Learning to Fly

Ajajaj, look at the wheels

After almost five hours we prepared for a last try

Filling water

Ethiopian forest after Mizan-Teferi

John, one of the two soldiers who joined from Boma to Juba

Last camping in Ethiopia, 30 km. from the border

A church in South-Sudan, early morning

Roger

Wombosi at dusk

Sunset in Ethiopia

Kapoeta 22.01.2012

This extended week has been so full of adventure that it is hard to begin telling anything. It has been filled with many hours in a car with partly working breaks on nonexistent roads, being the first tourist crossing the border at Raad between Ethiopia and South-Sudan ever (according to the local authorities) and the fist car to cross a 95 kilometer long stretch of “road” since July. It has been a lot of car and driving, but it has also been meeting the South-Sudanese people, that are truly amazing.

Filling Diesel

To start at the start: We left Addis when all the preparations were taken with high hopes. Already after half a day a diesel-tube in the engine broke. We managed to fix the tube alright, but it had spilled diesel on the master-cylinder of the breaks, and ruined the brake servo. We had to do our customs in Jimma, over 400 km. before the border. This went smoothly on Monday.

Tuesday we wanted to get all the way to Sudan, but when the servo broke again between Mizan-Teferi and Dimma, that plan was spoiled. I fixed the problem while Roger hitched to Dimma and came back with transmission/servo-fluid 4 hours later.

The next morning we came to the border at Raad. The road from Mizan to Raad is good gravel all the way now. The Border was OK. The Ethiopians were not very friendly, but let us pass after some inspection (even if the customs were finished). The South-Sudanese were a complete contrast. They were super-friendly, asked us to sit down and really helped us. We couldn’t get an entry stamp at the border, but they radioed the next town, Boma, so they knew we would be coming, and would give us the stamp we needed.

The following 95 km- were a big adventure. The road was not driven for half a year, and the grass was three meters high so it was a blessing that we had a local soldier with us. The vehicle that had moved there last were huge trucks that had left deep tracks our “small” Wombosi couldn’t drive in. It is unnecessary to say that we got stuck plenty of times. Thursday morning we used five hours to cross a small river, and both we and Wombosi were very tired when we finally reached Boma that evening.

In Boma we met a man working for Joint Aid Management (JAM) who offered us to camp on JAMs compound. Friday we got our stamp and used the rest of the day to clean and repair Wombosi who had suffered damage on the track rod (steering) and the track-rod protection was broken. He also had some minor damage on his brakes. That night we met a lady from New-Zeeland working for the UN, who offered us to stay at here place in Juba when we got there, so now we are heading there to try our luck as street-musicians in the world’s youngest capital.

The track from Boma to Kapoeta has taken us one and a half day, heavily bending the track-rod one more time, sleeping in a church compound, driving through a lake with water to the bonnet, eating biscuits to lunch (the rest of our bread being rotten) and, believe it or not, meeting some young Norwegians working for the Peace Corps in the area. This time we took two soldiers who wanted a lift to Juba.

It’s been a very fascinating week. I would not recommend this route to other quite yet, unless they are hardcore and have luck as we had, but in some years the roads will be much better and the route will be a good alternative to the typical Moyale route. Huge thanks for making it goes to Roger who has proved physically strong and maybe more importantly mentally positive when I had my moments when things looked really black. We wouldn’t have made it without the good help we have gotten from our South-Sudanese friends either, who really have helped us out, even if we had no Sudanese pounds to pay them.

South-Sudan is a hot country with bad roads, but a very colorful people with the decorations and bare breasts that have made south-west Ethiopia so famous. It’s hard to imagine that this country has been through the longest lasting civil war in African history, and still continue fighting their neighbors in the north and among themselves. They have an incredibly ability to show love and happiness towards us strangers. I really wish this young country all the best and many years of peace and prosperity.

For your orientation

Juba 23.01.2012

The last stage to Juba went well this morning. The afternoon, we spent earning some money playing music. We got 38 South-Sudanese pounds (ca 10 USD) in two hours, and were very happy with that. We’ll stay here tomorrow, and then head towards Kampala, were we hope to spend some more time. 

The Hero's Return

By guest-writer Roger Drange

Well, I finally got my silky Norwegian body to Addis, to join Hans on his splendid adventure. I must say it has been a marvelous first week, and I am glad that my beloved Hans let me join him, me being such a lousy student and all.

