Get a real job? um.....no!: Huge update from Nairobi

So I am finally in Nairobi where the Internet is fast (i might even be able to upload photos!!), and there are supermarkets and malls and stuff. I even had a hot shower yesterday which was just amazing, it's quite sad though as some of our group are leaving (Tris, Scott, Briar, Tom, Phil, Chris and Kate) as their trips end here but the upside of this is that we are getting a load of new people on the truck as well. Alice and I are going to take Briar to the airport tomorrow as we've all been sharing a tent for the whole time - it's going to be weird not having her around but she'll be happy as she'll no longer get woken up at night by me sleep talking!

Anyway, so back to Ethiopia...From Lalibella we had two bushcamps and two very long days in the truck before we arrived in Harar. Both bushcamps were in disused quarries, the first was pretty cool although half way through the night some locals were wandering around shouting ‘oh my gott….I’m sorry’ for about 15 minutes, it was pretty funny. Alice, as usual, slept through the whole thing (which is good, because that means she never wakes up when I’m sleep taking!). The next day we blew a tire in the middle of nowhere – it was cool as there were loads of tribes people around (we later found out they were from the Afra tribe), they had huge knives and kept spitting at us but they seemed friendly enough although they were scared of our cameras.

We eventually arrived in Harar in the evening, got ice cream and chilled out, next day we took a tour of the old town which was cool as it was all little alleyways and really brightly painted, we were followed by loads of (super cute) local kids/goats (not so cute)/chickens/dogs etc. that night we went to a Harar tradition which is feeding hyenas mouth to mouth, it was very weird, apparently these guys do it every night, it wasn’t very scary even though they are officially wild hyenas, I did crap my pants a little when the hyena snapped at me though, they are pretty big and their teeth are huge – I was also one of the first to go (figured I should get it out the way), most of the group did it though which was cool. The next afternoon a few of us took a tour of Harar brewery which was awesome (and much better than the Dashen brewery) and obviously afterwards we took advantage of the cheap, unpasteurised beers and bought some cool t-shirts in the shop. That night we went back to the hyenas (we wanted better pictures now we’d done it once and knew what the score was) but it wasn’t as cool as the first night as we went later so they were full and lazy.

We drove all day from Harar and stopped beside a river just outside Awash for a bushcamp. Karl managed to get the truck bogged so we (I say we, Alice, Briar, Charly, Jackie, Tris and I sat on a rock and watched) had to dig it out which took quite a while, much to the amusement of some locals who came to have a look. There were crocodiles in the river so we unfortunately couldn’t swim. We went to bed early and got up early for another long day on the road.

We arrived in Addis in the afternoon, we were staying out of the town in what Karl kept joking was a brothel (turned out it actually was) but there was some nicely kept grass and somewhere secure to park the truck, they had beers on tap and they were cheap as well (5 birr, less than 10p). Briar and I took a walk on the first day but there wasn’t much around. The next day we headed to the markets which were pretty cool although the bartering to get there was so frustrating (they basically times the price by 10 for white people), we stayed in town all day, had some beers (it was pissing it down – there wasn’t much else to do) and then went to a very strange deserted bar where they played the demo track from a keyboard over the loudspeaker (until I asked them to turn it off and the guy got very offended). The next day we went back into town to go to the Hilton (there was a super nice spa there and we heard the internet was fast) but on the way three guys tried to pickpocket Tom and there were loads of shady people hanging outside the Hilton so we were a little weary. We used the internet and watched the tv/read newspapers in the Sheraton for a while and then found a shop which sold cheese (seriously it’s the little things you miss!) and watched a movie back at the truck (just avoiding the rain) and then went to watch the football.

We had a nice drive from Addis to Lake Legano, the drives through Ethiopia are always entertaining – lots of random people all over the place, trucks full of people, trucks full of camels, donkeys/sheep/cattle wandering in the road, some very sketchy driving (only occasionally by Karl!), and then locals all over the place staring at the truck shouting ‘yououououououou’, ‘foreinger’, ‘forenge’ etc. which basically means ‘white people’, sometimes they throw rocks as well but generally people are happy to see westerners (although they also usually thought we were bringing food – they still get weekly rations of oil and rice from an American company, USAID).

The place we were supposed to be staying (i.e. where Karl had stayed before) had closed down so we ended up setting up camp on the side of the lake which was very nice, we had a quick (cold) swim, hiked to the posh hotel next door to use the toilets and get some beers (pretty much our only priorities in Ethiopia!) and then watched the football that evening. The next morning we ignored all the advice and had breakfast before taking the tent down, which meant that we got absolutely soaked as right at the end of breakfast the heavens opened. Everyone else seemed to enjoy watching us getting soaked and taking out tent down from the dry of the truck!

