Sorry so late - places to go - cars to drive - lots of talking and time just seems to run away with you
Saturday 24 September 2011
A free day – to get cars fixed – oil changed and general overhauls. Roger had arranged with a garage for all car to go to the prescribed area – the ladies took it easy – the passports where delivered and a peaceful day was had by all. In the afternoon everything was removed from our vehicle and cleaning started in earnest for the preparation of the Nairobi Concors Tomorrow morning – a quite evening for an early start.
Sunday 25 September 2011
A early start for a quick clean and then off to the Concors – all vehicles went in convoy to the Concors – left the hotel at 07h30 to ensure we hit no traffic – yes its Sunday and still the traffic drones on in Nairobi – on arrival we were all allocated numbers which lead us to a parking point which clearly placed each vehicle in the allotted size of engine, models etc. – sadly the TR4A and the Mustang had not entered as they definitely would have won prices. Whilst the inspections of each vehicle was taking place Chris had the opportunity of fixing the Fuel Pump permanently and a few other odds and sods nothing serious. Each car was called up by number – onto a ramp where the underside was checked and then 4 other check points which covered outside appearance, inside appearance, mechanical and general overall working ie. Indicators, hooter etc – once that completed it was a matter of hurry up and wait whilst all vehicle, 89 in number completed the check points - at about 15h00 we all did a drive by the main stadium and then it was prize giving – due to the fact that we had some really good vehicles in our class we decided to leave to get our vehicle packed up ready for a early start the next morning. Carmen and Stephan from the Namibian teams stayed behind to listen to the prize giving – they arrived back in the hotel at about 8 pm and to our shock at horror we had won a prize - Modesty Blaise (our Volvo) was voted The Best Entry from outside East Africa and a quick USD300 prize. Big smiles and drinks all around we got into bed at about 10 pm.
Monday 26 September 2011
We set off ay 04h30 – to get out of Nairobi following Tor Allen in his Peugeot 404. One would have thought that getting out at this time would have been a walk in the park – not the case – many of the roads are under construction, with on coming traffic you barely could determine where the road was – furthermore there were so many detours that it was a mission – we eventually got out of Nairobi at 06h30 – quite something – off we all headed to Baden Powell Grave sight – Baden Powell was the founder of Boys Scout – whoopee doo doo – but the grave sight is in a beautiful part of Kenya – so that was worth while – then off to have Breakfast at the airfield and a wonderful view of Mount Kenya – just the most beautiful scenery with rolling hills of green wheat and a climb of 4578 metre (approx. 8000 feet) and then bloody hell we went down down down to hot dry desert sort of country side –to the Sumara Sopa Lodge – lovely place hot as hell with a disgusting 21 km dirt road through the Sumbara Game Reserve - the poor MG lost its Clutch yet again – Ian then found a wonderful gentlemen who happened to be staying in the lodge and was a Land Rover Mechanic who was happy to assist him (guess Ian just paid for his holiday in the game reserve) – he had to remove the whole engine with the assistance of Ian and Niel friends of David Hall they worked tirelessly to ensure that the vehicle would be ready in the morning. The MG was ready to go in the morning – its truly a miracle how assistance with these old cars comes from everywhere and the continual interest we are receive from the general public. A lovely evening was had in the lodge a few more drinks than normal as we were told it would be a lovely 238 km drive to Marsabit.
Tuesday 27 September 2011.
A 08h00 departure – what a pleasure – off we went the MG, Peugeot and ourselves – travelling on the most fantastic brand new tarmac – we had been informed that we only had 20km’s of dirt so we all expecting a pleasurable drive– this was definitely not the case and the wonderful tarmac turned into hell it was a mere 100kms into this lovely drive – we hit hell – was this really the road – what road there were times that we left the bumpy, corrugated, boulders to hit the red desert track on the side – this desert track sometimes turned into soft sand – the Mustang getting stuck, A Merc completely snapped a shock – how the vehicles got to Henry’s camp one would will never quite understand. I guess as we thought we would only experience the bad road the next day we all were a little taken aback. On arrival 6 hours later we realized that some vehicle would be coming in very late to arrange food and put up their tents. Sarah and myself communicated with Henry and his wife and the made us the most delicious chicken stew with rice. Really great when you are tired and filthy dirty to eat something warm and go to sleep. Charl – Kobus’s son also assisted with getting us to sleep with warm Johnny Walker Black – nobody complained about the lack of ice – we knew the effects that were required – a few of these and we slept like babies. Dave, Ian & Neil (Pajero) Gordon & Peter (Mustang) found themselves a little lodge in Archers Post
Wednesday 28 September 2011
As this day was one of the most anticipated of the whole trip – we all knew that we had 380 kms’ of hell – we all were concerned about our vehicles actually making this most talked about road. Nerves, anxiety, anticipation and furthermore worry – the camp started to hustle and bustle from 05h00 in the morning – Kobus was already up and had water boiling – thank goodness as I could get a quick cup of coffee for Chris and myself.
