POST31 SOLO14 - SOUTHERN ETHNIC-OPIA (ETHIOPIA1): Days 242-252 of 273, 11-21JUL16, 2,818km to total 46,745km, Ali Sabieh DJIBOUTI (Country 27) to Addis Ababa ETHIOPIA (Country 28)

22 PLACES VISITED: ETHIOPIA: Gellile (Border), 1) Ishaca, 2) Dire Dawa, 3) Harar, 4) Addis Ababa, 5) Butajira, 6) Sodo, 7) Arba Munch, 8) Nechsar National Park, 9) Lake Chamo, 10) Kanta, 11) Mecheke (Konso tribe), 12) Weyto, 13) Key Afer (Bana, Semey, Hamer tribes), 14) Jinka, 15) Mago National Park, 16) Butinya (Mursi tribe), 17) Gorde (Hamer tribe), 18) Turmi, 19) Korcho (Hamer tribe), 20) Dimeka (Hamer, Bana tribes), 21) Hayzo (Dorze tribe), Sodo, 22) Zeway, Addis Ababa.

(PHOTO BELOW: “Out of the blue” - my second favourite photo of all time after “Lion Panorama in Crater”. The only black African that approached me “out of the blue” with blue eyes. This is the cultural mystery of ETHIOPIA! See whole photo at the bottom of this blog!)

11 OVERNIGHTS: ETHIOPIA: 1) Room at the “Tana Hotel”, Harar (Elev 1958m), 2) Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m), 3) Bure at “Paradise Lodge”, Arba Minch (Elev 1321), 4) Room at the “Jinka Resort and Travel Agency”, Jinka (Elev 1336m), 5) Bure at the “Buska Lodge”, Turmi (Elev 889m), 6) Room at the “Mora Heights Lodge”, Arba Minch (Elev 1342m), 7-11) Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m).

3 RUNS: ETHIOPIA: Arba Minch (2), Addis Ababa.

10 UNIQUE WILDLIFE: ETHIOPIA: 1) Vervet Monkey, 2) White Pelican, 3) Goliath Heron, 4) Crown Eagle, 5) Nile Crocodile, 6) Maribou Stalk, 7) Fish Eagle, 8) Hippopotamus, 9) Olive Baboon, 10) Guineafowl.

TRIBES VISITED: ETHIOPIA: 1) Konso, 2) Bana, 3) Semey, 4) Hamer, 5) Mursi, 6) Dorze.

BLOG POST TRAILER:

Welcome to the post that takes you into the cultural hot pot of ETHIOPIA, rich in tribes, scenery and food. This is the first of two posts that will cover ETHIOPIA given how thick the culture is - the first covers the south and the capital Addis Ababa and the second covers the north. This post sees my body pass the 45,000km on the continent of Africa - much more than I expected - I think I am actually going to pass the 50,000km mark by the end of this trip. This is also the post that marks my 8th calendar month away from home and on the truck, even though 3mths were spent off the truck! My 250th day away and WITH the truck is also commemorated! This will be the last “daily” milestone since the trip will end before Day 300!!!

My journey to ETHIOPIA began in Ali Sabieh in DJIBOUTI, only 12km from the border but it was the longest 12k of my life. It took me 1.5hrs to get to the border and 30min to cross it. The delay was caused by many locals travelling that day and not enough private cars to take all of us to the border - there is no public transport and no timetables. It is like “organised hitchhiking! Waiting at the old train station for a lift was actually one of the “visual” highlights of my trip. I sat on tin cans drinking the local tea from one of many wooden stalls lined up along a dusty, bombed out main dirt road.

People in Muslim clothing sitting around also drinking tea while goats and sheep parade through. A local man who knew my hotel manager walked me here at 6:30am and shouted me the tea. He was a locally born man and educated and travelled abroad extensively. The other delay was caused by a 30min “stopover” at the local police for inspection and paperwork for the border police. 2hrs after leaving my hotel I was finally at the border. Left DJIBOUTI with no issues and had to walk the 2k across no mans land to the Ethiopian immigration office. I had to explain to the boss why I had two passports and he got it straight away. I made it to two chook buses about to leave for Dire Dawa. I was late and all the seats were taken so I took up a plastic water container as a seat and took my place in the aisle along with several others.

No room at all. It was the ultimate “chook bus” and African transport experience of my entire trip. Sitting there in the aisle, low down between two bottoms on seats, balancing my mac on my knees with local women in the aisle leaning against my back and me putting my feet around the person swatted in front of me. Strangely I found it hilarious. Normally I would mumbling grumble or get off. Was I actually used to Africa? I have done many of these but on seats and in the back of cars - this was the ultimate test and I survived. I manged to blog and do bookwork the whole time. It was impossible to snooze. I was sitting in the aisle for 6.5hrs! I am now qualified to go to Mars!!! Dire Dawa is a mess. The usual garbage, potholes and pollution. There are nicer areas with cafes and restaurants that I saw on my way to another mini-van station to transfer to Harar only an hour away and on a seat!

The scenery along the way is terrific and is all uphill rising from 1300 to 1700 metres. The mountains look exactly like those from my mum’s town to my dad’s village in Greece - it made me homesick - for a second there I thought I was in Greece going to my relatives. Harar is like Chefchouen in MOROCCO. An old medieval walled city of 363 narrow cobble streets with homes painted in multiple bright pastel colours and designs.

I arrived at night but saw this the next day when I walked around the old city (about 4k from the new part of town). I visited the National Museum which was very disappointing - one room and no labels. The Arthur Rimbaud Museum was very plain with hardly any detail on the French poet of the same name.

The best museum was the "Ras Tafari House” which contained many items over two floors from the King of Harar who built the place in 1902 and lived there until 1924. It is not that large but well kept by a private citizen who was so interested in the Harar Kingdom that he spent 8yrs during the late 1990’s getting a license from the government to take the place over and preserve all its artefacts. He now has 13,000 items with 20% on display at the house on a rotating basis. I spent some time watching the town square over coffee and visited the Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral here. I actually bumped into Riza and Tim who I did not expect to be here and they offered me a lift to Dire Dawa airport in the afternoon to fly to Addis Ababa. That was pot luck. There was no internet at my hotel so no way to know. I had also booked the same flight independently to give myself time to visit Harar. The flight to Addis was very easy. Only 45min on an Ethiopian Airway Bombardier Q400 prop seating 70. Riza had organised a 5day-4night all-inclusive package tour of the Lower Omo Valley with Tim and I, leaving tomorrow and our driver and guide, Seyfre picked us up at Addis airport. From the air, Addis was in a very green valley with lots of lush farmland surrounding the sea of concrete of the city.

On the ground it looked modern and built up but this was a bot of a mirage given that the airport to city road is dressed up a bit like in Singapore. We paid for our package at the office, met the owner Yared, a very nice guy and then Seyfre dropped us off at the same hotel that the truck would get to in a few days time. What a dump. The Taitu Hotel was built in 1898 and is the first hotel in Ethiopia! And it shows. It has not been renovated since. It is entirely made of wood, creaks like 1000 haunted houses and has bathrooms that have no taps, drip and are leaking everywhere. Riza and Tim made arrangements to move on our return. I found a room that was fairly intact with a share hot shower outside. Clean and hot. That is all I needed. I was trained to travel in the aisles. I had reached a new level - down that is!!! Our adventure in the Lower Omo Valley is too rich to summarise here.

I recommend that f you read any detail - this is the one to do from Day 244 to Day 248. In summary we drove a total of 2,097km and visited six authentic tribes (out of 85 total in ETHIOPIA) surrounding the towns of Arba Minch, Jinka, Turmi and Dimeka. The tribes visited were: 1) Konso, 2) Bana, 3) Semey, 4) Hamer, 5) Mursi, 6) Dorze. We even had time for a boat safari on Lake Chamo to see many Nile Crocodiles, the biggest in Africa. We were simply blown away by the tribes people. We interviewed them, we danced with them and even ate and drank with them in parts. Apart from the Masai of TANZANIA and KENYA it was the other tribal experience that I was looking for and made my day and my film! I was fulfilled. All that remained now was to visit the Ethiopian Churches and monasteries of the north...

BLOG POST DETAIL:

DAY 242 of 273, Mon 11JUL16, 280km, Solo 14, Room at the “Hotel-Restaurant La Palmaraie”, Ali Sabieh (Elev 706m) DJIBOUTI to Room at the “Tana Hotel” (Elev 1958m), Harar ETHIOPIA. Today was ETHIOPIA day. The country I wanted to visit the most due to its rich culture, Orthodox Christianity and the fact that it was never colonised by anyone. I was curious to see how it would differ given the last point. Today’s travel to Harar would be the most random, unplanned event of my life. I had no timetable, no info and only the inconsistent verbal opinions of my hotel manager, my guide and the immigration officer - all were different. I woke at 5:30am and by 6:15am I was sipping coffee and eating baguette with butter and jam. The manager greeted me and introduced me to “Hoche”, a well-dressed older guy who spoke English very well. He walked me to the old train station where I waited for one of few local cars to take me to the border. On the way, Hoche explained that he had visited Europe, USA and Asia as a tourist. He was the first genuine well-travelled African tourist I met.

His knowledge of world affairs was excellent given the small desolate village he was from. We talked about many things. Even England voting to leave the EU! He explained to me that the current President just won his third consecutive five-year term and would retire at the end of it since he was getting on in age (76yrs this year). Hoche agreed with my view that Africans would have been happiest if the continent was never colonised since they would continue to use local customs and traditions to sort out problems amongst ethnic groups and help each other out. Happiness is relative. You cannot crave for something you have never known. Hoche shouted me a local tea at the pick-up place for the border. It was classic Africa but with an Arab touch.

People in robes with parcels sitting on empty fuel cans with parcels and plants waiting to be taken to the border. It was back alley dirt road with small wooden stalls selling pancakes and tea. Goats and cats would occasionally idle by. It was cloudy and cool. I was lucky - thanks to last night’s storm. At around 7am a busted up ute arrived and 20 people rushed it yelling and screaming. It was like musical chairs. It over-filled in seconds. I did not stand a chance. Others had been there before me anyway. This ute would return in an hour and others may arrive. Hoche was good enough to talk to the driver and local attendant to seat me in the front of the next pick-up. I was grateful. He also helped me exchange my remaining DJIBOUTI francs into Ethiopian “Birra”. I was set.