Since there wasn’t a lot to do at the lake we decided to head off a night early and drove the short drive to Lake Hawassa. We stopped at Sashamane on the way there which is this random Rasta town where we got offered weed every 5 seconds. I was guarding the truck so spent an hour or so sunbathing (or guarding if Karl reads this!) on the spare wheels. Some guy tried to marry me, saying that he loved me, Tom (who could have easily diffused the situation by saying we were married) just watched and laughed and encouraged him but it passed the time nicely. We arrived at the lake early afternoon to be greeted by loads of monkeys who live in the trees all around the campsite – we couldn’t swim in the lake (hippos and crocs) but there was a swimming pool which was really exciting although there seems to be some sort of swimming lesson going on so we had to steer clear for a while. The next few days were spent sunbathing, swimming, playing scrabble (it is a bit of a truck institution) and doing chores such as laundry and internet. We did go to the ‘circus’ one night which was actually just a kids youth group, they were great gymnasts though (the kids were probably aged 5-15) and they made us join in with some Ethiopian dancing. It was good fun and it was so nice to see children here actually being children and enjoying themselves rather than asking for food/money on the streets.

The next day we drove to Moyale where we camped on a very well manicured lawn and watched the world cup final which was a pretty boring game to say the least and I was annoyed as I wanted Holland to win. It was our last night in Ethiopia so we took advantage of the cheap beers for the last time.

The next day it was time to leave Ethiopia and move onto Kenya – I think everyone was pretty sad to leave as we’d had such a great time in Ethiopia but we’d been there for almost 4 weeks so we were excited to see what the next country had to offer. The border was fairly quick and simple (especially by African standards) and we were soon on our way on one of the worst roads in Africa! Seriously it was bumpy, dusty with potholes and rocks all over the place. We were driving at a pretty steady 30km/hour and we were getting thrown all over the place (especially Troy, Jackie and I as we were at the back), it was quite fun though and there were animals on the sides of the road and cool landscapes to keep us entertained. We bushcamped in the middle of nowhere and played cards watching the stars. Alice and I were the last to bed and we completely freaked ourselves out as just as we had locked the truck and were headed to our tent we could just see these eyes staring back at us – it was a hyena! We jumped back in the truck and hid out there for a while giggling until the coast was clear and we could run to our tent.

We were up early the next day for another day of driving on the shoddy road. After about 4 hours we were blessed with a beautiful tarmac road…for about ten minutes until we had to return to the dust road for the rest of the trip. We arrived in Marsabit after lunch and spent the afternoon chilling out in our nice campsite and nursing our sore knees. The next day we went on our first game drive to Marsabit national park which was a bit of a disaster as we hardly saw any animals, but the scenery was cool and the car ride was pretty much like a rollercoaster. Mid afternoon, our 4x4 got stuck on a hill and they had to spend a good 2 hours digging it out (which was possibly the most dangerous thing I have seen) while Tom, Keith and I played hangman in the sand trying to spot some animals. That night, we went for a few beers at a local bar and then Charley, Galbyn, Briar and I headed to the local disco. It was frecking awesome, and we had such a good time. It was basically just a disco ball in a corrugated iron section of a room, behind what looked like a working mens club. There were loads of locals there doing some crazy dance moves (including some awesome strutting to the dance floor), they were playing cheesy 80s music so we danced the night away and had such a great time.

The rest of our time in Marsabit was spent just reading, doing chores, showering (my first wash for over 5 days) and sunbathing and we headed on the road again to Samburu. We stopped for a bush camp outside this village where some Samburu tribes people live, it was really cool and the Samburu people wear loads of brightly coloured jewelry and red blankets – some of them tried to help us put up the tent but they were more of a hindrance really. The next day we went on an awesome game drive, it was cool because we got to go on the truck (and therefore didn’t have to be on a shoddy 4x4 which would break down all the time), we saw tons of animals including elephants, reticulated giraffes, warthogs, lions, zebras, kudu, impalas, and loads of random antelopes. The best thing of all though was we saw a leopard kill a gazelle from a sleeping position in a tree, it was absolutely awesome – the leopard was just so quick and the poor gazelle had no chance. The landscape there was cool as well and so much like the Africa I had imagined. That evening we participated in some traditional Samburu dancing (basically jumping up and down so the beads on your neck bounce up and down) and had roasted goat which was awesome. We had a tour of the village as well which was pretty interesting and it was cool to see how some real African tribes people live.

From Samburu we headed to Mount Kenya where we stayed in a lovely YHA hostel and just chilled, watched movies and sunbathed the whole time. It was really nice to relax for a bit in the beautiful settings (and watch other people attempt the mountain) and have our first hot showers for god knows how long. The next day we were back in the truck (hungover – Tom, Keith, Phil and I devoured two bottles of vodka the night before) and on our way to Nairobi which is where I am now!