Addis Ababa

Stopping for the night was the right decision and it is a very pretty location but I think we both regretted it as crowds of drunken revellers enjoying loud music with thumping bass kept us awake most of the night.  I guess its a popular Saturday night spot although they charge a lot for camping and charge extra if you want to cook your own food!

On to Addis the following morning and we arrived at lunchtime.  The road in had one side completely dug out (for pipes by the look) so traffic in both directions were sharing the single lane.  We ended up driving through the roadworks lane and missing our turn completely.  We eventually made it down to Meksem Square and after a quick walk around the block and consultation with the Lonely Planet map on the computer drove up through and behind all the buses at the bus station, in front of Le Gare and found Wims Holland House and set up camp.

Duncan wandered off to see the remains of Lucy, the oldest human remains found to date, while I took a nap to catch up with my beauty sleep.  We sat up in the evening exchanging travel information with Erik from Germany who is on a two year trip with his family through Africa and South America after teaching for three years at a German school in Egypt.

Wim mentioned to us last night that we could be turned away at the Sudanese border, despite our shiny new Sudan visas if we didnt have Egyptian visas for our exit on the other side.

Lake Langano, Bekele Resort

I awoke to the sound of a herd of cows herded in to munch hay from a freight container in the childrens playground next door.  This hotel is quite the chaotic multi purpose building site!

Fields of teff

We set off with Abrahim, the customs agent who was off to Addis to attend five days of training.  The road was reasonably good tar, but we needed to keep our wits about us because of crossing livestock.  We encountered our first police roadblock not far out of Moyale and I was a bit nervous as the guys in the green Land Rover we'd met in Livingstone had been stopped and the contents of their vehicle examined at some length.

Well it turned out Abrahim was great friends with the staff at the roadblock and after some greetings and joking we were waved through.  The road was quite narrow and at one point a truck knocked the left wing mirror off.  It nosed out to see if it could pass the truck it was following, and nosed back quickly when it saw us, but unfortunately its trailer couldnt follow quick enough and thwack!

Moyale, Ethiopia

After driving through misty Marsabit town we descended to the lonely desert road between Marsabit and Moyale.  The volcanic black rock is barren but strangely beautiful.  About half way the surroundings change to scrubby bush, then green bush.

Along the way we saw more camels; half a dozen enormous eagles take flight after drinking from the puddle in a pothole in the road in front of us; many miniature antelopes which (after consultation with the wildlife guide) I think are Kirks Dik Dik and a dangerously fishtailing articulated truck barrelling towards us along the road in deep sand, for which we got off the road completely which is just as well because it was trailing scaffold two meters long into our side of the road.

The other sight which characterised the journey was the dozens of shredded tyres discarded on the side of the road.

Henry's Rest Camp, Marsabit

After the extreme cloud shrouding Mount Kenya last night we were surprised the day dawned clear and sunny.  We climbed up to a lookout at the campsite and enjoyed crystal clear views of the Mountain.  I was surprised how much it looked like the volcanos in the central plateau of New Zealand up to the rocky peak, which was covered in snow.

It took longer to get to Isiolo than we imagined, due mainly to enormous potholes and protracted roadworks.  Twice we saw an army tank in fashionable camouflage greens coming towards us with three soldiers perched aboard and a big red letter L on the learner driver plates attached.  The soldiers were holding sticks rather than guns which reminded me of a 100 strong platoon of soldiers we saw running in formation in Arusha, clutching gun shaped planks of wood.

The stretch of what passes for road between Isiolo and Marsabit is notorious for its banditry and armed holdups.

Timau River Lodge, near Isiolo

Argh.  Traffic and travellers cheques blurred from getting wet conspired to prevent us from picking up our passports from the Sudanese Embassy in the one hour collection window, so another night in Nairobi it was.  When the traffic gets heavy Nairobi relies on its traffic police rather than the systems already in place which as far as I could tell just made things worse.  On the major four way roundabouts they stopped traffic in all directions except one, like traffic lights, so you literally wait ten or more minutes before your go.   It created a gridlock.  I thought the whole point of a roundabout was to let traffic merge and flow.  Not in Nairobi.