The only anxiety I had was when would I get to the border and how quickly could I get on the bus to Dire Dawa Ultimately would i have enough time to see Harar today if I had to travel to Addis Ababa all day tomorrow? Another ute tuned up and the local attendant pulled me up and pushed me towards the ute. I got the front seat next to the driver. Another very small older guy also sat next to me. For some reason we waited there for ages before moving off. It was now 8am. We then drove to the police station. We went there for papers required by the driver at the border. It was now 8:20am before we got going again.

The border was not far but I had the shits that we had wasted so much time to travel the puny 10km to the border. Thank goodness my passage through the border was smooth and quick. No queues. I had to walk the 2km through dead man’s land between DJIBOUTI and ETHIOPIA. There were people in colourful dress walking in both directions. I felt like a refugee. What on earth was I doing here? All alone! Not knowing when and where I would be! It was the first time for me that my journey was being made up as I went.

All I knew was my destination. Harar. I would now be happy just to get there today. I was already thinking about catching the last plane out of Harar tomorrow to Addis to be able to visit Harar. It was a plan. Strangely, I liked what I was doing. It was pure adventure. Pure travel. It took slightly longer to be stamped into ETHIOPIA because I had to explain my two passports to the boss. My DJIBOUTI VISA and exit stamp was in one passport and my ETHIOPIA VISA in the other. This is because I had to send my second passport to the Ethiopian Embassy in Canberra to get the VISA - can only get it in my home country. The boss understood this immediately. I got stamped in. Great.

I now had to travel the rest of the way on passport number 2. Passport 1 had served me well - 27 African countries!!! It would be used one more time when I get stamped into Sydney AUSTRALIA since the exit stamp is in number 1. Can’t wait for that one!!! It was now 9am and there was a large bus and small bus packed with people and loading up to leave for Dire Dawa I tried to get on but there were no seats. A local guy tried to get me on a truck loaded with people in the back. I sat in the cabin with three others. When the driver arrived and saw me he asked me to get off. Three people plus driver was one too many. I was now in a panic. Waiting for the next empty bus to fill would take ages. I just HAD to get on the big or small bus about to leave.

I went for the small one since it would travel faster and take less time to get inspected at the police rod blocks. I managed to find “Wilson” a young English speaking Ethiopian medical graduate and he spoke with the driver and conductor. Success. But at a price. There were no seats. The conductor handed me an empty full can and Wilson translated “this is your seat, take the aisle and be seated”. They were deadly serious. The bus was chronically overcrowded. There were 20 seats and 50 people on board. It was the most crowded, dangerous bus I have ever seen and been on. This REALLY is Africa!!!

Normally I would bitch and moan or take evasive action and alter plans. Strangely, I was ready for this and wanted to experience it. Why? I am not sure. Was this the ultimate travel experience? The pinnacle of travel? I wanted to find out. I found spots for my luggage between human legs and chickens and took my place on the floor in the aisle. I was near the front and the people in the seats were very helpful. Thank goodness the windows were big and that the woman next to them agreed to open them wide. I just barely got the ventilation that I needed. We rolled out at 9:30am and Wilson gave me the bad news when I asked. “It will take 6-8hrs depending on how fast we drive and how many police stops there are”. Visiting Harar today was gone! Catching a 12hr bus from Harar to Addis tomorrow was now replaced by a flight.

I would make every attempt to get to Harar today, find an internet and book the last flight tomorrow so that I could at least  spend most of the day visiting Harar. The trip was hard. Not as bad as the car through DRC since at least I had room and air but the road was all gravel and very bumpy. So bumpy that the plastic fuel container took the shape of my arse in just 30min! At least it was comfortable. The hardest bit was no backrest so I leaned forward whilst balancing my mac on my knees. Somehow I found my zone and completed Post 29. The hard bot had been done last night - processing all the photos. They were ready to insert. The landscape was the same as DJIBOUTI near Ali Sabieh. Desert, barren hills, dusty and no green. Our first police stop came at 10:30am.

Everyone had to get out. This was a time killer. When Wilson told me that there would be at least 3 of these I gave up hope on seeing Harar in daylight. When I asked him about the last bus to Harar, I was further dismayed when he said sunset - no one is allowed to travel at night to Harar. I now re-adjusted expectations again and readied myself for an overnight in Dire Dawa! Boy, Riza and Tim certainly made the right decision to go - they would have ABSOLUTELY hated this and blamed me forever I was relieved. At noon we made a lunch stop and even took on two more people. One stood right in front of me. This was ridiculous but I was not in a huff and puff about it - as long as I could blog or do accounts and get ventilation, I was OK since it would pass the time. At 2pm I started to feel the heat and was fairly cramped. I had my fill of rough travel.

There was a policeman from Djibouti sitting next to me and he re-assured me that we would be in Dire Dawa around 4pm. Boy - another two hours. I decided to put my head against the bottom cushion of someone’s seat and have a snooze - it worked. The last hour was seen culling photos. We pulled into Dire Dawa at 4pm.The place was a mess. Where the bus stopped was appalling. Children and animals playing near mountains of rubbish and rubble. I cannot imagine what disease these kids are exposed to every day. I was glad to get out of there. Surely a big city like this was not the same way everywhere. It wasn’t. Wilson pushed me into a tuk-tuk and we rode 10min to another place to catch my van to Harar. We passed some very clean areas, good roads, cafes but not done up - very plain.

There was a van leaving immediately as it was almost full. I farewelled Wilson and hoped on. The trip to Harar was very scenic. We climbed to 2000m passing several large mountains with small villages nestled in their arms. They were very green with stepped farming. It looked so much like my dad’s village and surrounds in Greece. When I saw it I got very homesick for Greece but was overjoyed thinking - I will be there in just 6 weeks. I found it funny that weeks seems short in comparison tot he months I had spent in Africa. I was glad to finally see Harar. I had been to hell and back to get here.

My hotel was on the main road so I informed the driver and got dropped off right outside. I could not bare another took took fro the van stop to here. It was 5:30pm and 11hrs after my morning departure in Ali Sabieh. It was without a doubt the hardest single trip from A to B that I have ever done in my life. I am glad I did it. I cannot think of anything harder. I am now set to travel any place in the world alone! It is a good feeling. After settling into my room I asked about the internet since I needed to book a flight to Addis tomorrow so that I could spend the day in Harar. The internet was blocked.

I did not understand so I asked to speak to the manager. I met “Baba”, a young guy in his thirties and had an Arab look. He was very friendly and always smiling. He explained that Nigerian high school students were sitting for the annual exam to decide who would get into University - much like our HSC. A student had leaked the answers to the exam so the government re-wrote the exam and blocked the internet for the ENTIRE country until the exam was over. Rubbish I thought. My immediate reaction is that the government was hiding information that may cause people to panic - probably a terrorist attack. If you have the right IT people you can block the exact source rather than everyone. The internet had been blocked for 3 days.

Are you telling me that the government would not be aware of the massive revenue losses they would cause businesses that relied on the internet? Surely. That’s why I reckon something big was going down. Baby showed me his data mobile - nothing worked. I then asked Baba if he could ring the Ethiopian Airways 24hr reservations number. He was keen to help but did not have it. He called a friend who worked in a travel agency. She asked him to drive around to her house because she was on her way home so that she could help. I wondered why this was necessary - all she had to do is give Baba the number. Baba insisted on going since it was close. I was worried about the time I was wasting. I wanted to see the Hyena feeding at 7pm every night - a tradition of Harar. The locals have a special relationship with these ugly creatures and they eat of their hands and you can feed them too. It was no 6:30pm and it was game over for me with the Hyenas.

It was more important that I book this flight so I know when I need to leave and what time I had left in Harar. It was dark no and we drove over to the travel lady. She was very nice and made a few calls and came up with the number. She called it and handed the phone to me. There was a flight at 11am, 3pm and 7pm. Great. I took the 3pm to give me 7pm as a fall back and to get to Addis during daylight. Half way through the booking the line dropped. It happened twice. I felt like I was back in Greece in the dark ages - one hour just to make a simple call!! Eventually I got to the payment part and was told that the payment system was down and that I would need to call in 2hrs to redo it IF the system was up. I flipped. I asked for the supervisor. Eventually I convinced to her to put my payment through herself when the system was up. That was not the normal practice - they needed my voice or an email - he made an exception since the internet was down. Boy.

It was 8pm when I got back to the hotel. I had a shower and then shouted Baba and his best free Manu (who was with us) dinner and beers. We spoke politics, education and how to make it in life. It was a great session and worth missing the Hyenas for. Manu was a graduate of Political Science and wanted to do his Masters. It is too expensive in ETHIOPIA so he was looking for a sponsor or how to get a scholarship overseas. I gave him some advice, similar to the that I gave my nephew in Greece in a similar situation. The answer was to try and get a job with company that would sponsor him. At the same time he would get job experience. He liked the approach. Up to now he was just looking for donations but my view was that once they dry up he will be left in the cold. By now I was nacked and bid the guys good night. I was a bit pissed that I had missed the Hyenas but glad that I had most of the day tomorrow to discover the ancient city of Harar.

DAY 243 of 273, Tue 12JUL16, 441km, Solo 14, EIGHT MONTHS AWAY FROM AUSTRALIA, Room at the “Tana Hotel”, Harar (Elev 1958m) to Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m) ETHIOPIA. Up at first light. No time to waste. Out the door at 6:30am and took a tuk-tuk to the “Shoa Gate”, one of four that mark the official entries into the once-walled city of Harar, otherwise known as “Juncal”. The other gates are: “Harar”, “Buda” and “Fallana”. The city was constructed in the 10th Century by the first King of the Independent Empire of Harar (969AD-1887).

