Bula Vs Ethiopia – The Main Event!

4th – 27th May 2007 (Sudan and Ethiopia)

Greetings everyone and apologies for the extended silence but the deeper we get into Africa the harder it becomes to maintain communication. Our mobiles don’t work and internet availability is somewhat limited and extremely slow. However, since we last updated you we have successfully negotiated 2,500 miles of some of Africa’s worst roads, crossed the border from Sudan into Ethiopia and made it to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia’s Capital) where we are now spending a few days recovering and giving Bula a well earned rest.

In fact the last few weeks have been all about Bula and her amazing ability to cope with Ethiopia’s roads! Roadside repairs have included 4 punctures, dodgy clutch (air pocket), over heating, leaking rear half shaft and temporary replacement of the rear differential plate – I'm certainly learning a few new skills – but that aside Bula has been magnificent and got us through, under, over, down and up some extremely challenging situations and we are now certainly life fans of Landrover Defenders! We have climbed to almost 4,000 meters (and down again), traversed river gorges, negotiated running mud and tackled some of the driest and rockiest bush tracks but we still have the infamous Ethiopia / Kenya border crossing to come which apparently is even more challenging……….cant wait!

So where and what have we been up to since we last left you in Khartoum. Well, we spent another 5 days in the sweltering heat of Sudan visiting the famous Mereo Pyramids, experiencing the amazing Whirling Dervish ceremony (crazy boys) and following the Blue Nile from Khartoum to its source in Ethiopia (Lake Tana). We were certainly mightily relieved to cross into Ethiopia primarily for two reasons, firstly we quickly climbed into the highlands (the majority of Ethiopia being above 2000 meters and is mountainous, green and fertile unlike the images we are so familiar with back in the UK), where it was so much cooler and secondly we could finally have a nice cold beer, much needed after over 2 weeks of being ‘dry’ and bloody hot!

So what about Ethiopia? It is a truly amazing country with an incredible history but it has certainly been our toughest country so far & our best summarization and lasting memories will be of the country side, the roads and finally the people; the latter whom dominate ones daily lives as it is virtually impossible to get away from people – one veteran Indian traveler told us “it is worse than India”!! With a population of c.100 million they are everywhere and when stopping, anywhere, any time we would immediately be surrounded by 20 – 30 kids all demanding money, food, pens and much more. Walking the streets people constantly yell out ‘farangi’ (Ethiopian for Foreigner) or ‘you, you, you, you’ which does start to grate and test one’s tolerance after a while, plus it makes it extremely difficult for Clare to have a private ‘bush pee’! We could go on about the people and the country but this is neither the time nor the place, suffice to say it is emotionally draining.

As far as sights are concerned we have had a good mix of culture and nature. Our first week was spent following the historical / religious route which took us north to Axum and then back south to the famous rock-hewn churches of Lalibela – Ethiopia has an extremely old and religious history which is quite distinct from the rest of Africa. Whilst we thoughrly enjoyed these sites and learning the history, the real highlight has been the National Parks and finally seeing some of Africa’s wildlife (not including the natives)! We have visited two parks, firstly the Simien Mountains where we met and spent time with the endemic Gelada Baboons, a truly amazing experience, and also had sightings of Bushbuck, Klipspringers, Ibex, as well as some unbelievable bird life. We then went to the Awash National Park which was much hotter and drier, where we wild camped with Grivet Monkeys (cheeky buggers stole our breakfast), Hamadryas Baboons, Oryx, Warthogs and the odd lion roaring in the distance. It was also in Awash that we encountered the famous nomadic Afar Tribe who are essentially cattle herders but are pretty intimidating with there long knives, woolly hair and AK47’s! In fact a couple we met in the middle of no where insisted on a lift and as we were not about to refuse there request we stuck them on the roof of Bula whilst we looked after there AK47’s….. bizarre! We also took a trip out East to a place called Harar where we found the ‘Hyena man’ and spent an hour with him at sunset feeding 9 wild spotted Hyenas from a small stick – quite amazing and a once in a life time experience!!!

So, a lot has happened these last few weeks with too much to detail here but hopefully this has given you a flavor. As for the people we traveled with in Sudan, we are about to rejoin Ed and Sue (couple from Gloucester in a Defender) as we have been told it is better to tackle the Kenya border together. Unfortunately Jason (German BMW rider) crashed on crossing into Ethiopia and broke his collar bone so has had to return home, whilst the others are all still somewhere in Ethiopia and are all okay but on different schedules.

As usual a big thanks to all of you who keep emailing and keeping us up to speed on ‘regular’ news, we really look forward to reading these and it helps keep us ‘normal’. Also, thanks for the Amref donations which are much appreciated, though there are still loads of you out there that are earning a fortune and can surely spare a few sheckles? Having now seen first hand the Poverty and conditions these kids survive in, we can assure you that any donation makes a massive difference and as most of you make you’re living from children this is a chance to really give something back. We are hoping to raise £5,000 this year (and in case we you were wondering/worrying it all goes to Amref) but at £500 so far we have a long way to go so please give it some thought – Thanks.

With any luck the next update should come Nairobi, Kenya in a couple of week’s time having successfully and safely negotiated the border crossing.

Still missing everyone loads, hope the UK summer has kicked in and the golf season is going well, take care and don’t work to hard.

Lots of Love, C, G and Bula

Amref Donation link (Just Giving) can be found under sponsorship on our blog site (http://bulas-adventures.blogspot.com/). Also a few sample photos from our 1200 photos already taken.