We finally left at about lunchtime today (picked up the passports at the application, not collection time, dont tell the guard) passed the equator again (for the last time in a while hopefully) and stayed at a friendly wee campsite at the foot of Mount Kenya, about forty minutes before Isiolo.  Black clouds were covering the mountain top (like all the other mountains on this trip) and we were lucky to miss a deluge of rain - we just encountered the wet roads and remnants of traffic accidents...

Nairobi

We've spent the past week in Nairobi at Jungle Junction which is pretty comfortable and full of lots of info and people with info about overlanding.  Chris who runs it also has a workshop for you to carry out repairs on your vehicle.  We now have a newly serviced Landy complete with a dozen new bushes and shiney new drive shaft (which had to be sent up from Mombassa).  We also have an Ethiopian visa each and with any luck we can pick up our Sudanese visas this afternoon and finally head north again.

We've enjoyed some good restaurant food, Haandi Indian is famous and we tracked down some sushi to fulfil a craving.  We've also visited the Giraffe Centre where Duncan hand fed some giraffes, and Karen Blixens house where we enjoyed a satisfying lunch.  I also managed to pick up a cheap (but still expensive for what it is) camera so should be able to start taking photos again.  But mostly Nairobi is another big chaotic city.

Its still raining every day.

The Rift Valley (Kenya)

We dropped down 1000m into the Rift Valley and stayed at Lake Baringo, a soda lake which is teeming with birdlife. It is the colour of weak tea, due to the flouride in the water from rain runoff from the land. In the morning we took a boat trip along the shore and to one of the islands, a dormant volcano, which reminded me a lot of Rangitoto in its shape and soil/rocks.  It is much hotter here than the altitudes we've been for the past month or so.

The next day we drove through Lake Bogoria National Reserve on the way towards Nairobi.  Lake Bogoria is a salt lake famous for its flamingo population and thermal activity.  There were literally thousands of lesser flamingos in pale pink wading and feeding along the shores of lake, alongside steaming pools, shooting geysers and scavenging Marabou Stork.

We stopped by Lake Naivasha for lunch the following day where we expected to see more flamingo, but instead were met with the sight of hundreds of pelicans...?  This area looks very english, with its farmland and flower hothouses.  They use the lake for irrigation and you can see its current level is several meters shallower (and several hundred meters from its former shoreline).

Then it was a big climb up again to Nairobi.

Naiberi River Camp, Eldoret, Kenya

We were stopped for speeding on the way to the border.  We came around a corner going downhill and immediately slowed down in response to the 50km sign visible.  I insisted we werent speeding and asked to see the radar, the cop handed Duncan a list of fines and asked what we could pay on the spot.  Um, nothing we just spent the rest of our Ugandan money on water, plus we werent speeding.  Just write us the fine and I'll dispute it - in the end she let us go thanking us for our apology once she realised we werent going to give her a 'little something'.  What apology!  We werent speeding and we didnt apologise.  Grrr.

The Kenya border didnt require us to fill out any forms and only charged us $25.00 each for the visa which was mysteriously priced $25.00-$50.00 on the sign on the window.  We got the carnet stamped and registered with the police then walked by a small herd of cows lying in the shade of the border building like a pack of dogs (which is what we initially thought they were) back to the Landy and out the other side to Kenya.  The road is impressive - in a bad way.

White Water Rafting the Nile

A shuttle returned us to the backpackers in Jinja where we met our fellow rafters (a British Army medic in Uganda with a unit doing jungle training, a London City banker who had spent the past two months teaching physical education at a township school in Cape Town and a young Swedish doctor who had been working for a hospital in the very poor north east of Uganda), were served breakfast, kitted up with lifejacket and helmet and briefed for the days activities.

The boats were put in just below the dam at Jinja and as we floated downstream we practiced paddling, falling out, getting back in and dealing with an overturned boat before our first set of rapids. We spent about five hours on the river, went over a dozen rapids, I fell out once alone and three times when the boat overturned, had a lot of fun and was starving when we were returned to a barbeque dinner back at the campsite. Loads of fun and we both have several bruises to show for it. I recommend the operator, Nile River Explorers - very professional and good value.