The wall is now gone but you can see where it stood since a dirt road surrounds the old city. There were 72 Kings in total that reigned over this city of 363 narrow cobbled stone alley ways. Like Chefchouen in MOROCCO the houses are painted in different bright colours and many small Mosques appear regularly. The old city centre is only 3km from the new city centre. The new city is very ordinary and very simple - arranged on either side of the main split boulevard folding part of the Harar to Dire Dawa road. I started to walk from the Shoa Gate to the main plaza of the old town when disaster struck. I had another mild case of diarrhoea from the spicy fish dish of the night before. Once when I woke and now. I had taken my tablets and some toilet paper was in my pocket now.

Bad news is that the toilets I found were so disgusting that I felt I would become even sicker if I spent more than 5sec in them. So I was off back to the hotel for relief and started "take two" back at the gate 30min later. A mild set back. It was on my way back that I realised that today marked the 8th calendar month that I was away from home. Wow. Only 6 weeks to go now.

The old city was easy to walk. The day was overcast and at an elevation of 2300m which made it very cool and dry. Perfect for sightseeing! I spent most of the morning navigating the cobbled streets of old Harar looking for shots of interesting colours and shapes. The bonus were the children playing and the old folks sitting at their door steps. I visited the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the main square that dates from 1890.

A simple building, circular in shape. Orthodoxy is the predominant Christian Faith in ETHIOPIA and was practiced here from the 4th Century but it was not until 1959 that the Coptic Orthodox Church granted it autonomy and installed the first Patriarch who served until 1974. The first thing you notice about Harar is the taxi cars - all old 1960’s and 1970’s BLUE Peugeot 404s. These were introduced by a French Governor who lived here just before independence and survive to this very day.

The other thing you notice in the number people selling and chewing “chat” leaves, a type of mild stimulate, very similar to “coca” leaves in South America. Shortly after 8am I made my way to the first of three museums (since they all open at 8am). The National Museum occupies the former Court House and is terrible. It is essentially one room with a few crammed glass cabinets of artefacts from the Harar Empire. It lists the 72 Kings and a model of the old city. No labels. No guides. The lady who took my entrance fee explained the origins of each glass case. It was a short walk to the house of “Arthur Rimbaud” which is now a museum. He was a French poet who lived in 1884. Again there was not much inside and quite disappointing.

The best of the museums was the house (or palace) of “Ras Tafari”, the King of Harar in the early 1900’s who built the place in 1902 and lived there until 1924. It is not that large but well kept by a private citizen who was so interested in the Harar Kingdom that he spent 8yrs during the late 1990’s getting a license from the government to take the place over and preserve all its artefacts. He now has 13,000 items with 20% on display at the house on a rotating basis. He also holds workshops on the history and culture of the Harar Kingdom. I had the good fortune to meet this guy and sit down and have a chat with him. One of his helpers then showed me the many glass cases of items complete with labels in local and English. Items included: coins, land title deeds, weapons, Muslim / Christian manuscripts, clothing, paintings, wood sculptures, jewellery and household items.

The house also had great views of the old city from its upstairs balconies. From here I headed back to the main plaza where I had one of the creamiest coffees yet, upstairs overlooking the entire place. A great opportunity to photograph locals without them knowing! First time in a long time I have taken a 30min break in one place - but the subject matter was there! People with predominant African negro features but also an Arabic touch - many young girls with striking, piercing eyes like the “stans” of Central Asia and most guys very tall and thin with sculpture faces. The look and feel of this place is somewhere between MOROCCO and Western Africa (in rough terms, between Bantu and Arab). Harar itself is nestled on a hill surrounded by more hills on top of a very high plateau. It is cool during the day and very cool to cold at night. I caught an old share Peugeot to the new city where I bought a new headlight.

I was very upset about losing my Katmandu headlamp since my brother had given it to me along with many other camping items for my 50th birthday just before this trip. I remember hanging it on a bedpost and must have left it there. I was heart broken since it reminded me of Nick every time I put it on. But that’s what happens when you travel for many months. You loose things. It is a statistical certainty, especially when you pack and unpack almost every day. Now I had a cheap replacement which looks more lie a miner’s light than a camper’s light! I got back to the hotel and called the driver of RIza and Tim. He would pick me up at 12:30pm and take us all straight to the airport in Dire Dawa. I was sad to farewell Baba and Manu. They did a lot for me.

Pickup was right on time and we arrived at the airport around 1:30pm. Dire Dawa airport was very small, very old and very simple. Security was over the top and we were inspected three times for a domestic flight! My wine had to be checked in but the worst news was that I had NO BOOKING!!! The silly people at Ethiopian had failed to put my payment through and failed to call Baba who’s mobile I gave to them just in case there were problems. What pissed me off more than the absence of the booking was the time I spent last night (including Baba’s time) to make the bloody booking. I missed the Hyenas and achieved nothing. It made my blood boil. And don’t give me this crap about this is Africa!

Ethiopian is a world-class airline that competes well with South African Airways and even Emirates for flights in and out of Africa. Once I calmed down the check-in attendant booked me in and processed my card - lucky for me there were still seats and I even got a window. I made it with 15min to spare. Riza and Tim had started to worry about where I was and were not surprised by what happened. They had used the internet in DJIBOUTI to book their flights - I had used the phone! The online price was also 40% cheaper. The flight on Ethiopian ET205 took only 45min. The brand new 70-seat Bombardier Q400 felt more like a jet than a prop and we even had a muffin and juice to boot! East Ethiopia is very desolate - desert.

About 30min out of the capital the desolation transformed into hills then hills with trees then into lush fertile farming land with small found and square mud huts huddled together (4-8 of them) and surrounded by a wall. Never seen this before. Looked like a tiny "Asterix and Obelisk" village! There were hundreds all over the farmlands. Maybe they were families - parents and siblings and grandparents all corralled together for convenience and care. Great idea if true. Our driver and guide for the Omo Valley, Seyfe (pronounced “safer”), was waiting for us n the big six cylinder diesel 4WD Toyota Landcruiser that we would take to southern ETHIOPIA for the next 5 days starting tomorrow. We drove to his office to pay for our package just outside the CBD. The airport is quite close to the centre.

My first impressions of Addis were good. Lots of new buildings, a few skyscrapers, reasonable roads. Addis is surrounded by mountains and greenery and the weather is very comfortable due to the elevation. The city appears spread out. No one place to define a centre. I would discover this later. There was a lot of traffic and pollution. At the office we met “Yared”, the owner of “Grant Express Travel & Tours Services” or GETTS that would take us to Omo. A pleasant and polite man. The drive to the hotel was a little longer. The area around the hotel was full of bars and restaurants. . We first went via a supermarket for supplies. There were no casks so I had to get bottled wine. Plenty of olives and cheese.

The olives were from Greece and there was even Retsina (Greek white wine). The “Itegue Taitu Hotel” is the oldest hotel in Addis Ababa, built in 1898 and centrally located. It is also the worst. The building is old and in desperate need of repairs. The room is OK but the bathrooms are falling apart. No handles on the shower taps, no water in the basins and toilets without seats and cistern lids. Most are flooded with water. AT least they do not smell. We paid USD10 for two people! No wonder! You get what you pay for. Riza was depressed. I was immune. Tim just upgraded. Riza and I tried the place next door for dinner as recommended by Seyfe but is was lacking in menu and the staff did not even know what “hello” meant. Lonely Planet had recommended the food in our hotel but we wondered whether it would turn out as bad as the rooms! We were too tired to go hunting for alternatives. The dining room was full of people - mainly locals - a good sign. Tim was there and had just finished his meal waiting for desert. We sat together and ordered. Riza and I had tender beef marinated in spices and shared a vegetable "bayenetu", an assortment of pureed spinach, chick pees, cabbage, carrots, tomato, onion. All eaten with the classic sour-tasting Ethiopian crumpet-looking “bread” INJERA and not cutlery. Remembering to use the right hand and not the left, reserved for the toilet! We sank a few beers as we gossiped. A great evening despite our room shock! We all looked forward to the next 5 days, discovering six of the 85 ethnic groups of ETHIOPIA!

DAY 244 of 273, Wed 13JUL16, 473km, Solo 14, Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m) to Bure at “Paradise Lodge”, Arba Minch (Elev 1321) ETHIOPIA. It poured last night but was OK in the morning. Overcast and cold. First time I used a blanket since MOROCCO. What a difference a truck-trained group of travellers makes - we were off at 7am on the nose! Our first stop was for takeaway coffee and croissant. It helped us negotiate the thick Addis traffic. Addis has somewhere in the vicinity of 6 to 9 million out of the nationwide population of 100 million.

The city and suburbs is roughly circular with diameter of 60km. It took the better part of an hour to get free of the city’s gravity. The landscape between Addis and our first stop in Butajira was very green and fertile. Two main dwelling types: 1) small round mud and stick huts with thatched roofs and coloured doors and 2) sure shaped mud-brick with iron roofs and painted doors, window shutters and eaves. Looks great. Many people and animals on the road. Too many. Seyfe’s hand was constantly on the horn and car swimming for side to side. There were a few mountains in this area but at around 10:30am they all disappeared giving way to a wide level plateau at 1800m average.

Still high, still cool. There were farms everywhere and it was hard to fathom how ETHIOPIA could suffer famine for so many years in the early 1980’s. It rains here all the time and there are crops for as far as the eye can see. We passed many small villages and would always see people even between them. Not possible to drive too long without seeing anything or anyone. I caught up my blog as we drove taking the occasional picture. We also learned about the “Fake Banana Plant” - a copy of the real banana tree but with no bananas. The locals cut the roots of this tree, dry them, pulverise them, mix them with maize and make a sweet bread. We enjoyed a terrific sit down lunch at the "Abee Zeleka Hotel” in the town of Sodo. What a place, what efficiency.

I ordered lunch, initiated the upload of blog Post 29, went to the bank to change money (receipt is required for Egyptian VISA), finally found two casks of wine and returned to find my blog posted and a great lunch in from of me. If I could manage a run today it would make it one of the most productive days of the trip. I even tasted my first red wine made in ETHIOPIA! A 2013 Cab Sav and it was terrific. I was not surprised given the constant high altitudes, volcanic soil and low rainfalls in some areas. I decided to buy some Chardonnay to celebrate my run. The label is called “Rift Valley”. The afternoon drive was also scenic. Vast fields of maize with mountains in the background. It was not long until the milky brown waters of Lake Chamo appeared on the horizon.