This was the day that had to be the mile stone in all of us – we had heard so much from other groups that had traveled the other way i.e. Cairo to Cape – that in a way we were all quite terrified and very concerned about our vehicles actually making this journey. We had already established, due to the road yesterday and the speeds travelled, that we were in for 12 hours of driving on shite roads - and that is almost exactly what it took us – it was slow – it was bumpy, it had roack, holes everything that you can imagine it had – THE ROAD FROM HELL _ again how do you describe this – you need to look at pictures. I need to mention that David and his team, either his lovely wife Jacky or his merry men Ian and Neil where always behind us – which gave us fantastic relief to know that we had a “back up” vehicle. I also state that this was never their function that they purely did this service for us through the kindness and goodness of their hearts. They were supposed to be in a old vehicle and due to many circumstances had to drive their Pajero – we being Chris and myself just can not thank you enough and you certainly gave us peace of mind. We eventually arrived in Moyale absolutely buggered and thank goodness a hotel was found as we had no energy to put up tents. On arrival at the hotel we all managed to get out of our vehicle and literally plonck ourselves on the step opposite the hotel and merely sit – as the hotel was Muslim owned no alcohol was to be served – we took cold beers out of our vehicle and merely in muttered breaths enjoyed our drinks. We were exhausted, filthy dirty and exhilarated for getting to the end. The David and his merry team whom were last seen assisting Tor and his Peuqeot had not arrived – NO David – after about 40 min, Gordon and Chris took off in Modesty to find them – they had broken down and were being towed into Moyale - Modesty attempted to tow them up a hil but failed due to overheating whilst Gordon and Chris arrived back at the hotel to collect the Mustang – David had found the World Vision vehicle whom towed him into the Hotel – this took us until 09h30 pm – all exhausted – due to the alcohol free hotel – I got cold water spilled some out and placed huge tots of whiskey for the men – goodbye one bottle whiskey and the tastiest water one could get in a Hotel. David and his Merry team were so grateful.
Problems with Vehicles – Kobus (Merc) broke a spring, Ian (MG) lost his exhaust again) Gordon (Mustang) lost 2 shocks) To (Peugeot lost two shocks) David Hall our back up vehicle had to be towed into Moyale as he believed he had a fuel pump problem.
We are not sure anyone really took note of the food, room conditions of the hotel – we needed a bath and sleep and this was most grateful in a clean, ok hotel.
Thursday 29 September 2011
The Hotel in Moyale was pleasant – nothing to write home about – had hot water and that’s all I can say about that – we were woken by calling for pray at 04h50 – the mosque’s loud speakers were about 100 metre from our room – when they set off – I literally shot out of bed – as it sounded like someone had been seriously wounded – well that was the end of my sleep – breakfast was interesting – samosas’, mandazi’s and bread with instant coffee – anyway all pleasant enough – sadly we had to say goodbye to David, Ian and Neil. They were going back on this dreadful piece of road – we felt horrible leaving them, as they needed to get their vehicle fixed, we left not knowing whether they could get assistance or even parts. The Kenyan Border was 4 km’s from the hotel – the Kenyans are just lovely people and a pleasure to deal with – pleasant smiles and we were out of Kenya in a whiff and a blow - Then Ethiopia – immigration official are slow although very smiley and pleasant – On attempting to show our vehicle registration papers Chris established that I had left the file in Kenya – so off I shot back into Kenya and was happily assisted by the Kenyan officials – whom located it in the Vehicle department – they also informed me that a laptop case had been left behind by one of our group – thank goodness for their honestly – as it belonged to Gordon and he had to go back to collect. When clearing the ppwk and immigrations (1hr 50 mins) – we had a flat tyre – a quick change and off we went to Awassa – the first 200 km’s of road was beautiful – very few people just some cows and goats so we presumed we were in for a easy ride – stopped for a wee break on the side of the road, stopped for lunch and refill of fuel and then we were hit with a non stop village for 230 kms with goats, cows, people, tuk-tuks, bikes, dogs, children shouting “you you you” smiling and waving for 230 km’ all through the most beautiful mountains and greenery until we arrive at the lodge at 07h48 in the evening – the Hotel is beautiful – I decided that I could just relax which is what I did. Chris had dinner and early to bed.
