritage Site. We saw quite a few Rooi Hartebeest, Impala, Oryx/Gemsbok, some Thomson's Gazelles and numerous Duikers in the north part of the park. The road continued to be very rocky and stony for the most part with some soft muddy parts in low land marshy areas that were still quite wet from rains 2 weeks previously. Very deeply rutted from previous vehicle tracks with large flat stones on top of the mud in some parts we ended up getting stuck on top of some of these rocks which wedged up under the rear axle and diff so we had to stop and dig them out, getting very muddy in the process. Further south in the park we turned off the main road towards the park HQ's (N3 42.025 E36 15.259) back towards the lake and Crocodile Corner (N3 42.544 E36 14.579). On the plains next to the lake we saw numerous Zebra and Warthogs but unfortunately no giant crocs for which the lake is famous. Later in the afternoon we exited the park through Karsa Gate (N3 39.414 E36 18.926) and continued on the rough and stony track towards Loiyangalani. Bushcamped quite early at a great spot under some trees totally alone. Did not see any people or vehicles the entire time since leaving the park (and we weren't to pass any vehicle on the road/track till shortly before South Horr 3 days later!) Got the impression we could have camped there for weeks without being disturbed by anyone. Rob spent some time chiseling off some of the mud caked onto Cathey's undercarriage accumulated over the last few days before it hardened too much. Then we lit a fire with the abundance of wood lying around the camp before cooking some potatoes in the fire (a little more successfully than the last time we tried in Ethiopia) which we ate with tuna and mayonnaise topping.
DAY 133. SAT 16/06. Outside Karsa Gate to Loiyangalani. 136 kms. Total 27293 kms. El Molo Lodge. N2 45.601 E36 43.370
Continued over the dark rock covered hills towards North Horr before cutting south at N3 20.623 E36 47.353 some distance before North Horr towards Loiyangalani. Quite slow going still due to stony conditions, rough roads and some corrugations in places and arrived at the stunning shores of Lake Turkana in late afternoon - 5hrs30mins driving time! Great scenes of contrast between the dark black stony shores, blue water and bright setting sun. Headed for El Molo Lodge Campsite looking forward to the promise of a pool heated by the hot spring water. Unfortunately pool was being cleaned and was out of action. Set amongst a palm tree filled oasis on the side of a hill overlooking the lake, with rustic open air showers with hot water from the springs it makes a relaxing stop. But with no other facilities we thought that at 450 KSh pp it was quite overpriced. One of the staff went into town to buy us some drinks so we got our 1st taste of the famous Kenyan Tusker beer which we had with dinner cooked in the camp.
DAY 134. SUN 17/06. Loiyangalani. 0 kms. Total 27293 kms. El Molo Lodge. N2 45.601 E36 43.370
Not that much to do but as we had been driving every day since Arba Minch we decided to take a break and spend the day in camp. The camp staff tried to get us to go on a few tours of the local tribes, or boat cruise on the Lake or to some scenic viewpoint used in the filming of the movie "Mountains of the Moon". However with limited funds still for the next few days until reaching a bank we politely refused, using the excuse that Inga was not feeling well - a bit of an exaggeration! Loiyangalani is a bit of an anomaly in terms of Kenyan demographics in that it is one of the few (if not the only place) where different tribes co-exist peacefully. (Turkana, Samburu, El Molo Tribes and one other all live in the area we learnt after our prospective tour guide had filled us in) Also was where a lot of the film "Constant Gardner" was filmed. So we did nothing except flop around the campsite, read, shower, update a bit of blog and top up Cathey's transfer box oil which we hadn't done since Khartoum. Did order some fish from town (100 Ksh) and some more Tusker and received a smallish whole fried Tilapia which we had for dinner - quite bony and not much meat but still pretty tasty.
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