If it were any darker it would like a lake of melted chocolate. The colour is caused by the disruption of fine silt on the lake floor as the water gushes in from the mountain slopes during the rainy season that just ended. We drove to the lakeside and at 4pm set off on a boat safari to see the giant Nile Crocodiles and Hippopotami. The Nile Crocodile originates in ETHIOPIA and is the second largest crocodile in the world after the Australian Saltwater Crocodile in the top end. The biggest ever Nile croc recorded here is 7m long and weighs 558kg. Our guide “Binam” was hired by the BBC in December of 2015 to help find it for a documentary starring Richard Attenborough, who he met and worked with. Lake Chamo is a pre-historic collapsed flooded caldera and part of the “Nechsar National Park” which also includes Lake Abaya and covers 514 square kilometres at elevations between 1108-1600m and contains: 91 mammals, 351 birds, 16 fish and 21 reptile species. This park also contains the highest density of zebras of any park in Africa - there are 8,000 of them! There are 6,000 crocs and 400 hippos! Many local fisherman have disappeared over the years - eaten by crocs.

Even our guide lost his best friend to a croc and was scratched himself when escaping. We travelled in a small aluminium boat that can hold 12 people. We sailed out to “Tortoise Island” (looks like one) where the crocs hang out. There they were. Five adults and several young ones paddling about in the water in front of them. One of them was huge - 5m in length. They sat motionless. The day was overcast and cool and the water calm with just a slight breeze. We did not see many animals but the cruise was very quiet and relaxing. At one stage I nodded off. We did see two hippo heads in the water but missed the rest getting out of the water as is the practice in the afternoon. We got back to the jetty at 5:30pm after 90min on the water. In total we saw only 8 species of wildlife being: Vervet Monkey, White Pelican, Goliath Heron, Crown Eagle, Nile Crocodile, Maribou Stalk, Fish Eagle, Hippopotamus.

The drive to the hotel took only 15min and I jumped off at the gates for my run since it was 6pm and sunset was at 6:50pm. I was anxious but quietly confident. Another come back run and my first for ETHIOPIA. Once again I ran 1km laps. Our hotel was on a hill so 1km took me to the bottom. There were many people using this road on foot since there were apartments at the top so I got a lot of cheers and laughs and hand slaps. I got to the 3km mark and no pain! This is where I felt my calf in DJIBOUTI. I was happy. Before I knew it I got to the end without any pain - did not feel a thing. I was so pleased. My 83rd run country, Post 29 up, 6L of wine and my bank receipt. What a day. I would celebrate big time tonight. And what a venue to celebrate. I had not seen the hotel when I started my run because it was down a long driveway and hidden from the gate. It was no hotel but a luxury lodge perched on a ridge high above the Rift Valley with the most spectacular views I have seen of any hotel in my life. Stunning. A huge forecast below, mountains on the horizon and the two lakes to the left and right. A bit of everything. The temperature was a pleasant 20C and a warmish breeze blew. I found my bure. It was huge and immaculately fitted out with mosaic porch, stone walls, stained wood, local artwork, thatched roof toilet INSIDE the bure and a huge double bed with mozzie net. AT the back was a porch overlooking the entire Rift Valley - same view as reception. Every bure had a view since they were lined up along the ridge. I showered with tons of lovely hot water. What a contrast to yesterday.

This place would get my best Solo accom rating whilst last night would get the worst. The restaurant was a huge wooden structure made up like a giant traditional hut. Thatched roof, with a interior ceiling lined with animal furs. This place was incredible. The kitchen was visible from the lobby and was the size of an aircraft hanger - the biggest kitchen I have ever seen in my life! Outside was a huge covered balcony with many tables and chairs. we picked a table right on the fence line overlooking the valley with the same grand view as reception and our rooms. Dinner was fabulous. Lentil soup, chicken salad, grilled Nile Perch and chocolate and strawberry ice cream. I brought my two bottles of Rfit Valley Chardonnay and they were delicious. We ate, talked and laughed like it was our last night on the trip. Very enjoyable and memorable. Forgot what time we slept but this place had brought a spectacular close to an already fulfilling first day in Southern Ethiopia.

DAY 245 of 273, Thu 14JUL16, 279km, Solo 14, Bure at “Paradise Lodge”, Arba Minch (Elev 1321) to Room at the “Jinka Resort and Travel Agency”, Jinka (Elev 1336m) ETHIOPIA. One of the best sleeps ever and brekkie was even better - spinach, eggplant, omelette, cereal and meat samosas. Excellent start to the day. Today we saw four different tribes or ethnic groups. Only 81 to go! It is hard to believe that ETHIOPIA has 85 ethnic groups, each with their own variation on dialect, dress, dance and food. 56 of the 85 can be fond here in the Lower Omo Valley which is why it is so popular for visiting tribal peoples. Our first drive was to the “Konso” peoples. We drove to a town called “Kanta” where we picked up our local guide “Genale”. There are 360,000 Konso living in this area in 41 villages perched on mountain ridges just outside the Omo Valley at elevations around 1700m. General took us to the Kanta market where they mainly sell clothes made there and imported from China. Genale then introduced us to his village of “Mecheke” a few kilometres from Kanta.

The village comprises 450 families or roughly 5,000 people living in round huts of rock walls and thatched roofs. Each family has a separate hut for parents and their married children, all surrounded by a rock wall with a wooden entry and gate, We were impressed by how neat and tidy the whole place was - no mud, no rubbish, no smell. I could easily stay here for a few days. We were also greeted by many children of all ages yelling “hello” and “picture, picture”! The school year had just finished. We even et the children take pictures of us and there friends. We arrived there at 9:30am and just have easily spent 2hrs playing with the children and speaking with some of the adults.

The surrounding countryside was lush and green and full of terraced farms growing sorghum, corn, maize, hops, sunflower, cotton and even coffee. English is taught everywhere now so most of the ten year olds and above could speak with us easily. As we were leaving we noticed that the rear tyre was quite deflated so Seyfe replaced it. We had a large crowd of kids chase us as we drove out - a sight to see. Our drive now became spectacular. We descended down into the Omo Valley which is huge and vast and surrounded by very high jagged-shaped tree covered mountains. After a brief coffee stop at Weyto we headed towards the village of Key Afer to visit two markets there and encounter three more tribal peoples shopping, gossiping and just enjoying the day…

The live cattle market had JUST closed so we headed to the food and household market just down the red clay road. What a site. Hundreds of people from three clans or should I say ‘tribes” - the “Bana”, the “Semey” and the “Hamer”. Here is what differentiates them. Bana men wear a short skirt-like loan cloth with undies underneath. Women wear decorative beads around the neck and wrist with coloured headband and multicolour cotton skirt. Semey men and women have facial tattoos. Hamer men and women dress all in leather (goat and cow skins) and the women wear their hair in long tiny plats under a bowl-shaped dried plant on their heads that looks like a Nazi helmet.

Refer photo in this post where John Ungowa Golfin poses with three traditionally dress women - one from each tribe - so you can see the differences. Our guide for the market visit, Barakat put in a lot of effort to explain the differences between the three tribes. He also took our cameras and took a lot of close up photos that we would have to pay for if we took them ourselves. He also found the three different tribal women in the photo. He got a great trip. I also took a lot of photos via stealth in the market. It was a great visit and we also talked with many of the tribal people as well. I liked the Bana because I could easily walk around with my cozzie instead of the loin cloth. Many of the younger tribal people also wore western tank tops or t-shirts. Most of the Bana men also had VERY skinny legs and very large feet. At around 4:30pm we drove the remaining 40km to Jinka (Pop 45,000), the capital of the Omo Valley for all tribes. It is a very dusty, gritty place with no modern buildings and dirt roads everywhere. The chiefs from each tribe meet often here to resolve common problems or approach the government for special needs. Our hotel was only a kilometre or two away from the Oasis truck campsite. The truck was also here tonight and would leave tomorrow morning to go to Addis. Dinner was another sumptuous affair and we even tried red wine from the Omo Valley - it was a very light easy drinking blend - nowhere near the body and complexity of the Rift Valley label. Seyfe reminded us that he would be taking us to a winery with cellar door on the last day - unreal. Day 2 was very satisfying - we had engaged four tribes and tomorrow was potentially the highlight - we would meet the Mursi in their own village approx 65km from Jinka...

DAY 246 of 273, Fri 15JUL16, 399km, Solo 14, Room at the “Jinka Resort and Travel Agency”, Jinka (Elev 1336m) to Bure at the “Buska Lodge”, Turmi (Elev 889m) ETHIOPIA. The sound of running water in the toilet cistern disturbed my sleep. I had gone to bathroom in the middle of the night and could not be bothered to get up and stop it… I had an Ethiopian Omelette and coffee for breakfast. he omelette was very yellow given the yolks of the region. It had cabbage, tomato, onion and carrot inside. The coffee was not strong but very creamy.

ETHIOPIA is supposed to be place where coffee was first grown in East Africa. Seyfe joined us at the brekkie table and I asked him about the strange inhaling sound that I had first noticed with him but thought it was just his physiognomy but then I heard it in our guides and the lady that served us brekkie and thought to myself - this must be part of the language like the clicking sounds of the Kalahari. I was right. Self explained that this sound is made to acknowledge or agree with what I was saying. It is like us saying “ah hum” or “OK” as we agree with what we hear. The short inhale is used across ETHIOPIA.

Shortly after leaving our hotel we picked up or local guide for today - “Toffu”. A brilliant young man with answers to all our questions with a great command of English. Tofu was Arii but knew a lot about the Mursi. We drove into the Mago National Park - another vast expanse of African savannah surrounded by titanic peaks in the distance. At the park gate we also picked up a mandatory armed guard - few National Parks mandate this. The last park I remembered requiring this was Campo in CAMEROON.