Friday 30 September 2011
A mere 260 k drive to Addis – beautiful – peaceful and Ethiopia is nothing that you read about – its green, beautiful mountains, huge lakes and just lovely – we were booked into the Dresellgn Hotel – which was perfect – nothing really to say about today – other than lovely
Saturday 1 October 2011
Shopping – and just relaxing
Sunday 2 October 2011
Early rise to get to airport – bus left at 05h30 – strict security measures at the airport and then a 1 hr. 20 min flight to Lalibella a 30 minute bus trip to Lalibella and straight into looking at the 11 churches built in the 12 century by King Lalibella – these churches were quite something else they have been carved into the volcanic rock and - they are concealed and quite magnificent. Amazing nobody really knows whether they were carved by 35000 Egyptian or whether it was a wonder from Angels – we stayed in a lovely hotel – pity nobody knows about landscaping and service but other than that it was just great.
Monday 3 October 2011
A 06h30 departure to the airport and back to Addis – pretty uneventful until be tried to check into the hotel in Addis – somehow the rooms were short – well the scene that was caused was not only embarrassing but bloody rude – a lot of swearing by our organizer to the Tour Operator and the receptionist which then caused some of our group to be called names and their sexuality being questioned by suggestions of keys being placed in places – it was all a horrible scene. Once all allotted rooms had been allocated Chris went off to get the exhaust fixed whilst I did some last minute shopping etc. - we also attempted went to find the silver shop with a taxi with no joy – so landed up going to the standard tourist attraction as Charl (Kobus’s son) was flying back to SA the next morning. We went to a restaurant opposite the hotel and enjoyed bitterly cold beers before heading back to our hotel to have a bite to eat – Chris decided to eat chicken Soup – oops soup was off??? Which made Chris very off???
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Addis to Bashir Darr – 560 kms’ – a early start left the Hotel at 05h30 to miss the traffic of Addis – on the open road by 06h20 – Chris had to help Kobus drive as Charl had left for JNB – Lovely green, rolling hills to huge mountains – we reached 3114 mt (10000 feet) above sea level before we plunged down the steepest hairpin drive to the bottom of the Blue Nile – the scenery is quite magnificent – grandeur – beauty – lush - beautiful– WOW is all I can say - I have no words to describe it - it was then up and down passes to get to Bashir Dar were we stayed in a lovely old lodge in beautiful surroundings, Chris stomach not feeling so well – so we headed to bed early.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Gordon, Peter, Val, Ron Wendy, Chris and myself arranged for a taxi to take up to the Blue Nile Falls – what a lovely outing – a 30 minute walk up to the falls and a lovely cup of coffee made by a little old house wife and her daughter at the top of the mountain – no restaurant, no fancy chairs – sitting on rocks with the locals and looking at the falls – quite magical actually. We arrived back at the lodge for a quick bit to eat and then off to Gonder - another perfect drive of a mere 190km’s. We had been warned that the children of Ethiopia throw stones at your vehicle and up until today nothing like this had happened – some dreadful kid throw a stick at us when we were travelling down one of these beautiful passes – your immediate reaction is to get out a whollip them – but they would have run faster and further more you do not want any troubles with the law. We arrived at the lodge at about 5pm – some of the others had been in Gonder since lunch time as they did not want to see the falls – a beautiful lodge right at the top of the mountain overlooking Gonder. We got our car washed – and unpacked everything so that I could ensure that no alcohol was in our vehicle as we entering Sudan tomorrow morning – and alcohol is a no no no??? 7 days of no drinking – good for us all. David Pineo bought out a lovely bottle of 12-year-old Chivas Regal Whisky which most of us had a few doubles before heading off to bed. It tasted like honey?? Thanks David.