Jinja

Heading out of Kampala, which seems to sprawl forever, I had just remarked to Duncan on the high number of traffic cops there seemed to be on the road when he saw fit to overtake an extremely slow truck on a road overbridge marked with no passing signs and double yellow lines. To be fair, it was clear and he was following the actions of the vehicle in front. Of course we were signalled to pull over by the traffic cop not 100 meters ahead. He explained that Duncan had broken the law and the fine was 135, 000 shillings that we would have to go back with him to Kampala to pay. Duncan pointed out that he was following the vehicle in front and an enormous truck followed him and the cop said he only saw Duncan. Duncan asked if there was any way we could just pay a spot fine as we were headed to Jinja and would not be returning to Kampala... The upshot was that Duncan handed him 20,000 shillings ( a little over USD $10.00) and the cop let him go saying 'you are a generous man'!

We stopped at Jinja Backpackers to book white water rafting with Nile River Explorers, then set off for their campsite at Bujagali Falls, which is more a series of rapids than a waterfall.

Kampala

After a slow Sunday where we wandered around the city aimlessly and stopped off for coffee, we went to the Ethiopian Embassy in Kampala today to be told tourist visas are no longer issued for land border entry. Apparantly this policy came into effect about three weeks ago... so we'll have to try our luck in Nairobi.

We then stopped by the local Land Rover dealer for the Landy to get some rattling sorted out. USD $350.00 and six hours later we're back at the same place we stayed last night, as there is too much traffic to make it the 70km to Jinja before dark. I'm starting to think this trip is all about getting work done on the Landy in as many countries as possible.

Kampala is a dusty chaotic little city, the streets crammed with battered minibuses randomly pulling out, pulling over, passing illegally and stopping with impunity. There are dozens of enormous Maribou Storks flying over the city and perching in the few trees on the side of the road.

Some of the AIDS awareness billboards are interesting - they're focused on encouraging abstinence and fidelity rather than the safe sex message you see elsewhere.

Kampala, Uganda

The border crossing to Uganda was straightforward - buy visas for USD $50.00 each from the immigration office and pay a Ush38,500 road tax after changing money with the remarkably laid back moneychangers.

The road is terrible, bumpy mired and rutted red mud on the Uganda side. We stopped in the border town to get money and oddly, crossed an airfield on our way out of the town. A little later we passed a UNHCR refugee camp - looked like it was winding down but I'm unclear on who the refugees are. It seems a long time since Rwandan refugees sought safety in Uganda but I wasnt sure if they'd be refugees from DRC as they'd have had to come through the close jungle over the volcanos.

The road improved to graded red mud and we turned off at the tip of Lake Bunyonyi and followed a narrow road/track down its east side. Before long it was pelting with rain and the track turned to bright orange sludge...

We had a peaceful night at the lakeside before setting off for Lake Mburo National Park. En route we discussed whether or not we wanted to pay the considerable national park fee for camping in a dry acacia plain known for its zebra population.

We've seen many many zebras and decided to continue another 300km to Kampala. We passed the Equator, which is marked by two big white painted circles on either side of the road signed 'Uganda Equator' and a dozen craft shops targetting the tourist dollar. We finally reached Kampala safely not long before dark despite the repeated efforts of oncoming trucks to collide with us head on.

Kinigi, Parc National des Volcans

Duncan was up early to find gorillas. I went for a walk from the lodge to the park visitors centre, which had some displays on the gorillas. The sun was out but the cloud was low, so I couldnt see any of the volcano peaks. Then it started raining so I returned to our room to alternately work through my swahili-for-beginners book and watch CNN news on TV. Ho hum.

Duncan returned about 5pm with scores of photos and some video of the gorillas. He went to see the Susa group, which is the largest group tourists are taken to see, and the furthest to walk. It seems there are fourteen groups of gorillas, under 24 hour surveillance, but only seven of them are human habituated for viewing.

Congrats to Duncan - he left the UK for Australia exactly one year ago today.