Margo has the usual animals but no Leopard or Rhino. The only cats are lions and cheetahs but there are not many of them so I do not understand the gun. The Mursi village of “Butinya” (Pop 300) is approx 65km from Jinka along a rough dirt road. It is one of ten villages in Omo with a total population of about 10,000 Mursi (only found in Omo for all of ETHIOPIA). Olisarali (Oli for short), the son of the Chief met us as we pulled into Butinya. He was a big guy with a very expressive face and beaming smile. When I introduced myself and told him I was from Sydney he took a step back and said “I have been to Sydney”! What. I swung around and pointed to the “BONDI” lettering on my butt and said “do you know this place”. He belched out “Bondi Beach! Of course, I went there!”. I could not believe it - here was a big Ethiopian wearing a loose cloth and holding a stick in the middle of nowhere and he KNEW my home town. He explained that he had been granted a scholarship in Sydney from 2000-2002 and a private citizen sponsored him to fly out and board at the University of Sydney. Oli also attended the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

In fact Riza was there also having come down on a business trip. It was astounding that Oli, Riza and I were at the opening ceremony and it took only 16yrs before all there of us could meet each other! That is destiny for you. We took a photo together to celebrate that moment. Speaking of photos, Oli (and Toffu before him) explained that we could take photos freely of the huts without people but had to pay 5 Birr (AUD0.40) per photo per person taken.

For film, we had to negotiate a price. This was great business for these locals. Their huts where either the basic cone shaped thatch or round sticks with and without mud. Oli walked us around and introduced us to several villagers, young and old, male and female. The Mursi are famous for the large painted clay plates the women wear in their lower lip. They start cutting their lower lip over several years, applying butter mixed with milk to soften them and stop the bleeding before the lip is long enough to hold the inserted clay plate which they paint themselves.

The women also wear head pieces of fruit (like Carmen Miranda) and necklaces of nickel and Warthog horns (ivory). The men where clay inserts in their ear lobes, the size of large coins. They also cut patterns into their hair and cut shapes with razor blades into their upper chests and shoulders - this is done at 13yrs when they come of age (boys to men). Both men and women remove their bottom two teeth when they come of age and bury them in the ground as an offering to “mother nature”. Both sexes also paint their faces and some parts of their bodies with white, ochre and red dirt-based paint.

The Mursi are also polygamous EXCEPT for the Chief. Many of the younger girls kept bothering us for photos - “come, come, photo photo”. One the one hand it seems all a bit contrived but on the other this was the village they lived in and the clothes that they wore. Oli explained that the Mursi are “semi-nomadic”.

They will grow corps near the river and raise cattle and goats for as long as their is ample water. When that recedes they move on to a predesignated alliterative river where there are already huts from previous seasons. There is on average 3-4 locations in close proximity that they will cycle though over their lifetimes. After visiting all parts of village, we assembled in front of two huts and took our photos. I had Riza film a 5min interview with Oli and then film me dag dancing with a mae and female member of the village. The interview went very well - single take and Oli’s account of Australia will be the highlight.

The dancing was hilarious. Oli was instructing them in their own dialect and they shouted “Ungowa, Ungowa” as we dag danced. even the children started to shout "Ungowa”. Everyone enjoyed the session - very uncommon. I negotiated a price of AUD40 to do all the filming. A similar price to that paid to the Masai of TANZANIA. It was worth every cent for the impact it will make in the film “Ungowa Africa 2016”! We spent almost 90min here and loved it. Our interaction was very personal. Only one other tourist was there. We drove back to Jinka where we had lunch in a local restaurant. I decided to stay away from ordering chickening ETHIOPIA - it is very stringy and overcooked and not much meat at all. I will stick with beef and lamb. After lunch we drove 2.5hrs to Turmi where we picked up “Oyta”, our guide for the Hamer village.

The Hamer village of “Gorde” was at the end of dirt road, 6km from Turmi, with lots of cows on it to slow us down. Acacias were everywhere and the scrub was very African. Gorde has 200 Harmer people and the total population in the Omo Valley is 67,000. Upon arrival we greeted the villagers sitting under a large wooden structure.

They were eating powdered sorghum and maize mixed with water. and drinking maize and sorghum beer. We walked around their huts and returned when we heard the singing start. For 90min we watched a display of traditional dancing involving a human train followed by jumping. Mainly young men and women form a large circle and the men jump towards the women and the women towards the men. It is a courting ritual whereupon couples pick each other out and start dating.

The dowry is then agreed and an engagement announced. A shorter method for a women to select he husband is “the jumping of the bulls”. A 2-3hr ceremony whereupon young men show their bravery by jumping over charging bulls. Brides to be look on and the eldest woman sects the male they think is the bravest for their husband.

The selection then passes to the next woman who may pass if her chosen suitor has already been selected. We left Gorde just before sunset and headed to a very nice lodge just 3km outside Turmi. After a pleasant dinner we gossiped a while and I ended the day with part of a movie I had missed a few nights earlier.

DAY 247of 273, Sat 16JUL16, 401km, Solo 14, EIGHT MONTHS WITH THE TRUCK, Bure at the “Buska Lodge”, Turmi (Elev 889m) to Room at the “Mora Heights Lodge”, Arba Minch (Elev 1342m) ETHIOPIA. Today marked 8 calendar months with the truck. I have been off the truck doing solos for 3 of these 8 months. Not bad. The solos had enhanced my whole experience of Africa and complimented what I experienced on the truck. Tomorrow I would be back there. This morning we drove 2hrs to the village of “Korcho” to see how the “Hamer” lived. The village has 300 people and is perched 446m above sea level at the top of a plateau right on a huge bend in the Omo River (767km long). You have a commanding view of this bend and the fertile plains beyond were a Turkish company runs a huge cotton farm. Some of the villagers work here but they told us that the employer is very harsh and pays low wages. Some of the cotton is sold to the “Dorze” tribes near Arba Minch since they make textiles. The rest goes back to Turkey! There are only 3 Harmer villages with a total of 5,000 people in all of ETHIOPIA and all are in the Omo Valley.

Our local guide “Zino” was only in his 20s but good value. He waked us through the entire village and hemet people along the way of all ages who wanted their photos taken with us for money. It is a bit of a circus but it also provides the villagers with some spending money for foodstuffs that they cannot grow. The Hamer people wear animal skins and paint their faces with dots or do full body painting in solid white just like the Australian Aborigines.

They are also the only tribe that grows beans given their proximity to the river. The Hamer also keep sheep and chickens as well as cows and goats unlike the other tribes. They also have a 3-legged wooden still and pillow instead of 2 legs for everyone else. They are polygamous and intermarry with the Bana given how close they are culturally.

It was a magnificent day and we enjoyed meeting the children in particular -  little babies only a few months old also had their faces painted with dots! We attend here 90min and moved on to the town of “Dimeka” which was close by, arriving there at noon. Our guide “Kassahun” took us to an arts/crafts market run by the Hamer but also visited by the Bana. Dimeka has 16,000 people, mainly Hamer.

The Hamer in Dimeka are particularly well dressed and the men a very tall, lean and muscular. It was a bit boring in this market since we were not really interested in buying arts and crafts so we decided to leave early since the drive to Arba Minch would take 4-4.5hrs and we preferred to get there early to rest - I also wanted to run.

There was a bull jumping ceremony scheduled for 2pm in DImeka but it would last 2hrs and Seyfe was not licensed to drive at night. It was a pity since the bull jumping is very famous in the Omo Valley. The drive to Arba was spectacular. We ascended up and out of the Omo Valley, across the Omo ranges and back into the Rift Valley. The day was sunny with fluffy clouds and the weather warm and dry. I prepared Post 3 for most of the afternoon drive. We arrived at our lodge in Arba at 5pm. It was located just a bit further down from the lodge we stayed in on the first night and so had superb sweeping views of the two lakes and forest in between them.

The only downside was a wire fence in front of the rooms. I went on my run and the views were simply terrific. I did not run laps but my regular 5km out and back. No pain. I had rested two days before this run and would stick to this for another week before running every other day. I was so happy with the run. Two in ETHIOPIA. After a quick shower we assembled at a small table right next to the view. There was a warm dry breeze and the moon was out. Our waiter brought a candle and the scene was set for a magical dinner. Ample wine and conversation. Laughter and tears. We talked a lot about the tribes and their futures, especially the children. We were pleased that many went to school and that English was part of the curriculum. The food was great and we enjoyed lots of the local “injera”, the sour bread that looks like a thin crumpet made from maize and sorghum fermented in water with yeast to make the fine bubbles and give it that lemon-like sour taste. You do not use cutlery but the injera itself - rip a piece off and pick up the food with it. Right hand only. Left is for the toilet. Chicken in ETHIOPIA is not that great. Not a lot of meat on those bones and always overcooked. Lamb is often grisly but the beef is great. Goat is also good. Vegetarian and fish also feature heavily in Ethiopian food. The Nile Perch is unreal. Creamed spinach and humus is also delicious. It was a dinner to remember.

DAY 248 of 273, Sun 17JUL16, 545km, Solo 14, Room at the “Mora Heights Lodge”, Arba Minch (Elev 1342m) to Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m) ETHIOPIA. This morning we drove to the village of Hayzo (Pop 6,000) to meet our sixth and final ethnic group in ETHIOPIA called the “Dorze” tribe. It was only a 45min drive from Arba and dizzy 2,200m above sea level. The view of the two lakes and Arba from the road going up is nothing short of spectacular.

The village is nestled in a lush forest of “fake banana” plants with surrounding peaks licked by clouds. It is like a scene out of New Guinea or Hawaii only cool and dry. We are greeted by our guide "Brouk" who walked us to his house made of fake ban leaves and bamboo. Even though the Dorze wear regular clothes they are still very easy to differentiate from other tribes. Their houses are the most obvious difference - a very tall (12m high) conical or “tipi” shaped structure with a short door and a moulded top with three chimney holes pointing down for the smoke from the internal fire. Inside is a vestibule area with tall door and a large central space with dried fake banana leaf partitions creating spaces for bedrooms, kitchen storage and even a place for the animals - at this elevator the animals need the warmth and so do the humans!!!

The fire is not enough to heat the huge internal cavity of the cone so the animal body heat adds to the shortfall. The fire is in a hole in the centre of the room and fed by radiating sticks of dry bamboo - quite an effective slow burner with minimal smoke. Around the fire are wooden chairs dressed with stretch cow skin - very comfy indeed. We were shown how coffee is made using a special pot. The conical huts are slowly eaten by termites and will shrink in height as a result - that is why they are made so tall. It takes 3 men, 3 months to make one and typically the father will build it for his son, 3mths after his weeding.