I arrived on Wednesday the 5^th, and was very satisfied when my mentor, Hans, picked me up at the airport after that humpy bumpy flight. The flight was alright, except from that I was not allowed to go to the toilet to spread my water for three harsh hours because of terrible weather and turbulence and all. For those of you who know me, you surely understand that it is not “only only” (as we Norwegians put it) for me to sit several hours without letting out my water.

Me, Hans, and Klaus went on an expedition north to Lalibela from Friday to Monday. We saw a lot of crazy nature and buildings and people and animals and all.

The road we chose was kind of not the one that we wanted to choose, but after seeing the road we didn’t want to choose for some 150 km on gravel we kind of wanted to choose it anyway, so we chose it, and for that I am very glad. We made camp on the first night on 3500 meters above sea level, which was quite cold, but very beautiful. The valleys took the breath out of all of us.

We arrived in Lalibela on Sunday morning. Lalibela is well known for its rock-hewn churches, and I must admit that they were fascinating. The journey to Lalibela was even more fascinating, though. We didn’t stay in Lalibela, but had to head back towards Addis the same afternoon.

Before we left Lalibela, Hans got a phone call from his friend Jeremy (the one that he traveled through Sudan with). Jeremy had some major problems with his motorbike. We decided to be good Samaritans, and offered our help, and ended up with the motorbike (Africa Twin 800) inside Hans` lovely Wombosi, and transported the beautiful bike to Addis. Jeremy himself stayed up north, and will travel around for some more days before he comes to Addis to pick up – and fix – his bike.

We will now wait in Addis for some days, trying to get a visa for South Sudan. We hope that we will get out visas, so that we can visit this rather new country.

That is all for now. Do as we do, take care.

Afterword by Hans

It is indeed a pleasure to have Roger here with me, and our first expedition was very good. The nature in northern Ethiopia is grander than anything I have seen, probably with the exception of the Alps. It was also good to get some days traveling with daddy, having planned to have a lot more time together with him all the way from Khartoum to Addis.

 

Blogspot is blocked here in Ethiopia, so I cannot access my blog. This means that I will try to publish this post by sending an e-mail to my Blog. Having never done this, I don’t know how the post will look. I can’t answer your comments either, but look forward to read them as soon as I am in South-Sudan.

Wombosi has got himself a roof-rag, and if the Visa goes swiftly we’ll leave town next weekend. 

Welcome to the Machine

Addis Ababa 03.01.2012

Happy New Year!

2012 has started, and man, it’s going to be a real exciting year. Today I visited the South-Sudanese embassy and it seems I can go that way. The road (if existent) is not passable at the moment because of rain, but if the rain has stopped (as I think), it might be possible in about two weeks.

The people who expected me to have a lot of time to sit around and read over Christmas (me included) were very wrong. On the 27^th, the whole family climbed into Wombosi, and we set out for the west. I got to admit that I feared a lot of crying and problems with Sophie’s two boys, Markus (2 years and 8 month) and Jacob (8 month), but they were angels, sleeping most of the time, even on 14-hours-in-in-the-car days.

We went to Boji (West of Nekemte) and down to the Blue-Nile-Valley and back. We were back in Addis after dark on New-Years-Eve.

The trip was very nice. It is different to travel with a family of 8 people, including small children, but nice for some days. My parents work in this area, so we could sleep in the company’s guest-houses.  

Ethiopia is a wonderful country, at least to look at. When coming from Sudan, the Ethiopians seem almost evil. This is, partly because they aren’t a very friendly people, and partly because the Sudanese are. The scenery here though, is fantastic, and I’ve only seen it in the dry season, when everything is somehow grey. Baboons and other apes are often seen, and we even stumbled across a hyena crossing the road.

Wombosi was jet again a very good boy, but on the way back he lost some of his exhaust on a bad stretch of road. Having some hundred kilometers to go, Mparany offered his belt, and we tied up the rest of it. Tomorrow the whole thing will be welded back into place.

The days here in Addis are full of program. Wombosi needs some attention, gathering information on the newest state in the world does, and of course I want to spend time with the family too. Next weekend I might be heading north to Lalibela with daddy and Roger.

The title of this post is of course referring to the arrival of Roger. He arrives on Wednesday, and we’ll be driving all the way to Lilongwe in Malawi together.