Thursday 06 October 2011
A supposed 600 kms drive ahead of us today – we had a good night sleep and off we all set at 06h30 in the morning – it was a mere 200 km’s to the border. This drive was 100% the prettiest we have had to date – Ethiopia is absolutely stunning – the people and just wonderful, helpful and friendly, - we had mountains to climb and descend; we reached 2480 mt in some places – its just breathtaking. We stopped on the side of the road waiting for the Peugeot 404 as Tor had previously had problems with the spark plugs oiling up after a long descend – we had just put out our cigarettes when Tor in his Peugeot arrived – no problems with his car but with ours we had another puncture which must have happened as we pull off at the side of the road. Help from Tor (Peugeot), Ian (MG) and myself, the tyre changed and we were on our way – we arrived at the border and started to long process of clearing Ethiopia – this took 2 hours - the vehicles were quick to clear but immigration with our passports are quite something else – patience is required – then it was off to enter Sudan – well if you thought you needed patience in Ethiopia try Sudan’s immigration and Customs procedures – we were there for 3 hours – a 5 hr. delay with both the customs procedures – well we were definitely not going to make to intended destination being Wadi Madeni so we headed of to Gedaref to find a hotel/lodge to stay in. This was a 200 kms drive – it was now hot bloody hot 42 degrees – the road was full of pot holes – so we had to go slowly – the cars started to overheat so even slower we had to go – with the assistance of the police/traffic stops and a name of a lodge we headed of to town – to find everyone at the same place – a basic place – the room we were allocated was appalling – stunk of pee and had no toilet seat - the bathrooms had not been cleaned properly for months so try another room – 3000 % improvement and the air conditioner was working. After a battle with the receptionist due to language problems we managed to get a towel – we went off to the local market for dinner – which were either chicken or beef shwarma’s – very good and tasty – and then we played bridge with Peter & Gordon. Gordon is learning to play bridge. We managed to get to bed by 09h30 as an early rise to beat the heat??? Bedding clean, toilet had to be cleaned by me again and a good sleep was supposed to be in store for us.
Friday 07 October 2011
What a night the chosen hotel - being the EL Motwakil was basic to say the least – the air conditioner droned all night – and eventually I could take the noises no longer so had to put it off at about 3 am – then we were over eaten by mozzies’ – anyway staying in this basic hotel was better than trying to put up tents. To try and avoid the intense heat we set off at 05h40 in the morning – a pleasant drive – the sun came up at about 06h40 and then it felt like someone switched the heater on outside – temperature rose to 40 degrees – the car went well but by 10h00 we had to slow the speed down as the temperature started to rise in the car. Thank goodness only a 400 km drive and we checked into the hotel in Khartoum just after 11h00. Unbelievably flat, dry, desert country, and hot – the roads are straight with a lots of unsuspecting pot holes, and sudden high rises on the road – feels like you are on a roller coaster – which made us take off from the road a few times. We were stopped by the Traffic Police to inspect the road toll fee paperwork or to check our passports but nothing bad or horrible to report about the police in fact they seemed rather pleasant and merely doing their jobs – one lot of police could not speak a word of English and their so called hand signals did not help either so we were merely told to GO – they knew that word. As you note we drove into Khartoum on a Friday this is the Muslims (Sunday) so although traffic to the hotel was not bad it was certainly still quite around. We had lunch at the hotel and then took ourselves off for an afternoon sleep. At about 4pm we departed in a hired bus the whole group with two South African Police and a Namibian police in tow to see the Obermult market, the Swirling Dervishes dancers who work themselves into a trance and then dinner at the Lebanese restaurant. A really great evening was had by all – to bed by 09h30 pm.
Problems with vehicles today – The poor Volkswagen from Mexico managed to put diesel into a petrol vehicle – quickly sorted out.
Saturday 08 October 2011
A very lovely relaxing day in Khartoum other than seeing the confluence of the White and Blue Nile – which currently look like the Green and Brown Nile – Chris fixed the puncture and we played bridge with Gordon and Peter – had a afternoon read/sleep. Most of the men in our group want to watch South Africa vs. Australian rugby match tomorrow whilst the rest of us are happy to go on early so that we can get away from the heat and the traffic – Bear in mind that Sunday in Sudan is like a Monday in Malawi so we are expecting the streets to be very busy with people getting to work. Chris is staying behind with David Pineo and I will be taking Deborah.