In the meantime he stays in a smaller hut outside the main one - aptly called “the honeymoon hut”! We proceeded outside to the back of the hut to see how “Cocho" is made. This is a sour bread made from the flesh of the truck of the fake banana plant. It is an amazing process. The truck is made of several concentric strips which are removed and suspended so that the flesh can be scraped away using a piece of sharpened wood. The fibrous frame left behind is dried and turned into string. The flesh is then compressed to remove water and placed in a circular container made of the leaves of the fake banana tree. The container is then buried 3 feet in the ground and left there for 2 weeks. It ferments into a white paste that smells exactly like fetta cheese. This is then moulded into flat round pancakes and cooked on a concave semi-circular flat between two fake banana leaves. The leaves are then removed and the outside toasted. No oil. The result is a grey coloured “pancake” which tastes like sour pita bread. Amazing. We ate some with honey and chilli paste. This was accompanied by the Dorze spirit liquor called "Arake". It is made from fermented maize, sorghum and wheat mixed with aniseed and garlic.

It is fermented for 2mths and then sifted through a cotton cloth to give a clear watery liquid of about 20-30% alcohol. It has a delicate flavour and is very smooth. There is an incantation that comes with drinking much like the Peruvians. There gestures and sayings and down the hatch. We enjoyed four rounds in shot glasses.

The other major differentiator of the Dorze is “weaving” or textile production. Cotton is purchased and spun by hand and coloured by the ladies. The men then use the manual wooden “knitting” machines to weave the several strands of coloured cotton into cloth for clothes, scarfs and blankets. Riza and I dressed up in wedding outfits and took photos. A lot of fun.

We then walked to the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church and cemetery enjoying the views of the surrounding mountains and meeting the elderly and children along the way. There is a very small older church and a huge concrete church being built next door - should be finished next year. The village has an old man aged 115 but sadly most people die in their sixties - this is considered old! As usual, everyone marries young and has lots of kids.

We stayed here almost 2hrs and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is amazing how different these six tribes were and we could not come to terms with the fact that there were 85 in total in ETHIOPIA. This was truly a cultural melting pot! The drive to Addis was long and tiring. We stopped by a HUGE termite mound - the biggest Iv’e seen and it definitely deserved a Dag-Dance. We stopped in Sodo for lunch and Zeway for wine tasting! Sodo is where we lunched on our first day and where I uploaded Post 29 - no such luck today - the internet was VERY slow. There were no ATMs close by and I could not buy wine since I was out of money. Before our late afternoon stop in Zeway, Seyfre stopped at 4 different ATMs for me - not one worked. Finally the last one flashed the message “Card is blocked” and I realised what had happened.

I had made 4 consecutive withdrawals in Addis on 13JUL to pay for my tour since the tour company EFTPOS would not accept my card. Citibank would have blocked the card for this reason - this is why I have not been able to use an ATM since. I converted USD cash instead - I just thought it was the network for an incompatible bank. I tried calling Citibank using Seyfre’s hot spot but got cut off half way during the call. Seyfre then ran out of credit (I had bought the credit). I would have to call Citibank from he hotel. Fingers crossed for that. In the meantime I borrowed some money form Riza as we all do in these circumstances. We left the “Castel Cellar Door” at 6:30pm. It was now after 8:30pm and dark as we drove through the suburbs of Addis and it started to hail!!!

Thank goodness the stones were small and the car did not appear to be damaged. It was 8:30pm and dark when we arrived at the hotel in Addis. Reception did not ask who I was sharing with from the truck and Andi had not left a note and was asleep so I was placed in an upgrade room at no extra cost just for tonight. I bet you they will ask for money later! Unreal. I settled in and met Riza and Tim for dinner at 9pm. Another vegetarian platter with succulent beef pieces as a separate dish. So tasty. After dinner Tim and Riza crashed but I managed to find the manager who kindly offered me his hot spot to call Citibank and unblock my card. Success. I went to the ATM outside reception and was rich again!!! Very happy. Retired to my room and watched the end of Aliens since it was already 11pm and I wanted to get some extra sleep before my walking tour of Addis tomorrow… Solo 14 had ended well.

DAY 249 of 273, Mon 18JUL16, 0km, Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m) ETHIOPIA. It was 7:45am when I handed over my second passport, yellow fever and money to Andi to apply for the EGYPT VISA today. We had to stay-put at the hotel until 9:30am just in case the Embassy wanted to see us. I went online, uploaded Post 30 and answered emails and made some calls. Internet was OK. Around 10am the news came that we were free so I packed up and hit the streets at 10:30am. The weather was overcast with occasional sun and the temp was very comfortable. I traded north to Menelik Square to see the Orthodox Church of St George - apparently St George spent some time in ETHIOPIA. My home parish is also St George so it struck a bit of a chord with me. It was a brick church and showed some age. Form here I walked down the entire length of Churchill Street which is the main commercial street of Addis. It is here that I realised what a mess Addis was in. It appears to be in a transitional state like most big capitals in Africa.

There are new buildings everywhere - all concrete in this case. Traffic is chaotic and there are messy overhead wires and some garbage everywhere. Not as bad as some places but nowhere near as clean as Kigali (capital of RWANDA). Despite this there was plenty to observe. English is not good here and you NEVER ask how far away something is located - no one has a bloody clue… Addis is VERY spread out. I must have easily walked 5km on the main street and this is just one street of many! The good news is that there are plenty of coffee houses and when you order a milk-based coffee you always get the cup of steaming frothy milk and the actual crema coffee from the espresso machine in a small glass - you then add ad it to the milky cup! It is a very smooth creamy taste - not bitter - not strong.

You can have doubled or triple shots. Coffee is typically AUD0.75 to AUD1.50. No more. I ended up at the railway station complete with a giant lion statue out front. The Oromo Cultural Centre was not that far further. The Oromo are one of the biggest tribes in the country and this museum was very swish and impressive considering the rest of the city. My next destination was the Addis Ababa Museum - it is situated at the top of a very old running stadium which is now used for student demonstrations and the local bus station. Sadly the museum was closed for renovations. The good news was that the omni-vans for my wine supermarket were only 10min walk away. I jumped on one headed for Mexico Square. I met a lovely lady in the front seat next to the driver - her English was impeccable - good find.

She told me where to get off and walk. “Azeb”, the receptionist at my hotel told me that the wine supermarket was opposite the “African Unity Building”. It took me 10min to walk there but boy - what a site - it was bigger, shinier and more impressive than the United Nations Building in New York City! I got permission from the guard to snap it but it started to rain. Got the photos but only 1sec of film - should have done it the other way around since I can get photos from the film. No matter. Force of habit. Given it was now raining and there were several taxis outside the African United Nations I picked one out and BINGO - he knew where “Sifer Supermarket” was located. It was not close the African Unity - that is why I will never rely on African estimates again… Sifer had NO WINE AT ALL, let alone casks.

I was pissed off because I was miles from the hotel and had relied on reception AGAIN!!! Lucky for me this supermarket was simply OUT OF wine and directed me to another place that was very close by and my taxi driver knew. Success!!! This place had eight 5L casks left. I bought 5 of them. They had to last until the entry into EGYPT which was 3 weeks away. I was very pleased. I snoozed in the taxi all the way back to the hotel proud of my stash. On arrival I moved into my new room which was actually old and decrepit but at least it had a door that locked and a hot shower directly opposite. I was meant to share with Sharon but she was moving out to bunk with Riza in a fancier place. Unreal - I would be ALONE for the next 4 nights. Do not blame them for moving but I wanted to be here given the proximity to the museums and the truck. The bathroom floor was wet but the shower was very hot and the pressure good. This is all that matters besides a clean bed and I had that too. I spent the rest of the afternoon blogging in the garden - very pleasant. Riza and Sharon moved out to their new hotel across town and I contacted them re dinner around 6pm but they were not keen due to the weather - looked like it was going to rain. I decided to run down my stocks of food in the truck so I had some canned fish, peas and beans. The fish was very good. I watched La Bamba and retired early so I could sleep in.

DAY 250 of 273, Tue 19JUL16, 0km, Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m, Run3) ETHIOPIA. A good sleep. It rained hard in the early morning which relaxed me even more but the hallway outside my room is wooden and my room is opposite the toilet so there was a lot of noise - I will bu-tac it tonight. Slept in until 8:30am - luxury for me and for Africa. Headed to the dining area where the group was scamped and got the “all clear” - we did not have to visit the embassy. I sunk a nice coffee and emailed a bit before hitting the streets at 10am to walk to the Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral of The Holy Trinity (Kidist Silase Cathedral). It was a great walk. The sun was out and there was activity everywhere.

As usual several people followed me cleaning to be “guides” and wanting money. I was not here to solve the unemployment problems of ETHIOPIA or Africa. I had a strict policy of not giving people money - especially children since it encourages begging instead of the pursuit of work. I also do not have the resources to help every person that yells at me or approaches me. I ignore everyone and avoid eye contact. This may seem harsh but it make logical sense to me. Even if I was to give every person that called on me a dollar - I would expend my trip twice over. Not that this is a problem but who do you pick and where do you stop? African problems are for Africans to solve, otherwise this great continent will NEVER never be self-sufficient!

Africans should take advice from whites but NEVER put them charge of anything. Colonialism has proven that! Thank goodness ETHIOPIA was never colonised and this is the reason I reckon it is SO CULTURALLY RICH AND INTACT. I saw many slum areas parked right underneath bustling business buildings. Construction abounds in this city. Ugly now but a necessity for the future. The Holy Trinity Cathedral is situated at the end of a road that passes The Parliament of ETHIOPIA. The Parliament is not on the map so I was surprised. The Parliamentary guards stopped me but were VERY friendly and when they found out that I was Orthodox they escorted me to the Cathedral gates! The Cathedral construction started in 1931 and completed in 1944 because of interruptions by invading Italians in WWII.