Gisenye

We woke to sunshine - yay! - and proceeded north along the ridge above the lake. High up a narrow, winding dirt road with extremely picturesque views of the lake, the surrounding hills and lush green crops. The first sunny day after lots of rain the streams of water flowing down the slopes had created ruts down and across the road. We passed several teams of local villagers carefully tending the road - filling in the holes and raking the mud even. This was an incredible drive, climbing and diving along the ridge, passing through banana and tea plantations and the many villages with children clamouring for water bottles or to practice their english.

We detoured to Gisenye, which is a bit of a resort town on the tip of the lake, for a late lunch and found ourselves at the DRC border. Whoops! There were some Unicef vehicles flying purple flags heading across and later we passed UNHCR vehicles with the same flags. I wonder what they signify.

Then we headed up to the Park National des Volcans, where Duncan will go gorilla trekking tomorrow.

Lake Kivu

Duncan finally got his gorilla permit on Tuesday morning, for Thursday (I drew the line at USD$500.00 for an hour of observing gorillas, although I'm told I'll regret it) and we set off for a night at Lake Kivu.

So far in Rwanda the roads have been very good condition tar which is good in all this rain, and mercifully free of judder bars, but narrow and winding. Duncan said it reminded him of New Zealand. You drive on the right which is nice for us as the left hand driver can actually see what they are doing for a change which gives the passenger a break from backset driving. It is very very green. The many hills in Rwanda are terraced and intensively cultivated with crops to feed the 8 million strong population.

It seems there is no longer anywhere to camp in Kibuye. We stayed at a lovely little lodge with views over the lake. This evening, through the mist, we caught sight of the beautiful glowing red peak of the Nyarigongo volcano in DR Congo towering over the north end of the lake.

Kigali, Rwanda

A marathon drive. We got off to an early start, but pootled around the town for a while trying to find somewhere that might have shock absorbers for the Landy. Duncan stopped to ask a bloke who had his head in the bonnet of his Land Rover and we were quickly directed to a spares shop. A few minutes later we were on our way with a box containing two new, bright yellow, shock absorbers. It is recommended to buy your parts when you find them, as they can be tricky to find. Eleven hours later we arrived in Kigali. The border crossing at Rusoso was very straightforward as neither of us required visas. Rwanda is the country of a thousand hills, green and misty and Kigali is on the top of one of those hills with views over the city stretching into the hills in the distance. The city is busy with traffic, but seems quite orderly compared to Dar es Salam. There are loads of shiny late model SUVs on the road all emblazoned with NGO and aid organisation logos. It seems a lot of (guilt) money has been invested in Rwanda since the genocide and now prices for food and accommodation are treble that of anywhere we saw in Tanzania.

We spent Sunday just mooching around, we had intended to visit the Genocide Memorial Museum and the tourist info office to get a gorilla permit but by the time we'd changed some money near the mosque, wandered around unsuccessfully looking for an ATM that worked with foreign cards, dropped in at DHL to find out the package had arrived in Kigali and would be ready for pickup in the morning and stopped for a very leisurely late lunch at the cafe attached to the supermarket it was too late. Monday was very productive - we got the carnet from DHL, sorted out a new tyre for the Landy and had the new shock absorbers fitted. The Rwandans we encountered were extremely helpful especially when Duncan was able to converse with them in French - as we walked up the road we stopped a Land Rover driver with the tyres we needed to ask him where to buy one from and as explaining where to go was complicated, he had us hop in and drove us there! We were recommended a mechanic by two ladies in a spare parts shop who were reading the bible aloud to eachother - they said he'd be sure to be honest!

We spent most of the early afternoon in a dusty car yard while the mountings the shock absorbers attach to were welded back together - it seems the shock absorber was mostly fine until it fell off its mount - and the new shocks fitted. A funny sort of mechanics set up - four people to do the work and about a dozen to observe! We then visited the Genocide Memorial which told the story of the Rwandan atrocities in 1994 and also had exhibits on other genocide in modern times. It was quite fascinating, although emotional, for me at least.

Then we returned to the tyre place and spent the late afternoon waiting to get the new tyre fitted although we happened upon an Ecobank ATM there on the international network (by the diesel tanks at the Engen, just past the gorilla roundabout) which was handy as we needed money to pay for the new tyre.