Actual construction was 3-4yrs. It is a magnificent stone building with central dome and only a part Icon Screen (Iconostasis) inside. A slight Catholic influence. The most interesting thing for me was the icon of the Holy Trinity which is Three Identical Old White Bearded Men holding a slightly different object in their hands. The Greek Orthodox icon of the Trinity depicts Three Angels being served food and drink by Abraham as described in the Old Testament. God the Father CANNOT be depicted since He has never been seen or revealed His Image. God the Father is only REPRESENTED, e.g.: The Burning Bush, A Voice etc. The first Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church served from 1959 to 1971. Late in comparison because he spent much time in Cairo EGYPT establishing the faith as a self-governing church from the Patriarchate of Alexandria. I learned all of this from the museum behind the Cathedral from a nice old guy that walked me through it. The Cathedral was built to commemorate the liberation from the invading Italians. 

Emperor Haile Selassie I and his consort Empress Menen Asfaw are buried in the north transept of the cathedral. Other members of the Imperial Family are buried in the crypt below the church. Most Patriarchs and significant clergy are buried in a cemetery that surrounds the Cathedral. Another strange feature is a cemetery to the right of the Cathedral that contains “the legends of ETHIOPIA” - singers, poets, architects, doctors etc - people who were significant figures in the development of the nation - this is identical to the cemetery in Buenos Aires ARGENTINA that has exactly the same thing! Amazing. Two continents apart. I thoroughly enjoyed this place. My walk to the National Museum was short from here. An unimpressive building but OK inside. The highlight is the basement level of four levels. It focuses on the Paleoanthropology - the cradle of the creationist theory of evolution complete with the skeletons of the three oldest human beings of all time. According to the fossils and the theory - humankind was “born” or rather “evolved” in Africa and spread to the rest of the world. This one level is home to the three persons: Ardi, Selam and Lucy.

These three are the corner stone of the evolutionary theory, not withstanding the “missing link” found in Oldavai TANZANIA. Ardi was a girl who died in her 20/30s, standing only 120cm and weighing 45-50kg. Her remains are 4.4 million years old and she is closer to the chimps than to us. She was discovered in 1994 near the town of Aramis in the Middle Awash Valley of the Afar Region of Eastern ETHIOPIA.

Selam is the first and oldest fossil of a hominid (early human) child. He was 3yrs old when he died, 3.3 million years ago. Amazing. His skull is complete and tiny! He is more like us than the chimps. The final residents Lucy. She is the MOST FAMOUS since she is the oldest version of our own species. She was unearthed in 1974 and died 3.2 million years ago. She was found near the town of Hadar in the Afar Region of Eastern ETHIOPIA. In total there are 1,000 fossil sites in ETHIOPIA of animals, plants and humans (10 sites). ETHIOPIA has the oldest and most human species fossil sites of any nation in the world - 8 in total dating between 5.8 and 2.3 million years ago. The only other nations to have one species each of the oldest human remains are: KENYA, TANZANIA, CHAD, MALAWI and SOUTH AFRICA. If all of this stacks up, then WE ARE ALL ETHIOPIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(PHOTOS BELOW: Left to Right: Ardi, Lucy and Selam - the oldest human beings in the world!)

The first humans apparently migrated from Africa to the rest of the world 100,000 years ago… I was now ready to come back to Earth. The upper levels of the Natural Museum showcased various items of clothing, art, crafts from various epochs of ETHIOPIAN history. I was full today. I headed to the hotel via a combination of walking and vaning and arrived at 1:30pm for my run. What a run. Much better than I expected. Nothing like Nairobi - plenty of space between cars and much better behaved drivers. The only surprise for me was the altitude. My calf was string and painless but my lungs struggled. I ran a constant uphill of 145m rise at altitude of 2,400m - just 400m below Quito in ECUADOR - one of the highest cities in the world! I was panting for the first 15min but became acclimatised after this. There was a light shower at the start of my run but it stopped half way through. It was a very satisfying run and I was almost back - two days between runs would now switch to one day. I would not go back to daily runs until I completed EGYPT - my 85th country run and final for Africa.

After another hot shower I settled into the truck to study the itinerary for the rest of ETHIOPIA. I decided to do a tiny Solo 15 for 2 days and 1 night whereupon I would fly to "Bahir Dar" on the same naming as the truck departure from Addis. The truck was planning a bush camp that night and a 7:30am flight that morning would gain me 2 whole days - worth it for AUD90. I blogged for the rest of the arvo and evening before ordering some Ethiopian lamb to take to my room. Not as good as the beef and as usual take away usually means less food. I enjoyed the spinach that came with he lamb and a the end of another movie. 

DAY 251 of 273, Wed 20JUL16, 0km, Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m) ETHIOPIA. I forgot to turn my loud alarm clock on. I woke at 8:30am instead of 7:30am so I could book Solo 15. It was a nightmare. I needed to call Ethiopian Airways to find out if I could travel on my original passport with no Ethiopian VISA since the second passport with VISA was at the embassy.

The internet was not strong enough at the hotel so I walked around trying to find an internet cafe. No luck. As I walked back a young local guy outside the hotel convinced me to walk to a big fancy hotel called the “Eliana” where Ethiopian had an office - the only reason I decided to engage him was that i could physically “see” the Eliana form here and recognised it as the hotel I could see through my hotel room window! I swore never to accept the judgement of distance or directions from locals - they were ALWAYS wrong and WAY OUT. The Ethiopian office had 3 people waiting in front of me and the staff were working at 2km/h - forget it - instinct told me it would a 30min wait - at least. I decided to take my chances with the hotel WIFI. Good move.

It was working and the speed was good. I managed to reach the call centre and they confirmed that I could travel domestically without a VISA. Unreal. I booked my flight and accom on the spot. It was 11:30am and it only took 2hrs and a 2km walk to accomplish what should have taken 20min. TIA. I walked back to the hotel, dumped my Mac and left with my local help to walk to the mini-van that would take me to the “Ethnological Museum” inside the University of Addis Ababa. It was a 20min ride and dropped me off at a huge round-a-bout only 2min walk from he main uni gates. It is a great campus. Looks like a botanical garden inside, complete with fountain and manicured trees and shrubs. The Ethnological Museum is actually inside an old stately looking building that was actually the Palace of the Emperor Hayla Selasse I from 1934 to 1961.

He established the university and handed over his palace to the University in 1961. The University was founded at another site in 1947 with the first 11 diploma graduations in 1952. The first 13 degrees were bestowed in 1954. Since 2012, over 175,000 students have graduated. There are two floors. The first features the main ethnic groups or “tribes” of ETHIOPIA. The top floor houses a history of Ethiopian Orthodox Iconography through its history in EGYPT and ETHIOPIA. Both were worth seeing. Approx 20 of the 85 ethnic groups were described but not as a tribe but in terms of religion, art, food, death, medicine, dwellings, clothes etc - each of these categories featured one or more tribes and that made had differentiators in the category - clever and easy to absorb. Here is what I learned that grabbed me.

Coffee was first invented in a region known as “Kaffe” in South Western ETHIOPIA - this is where it gets its name. “Teff” is a grain ONLY found in ETHIOPIA - it is a cross between lentils and wheat and has high levels of iron and calcium - the prefect natural substitute for meat and dairy for those who cannot afford it or farm it. Aperies or bees and honey is a huge industry in ETHIOPIA - a major export. A surprise for me. The most populous ethnic group is the “Oromo” at 20 million of the 100 million in ETHIOPIA today. The strangest ethnic group and the smallest is the “Beta Israelis”. Only 2,300 today, they originated from ISRAEL and rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah - those who accepted him became the Ethiopian Orthodox.

The reason for “Beta” is “second” to the Jews of Israel because they do not speak or understand Hebrew but are identical in every other respect. Wow. I wonder if there are “Gamma Israelis” anywhere? Islam came to ETHIOPIA via the Saudi Peninsula (YEMEN) in the 7th Century via DJIBOUTI. The iconography of the Ethiopian Orthodox closely resembles Byzantine only in the earliest forms new teen 4-10th Centuries. After the Schism or separation of West and East (Catholic and Orthodox) the style became more Catholic and animated to the extent that the Byzantine signatures completely disappeared except maybe colour. Felt close to home that afternoon and was determined to try and stay overnight in an Ethiopian Orthodox Monastery in the Lake Tana area so I could attend services and compare to Athos. Getting main-van home proved difficult - language is a barrier in a country that was not colonised! Eventually after three mini-vans I made it. Tonight Sharon, Riza, Tim and I were converging on the famous “Addis Ababa Restaurant” at 7pm from four different hotels! (PHOTO BELOW: Ethiopian Orthodox icon of The Holy Trinity).

Lucky for me it was walking distance from my hotel so I set off last minute after a hot shower and a a couple of olives soaked in wine! Sadly it was shut! Riza had left already but left a note with the guard. Dinner at her hotel, The Jupiter. So Tim, Sharon and I made our way down there sharing a taxi. The Jupiter semi-posh and we are all alone in the restaurant. I ordered local and we talked for hours, mostly about what we had seen in Addis and the many tribes of this colourful country. I cabbed it back around 9:30am so I could access the truck before Andi/Grant retired - got there just in time. Loaded up with supplies for Solo 15 and hot the sack so I could get up early to spend the day preparing photos for Post 31 ahead of my 4:50pm flight tomorrow - Bahir Dar and Lake Tana - here I come!

DAY 252 of 273, Thu 21JUL16, 0km, Room at the “Itegue Taitu Hotel”, Addis Ababa (Elev 2449m) ETHIOPIA. Today marked the 250th day with the truck. Wow. A big milestone because I would never get to 300!!! Today was a day of rest and Post 31. I sat in bed from 6:30am to 1:30pm preparing photos for Post 31 - went from approx 1500 to 350. Great effort but took ages. Took a break to get some water and even found some plain yogurt.

Finally it was time to pack for Solo 15. It was around 2pm and I decided to head to the restaurant to wait for one of the group to arrive to give me the truck key or show me its new location - could not find it were I had left it before. This was a bummer because I needed some wine and wanted to backup my photos to the backup hard drive that I always keep on the truck.

Just as I was walking away fro the truck, Lucy calls out to me asking me if I have see Tim or read his email. No to both since I was in my room and not once could I get internet. Lucy explained that Tim was not allowed to fly this morning domestically to Arba Minch because he did not have an Ethiopian VISA in his passport. The exact OPPOSITE advice that a supervisor had given both of us in independent phone calls to the 24hr global reservations call centre!!! TIA.

Andi and Grant just happened to be at the truck and invited me to ride with them tomorrow at 2pm to the embassy to pick up my passport (with Ethiopian VISA) and catch a cab from there straight to the airport. Problem solved. No time to spare. I left my luggage with reception and made my way to the Eliana Hotel to visit Ethiopian Airways. As usual there were 50 people in the office (more that 10)! I asked all of them for permission to cut-in given that my flight was in 3hrs and I needed to change it before the flight closed otherwise I would default the entire flight cost. They agreed. The staff were gobsmacked!!!

I engaged a young guy closest to the door, who looked like he was in charge, and explained to him my situation and asked him to change my flight to tomorrow free of charge due to the incorrect information the call centre had given me. Here is where customer service began…and my blood started boiling... “I cannot do that. You must call the manager” said the young staff member. First mistake. “Are you not the manager?” I replied. “No” he said and went on serving the lady in front of him. I asked the lady if I could cut in because of the urgency of my situation - she agreed. “May I ask you to call your manager as I am a tourist and have no phone here or your manager’s number” I said. “This is a new office and we have no phone” he replied. This guy was suicidal because he could see that I was about to explode.

I saw a cell phone on the desk in front of him. “May I ask you to use that cell phone to call your manager” I said. “That is my personal phone Sir” he replied. “I will pay for the call” I retorted. At that moment everyone was  looking at him, especially the lady in front of him. It is then that I realised that I was providing great “in-flight entertainment” to the 50 people in the office! I had him by the balls! Embarrassed, he picked up his cell phone and called his manager. I spoke to her. She was very nice and told me she would change my flight free of charge and call back. I stood above this guy as he continued to serve the lady in front of him. I had to make an example of him to the other staff and calm myself down! The cell rang and the job was done.

I asked him to print out my confirmation. As soon as I had the paper in my hands I turned to him and said in a loud voice so that the other staff could hear: “Why didn’t you want to help me? Your customer. The person that ultimately pays your wage. A problem your airline caused. I could have easily told your manager about how you made every effort NOT to solve your customer’s problem but I did not because I know how hard it is to get work here and I wanted you to see how much easier it is to actually help someone rather than not to help them. I hope you understand. Thank you for finally helping me”. With that I left the room. This might be Africa but if Africa aspires to follow the western way of life (and Africa has a choice in this matter because it is no longer colonised) then it must change.

Change starts with a catalyst. If that catalyst is not you or me or other Africans who aspire to do better then change will never come and “this will always be Africa”! It was time for a coffee to relax me. I am glad I did not blow up. I expected to but I guess all these months in Africa have calmed me down or should I say “worn me down”!!! The internet at the Eliana was terrific. I was able to quickly change my accommodation at my hostel in Bahir Dar and even email reception there to ask them to get in touch with one of the Abbots of any one of many local Ethiopian Orthodox Monasteries that I wanted to visit and hopefully stay overnight. I also got an email from Riza to attend to a dinner and show at 7pm with Tim and Sharon at the “Yod Abyssinia Cultural Restaurant”. I was in. I headed back to the hotel around 5pm to get ready. I googled the place since Riza had not left an address. It came up near the Old Airport which was about 20min drive away so I caught a cab there at 6:30pm. Traffic was a killer and I did not get there until 7:15pm.

I was worried that the same thing might happen tomorrow. I would be at the embassy at 2pm and my flight was at 4:30pm. The drive  from embassy to airport is 20-30min in normal traffic! Boy was I cutting it just to get a full day in Bahir Dar on Saturday! The restaurant was much like the theatre-restaurants in MOROCCO but smaller and much more simpler in decoration. A big stage with low stools and tables seating organised along steps so everyone could see. Waiters everywhere in white head to toe garments. “We have no booking for Sonriza or Riza Ford Sir” came the reply. “Are you sure?” I replied and asked to look at his booking sheet. Riza said she made a booking in her email. Could not find her name. Then came the second body blow of the day. “Is the booking for here or for the Bole Airport restaurant, Sir” said the waiter! “What Bole Airport Restaurant?” I replied. “Oh, we have another restaurant near the Bole Airport Sir - this is the old airport restaurant” said the waiter. My heart sank. This was not my day. “What is the name of the restaurant near Bole” I asked. “Same name Sir - Yod Abyssinia”. I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. It was like an episode of Seinfeld.

I realised at that moment that RIza, Sharon and Tim had gone to the other place. I wondered if Riza knew that there were two restaurants. Surely not. If she had known she would have told me and give me the address of the right one to go to. Anyway, I was too tired to get angry. I was here and I intended to enjoy myself even if it was by myself!!! I finally got to order my “non-fasting bayenetu” which is eight dishes of beef and chicken cooked in different ways with different spices. I also order 500g of sizzling beef strips that come in a little clay pot with live coals underneath. It was definitely NOT 500g - I eat 500g rumps in Australia all the time and I would stake my car on it! The band was very ordinary and the singing very lack lustre - almost sad. A male and female singer came on and then the dancing started. The dress was not very traditional. In fact one act wore Lacoste tops and another what looked like track-suit pants! The latter’s dancing was like break-dancing. Was this Ethiopian.

There were some acts with long colourful gowns and head pieces with lots of jumping and pelvis shaking. Overall, it did not look or sound authentic to me - especially after seeing the tribal dancing of the Lower Omo Valley - chalk and cheese! This was very staged and made-for-tourists eating a traditional dinner. In fact there was a large table of Koreans and the dancers only hung out there - the tips were great! After a few beers I decided to call it quits. I was alone and there was not much more I could extract from the place. I also wanted to wake up at 6am to prepare this post of upload at the Eliana. Time would be tight. The taxi ride back was very quick and I relaxed over a glass or two and the tail end of Star Trek before retiring. Tomorrow was the start of another Solo - my 15th - a short one to kick off my discovery of Northern Ethiopia. I wondered how it would compare to the South...

PS: A LITTLE ABOUT ETHIOPIA:

ETHIOPIA (Pop 100m) is the second-most populated country in Africa and known as the “cradle of human origins” according to the creationist theory having unearthed most of the world’s oldest human and pre-human or “hominid’ (human-like) fossils. It is also one of the most culturally rich nations in Africa and the only one that was never colonised - a logical connection. Even though the first humans walked here some 4.5 million years ago, recorded history begins in 1500BC with the “Sabaean” peoples. The Aksum Kingdom is the most famous starting in the north in 400BC. Aksum became very rich and powerful mainly via trade with the north. The next major incursion was Christianity in the 4th Century which led to the formation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church under the Coptic Church of Alexandria until its independence in 1959.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is now an “autocephalous” or self-governing Church like the Orthodox in Russia and Greece. The rest of the world is administered by the Patriarchates of Constantinople (Istanbul), Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem which all form a “synod” to decide matters of the Church - there is no Pope. The autocephalous Churches also have representation in the synod.

Islam came to ETHIOPIA in the 7th Century via the same Arab traders that settled in DJIBOUTI, SUDAN, ERITREA, SOMALIA, KENYA and TANZANIA. There were also several “dynasties” in ETHIOPIA - more like large powerful families than Kings or Emperors with Kingdoms. The first was the “Zagwe” from 1137-1270AD. This was overthrown by the “Solomonic” dynasty, a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and lasted 500yrs.

In the 15th Century, when Orthodox Christian Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, they also slaughtered the Orthodox in ETHIOPIA at which time the Portuguese assisted but decided to encourage the “Oromo” peoples to migrate from KENYA, converting them to Catholicism to assist the Orthodox. Many would later convert.

By the 17th Century the Muslims were weakened enough for a new series of Emperors to emerge starting with Fasiladas in 1636 followed by many others fuelled by feuding tribes and interference from Europe including the arrival of the Italians in 1896 who were defeated by Menelik II. The British had a short stay from 1941 until the end of the war but never colonised the country thanks to Emperor Haile Selassie I, who many consider to be “the father” of the modern nation even though there was no real independence from the British. In 1973 a political party known as “The Derg” rose up to depose Selassie and took control in 1974 backed by Russia. Several resistance groups arose to fight the Derg which were backed by ERITREA. Finally in 1991, the Ethiopian-Eritrean coalition overthrew the Derg and reclaimed ETHIPIA as a democracy and liberated ERITREA. ETHIOPIA was proclaimed a Republic in 1995 with free elections. From 1998-2000 there was a conflict between the once allies ETHIOPIA and ERITREA over a town near the border that involved differences between the two leaders. Tensions continue.

ETHIOPIA also helped SOMALIA against the Islamic militia until 2011. Since 2012 the country has been stable and economic growth actually reached 11% during the years 2005-2012. ETHIOPIA also overcame a devastating famine in the early eighties caused by a combination of drought and internal conflicts. 85% of Ethiopians are Orthodox and live in harmony with the remaining Muslims, Protestants, Catholics and Jews.

ETHIOPIA has its won alphabet and language. Food is also completely different from the rest of Africa. Bread, yam, porridge and even plates and cutlery are all replaced by “Injera” a fermented, rubbery, crumpet-like “bread” which is used to scoop up delicious spicy renditions of cabbage, spinach, chick peas and number of spicy meat sauces. Ethiopians are also unique in that they are into raw meats - both minced and cubed.

The most famous dish is “bayenetu” a medley of vegetarian (fasting version) and meats (non-fasting version) with the famous “berbere” spicy sauce. ETHIOPIA is the inventor of coffee and is also famous for its “tej” or honey wine.

PPS: INTERESTING FACT ON ETHIOPIA:

The Ethiopian Government has instituted a brilliant idea to make sure that all VAT is collected and that black market cash sales are minimised or eliminated. It has passed a law that simply states: “No receipt, no pay”, i.e., you have the legal right NOT to pay a supplier and walk out if you are no first presented with a receipt or invoice. Even a AUD0.50 cup coffee must have a receipt. Brilliant. I see everyone producing receipts even hand-written ones.

PPPS: INTERESTING FACT ON AFRICA: 

Africa is so full of wildlife - a massive variety but which animal is present in every country? The most common animal I observed was the Gecko. They are in every country. Same shape but different sizes and colours.