90 days Cape to Cairo on 200cc Motomias

Sunrise at Lake Langano

We went to be early last night as I didn’t feel too hot after taking my bilharzia pills with too little water. We discovered we did not have more than about a litre of water and there were no taps. Oops! Luckily we have a great late lunch next door earlier. As a result I woke up before sunrise and got up for some pics of the lake:


We couldn’t have asked for a better spot to pitch our tent:


We used the last bit of water for an early morning coffee, brewed in our open air kitchen at the edge of the lake:


Tania did the dishes:


The lakes are blessed with birdlife and we were treated to the calls of a pair of fish eagles:


This one shows how I just rode until the bike got stuck in the sand before pitching the tent right there:

Getting an early start:


After breaking up camp we headed back to Sabana Lodge for a huge buffet breakfast and headed further North towards Addis Abeba. The road was good, but as we approached the city the traffic became hectic and I ended having a huge headache upon arrival at Wim’s Holland House. Luckily the food here is amazing and we could use their USB modem and SIM to update the last few days’ missed posts (see under the relevant dates). Thanks for hanging in there!

We plan to stay for two days to sort out the internet, service the bikes, do some shopping and the washing if the sun is out.  Over and out.

Sharing our campsite with two fish eagles

Yesterday we took a nice long walk around the city in Awassa. It was good to explore and to get some exercise.

At one stage we had three little girls hanging on our arms and kissing our hands and arms all over which was a bit frustrating as we tried to get out of the awkward situation. In the end some locals helped us to escape. Ethiopia is really an interesting country. It feels like you are a ball of clay being stretched in all directions… sometimes loving it and sometimes seeing things that make you sad or frustrated. The people are poorer here than we have seen in other countries and they live in harsh conditions and so the animals as well. The donkeys and horses really work hard and the people can be quite hard on them. Never before have I seen donkeys move so fast. But it is this stretching in all directions that really make you think about what is going on around you…

This morning we left Atenet Pension at about 10h30 and took the short 90km journey towards Lake Langano, a popular weekend destination for locals. This is also the only lake in Ethiopia in which you can swim as it is crocodile-free. The lake really looks a lot like Hartebeespoort dam in Winter time. We first stopped at the luxury lodge Sabana where we had some pizza for lunch. It is a beautiful lodge with cabins that cost USD 71 for two persons. The restaurant overlooks the lake with large open windows and the place was full of people (mainly tourists and a few locals) that stayed for the weekend.

After that we went to Karkaro campsite to spend the night camping next to the lake (USD 5 p/p). It is a beautiful secluded beach with campsites right next to the water and we have the whole place for ourselves.

We only shared it with a pair of fish eagles that made a nest in one of the trees – awesome! We had a lazy Sunday afternoon here.

We have not had time to refill our food supplies yet after leaving Nairobi so Francois decided to eat some zero-minute noodles for dinner – we were too lazy to cook it and our water supply was a bit limited (thank goodness I was still full from the pizza so I skipped this part!). Francois also took a quick swim and here is some of the photos of the view:

Glumping in Awassa, Ethiopia

When we got up this morning after the best night's sleep yet, we decided to stay another day. We like Awassa, the food is GOOD and it's very reasonably priced and we've got a hot bath and a sit down toilet in the room. There's even a carpet! We walked through town in search of a pizza joint on T4A and ended up at an Italian restaurant and had ravioli. Wow was it good! then we headed to the nearest internet cafe to post the past two days' posts, but couldn't upload any photos... sorry about that. We are now at a better internet shop, but still are not able to upload pics. We will have to get a data SIM card and use 3G, but that will have to wait for Monday and Addis Abeba when the shops are open. Please bear with us!

We calculated that we have around two weeks in Ethiopia, as we are only aloud as much in Sudan. We are not going to Axum anymore, as the bikes have worked hard enough in the dirt, so we will be taking it slow to get to Gonder. For the first time it feels like we're on a vacation. The trip so far has been hard work at times, but SO rewarding.

For the people that followed the trip stats: Sorry, but it was too difficult to keep it up while posting pics and downloading everything, while doing washing and writing up other data manually. We are still contemplating the best medium by which to distribute the story and all the info after we return to SA.

We should reach the 10 000 km mark on the odometer some time tomorrow...

Have a great weekend!

You you you you!

After our crazy night at the Sheriff Hotel I really really hoped for something better last night, especially since I have not showered in two days yuk! We arrived in Yabello and went to the Yabello Motel that looked like good value in the Lonely Planet guide. But, then they quoted us 50USD for a room, which was way more than what the guide indicated.

As we left to see if we can find something else, two other tourists told us that they got a room at the Hawi Motel (the only other hotel in town) and that it was much cheaper so we decided to go there. The only room they had left was a room without bathroom so at R75 we decided that it was ok BUT I neglected to check out the communal bathroom, which turned out to be another dump ? eek!!! We braved the cold showers, but I severely started to limit my water intake when I saw the toilet, which is a good contester for
Africa's stinkiest toilet award! here is our bathroom:

We went back to the Yabello Motel to get some lunch as they had a nice vibey restaurant and we ordered burgers. It was delicious and it turns out that the Ethiopians can certainly cook! It was sooo good that we ignored the fried flies (we got one each) nestled in between our chips!

The evening we tried the Hawi Motel's restaurant too and shared our first plate of Enjera with lamb. Enjera is like a sour pancake and Ethiopians eat it with a variety of meats or vegetables and they eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner - it doesn't really matter when! It is ok when you eat it with meat, but on its own it can be a bit potent :o)

This morning we set off to Awassa with rain falling and the weather was cool. We had a 300km stretch to do today. We started off well, but soon there were so many people, animals and potholes in the road that it took us quite long to cover the distance. We also got our first dose of "you, you, you, you!" today - when the kids see you they shout
this out loud, start running and frantically wave. This sound follows you like a Mexican wave as you travel ahead - there are about 83 million people in Ethiopia - hectic!

After 200 km we stopped at Lem Café for coffee and cake. It was great, but the best is that we paid only R12 for two coffees and two pieces of cake.

Here Francois is enjoying his cup of Ethiopian coffee - if you can remember from a post he made before we left on the trip he really looked forward to the coffee here :o) and he was not disappointed!

We arrived in Awassa at 18h00 and started looking for the Atenet Pension. After asking around we found it easily and I was again really really hoping for someplace nice! And I am very pleased to say the place is amazing! It is sooo clean and we had a hot bath so I feel human again - jippey! and for all this luxury we are only paying R180 for the room.

We then went out to see if we could find some food and ended up having dinner at a
vibey restaurant across the road. We had really good spaghetti (spelt Spageeti on the menu) with vegetable and mince - the people here definitely know how to cook. Again also very cheap and we paid about R30 for a beer, cooldrink, and two plates of yummy spaghetti - amazing!

Good coffee in Ethiopia, but sweet!

Tania called the Sheriff Hotel scruffy. It was a right DUMP! But as she said, it was a roof over or heads and it cost less than R20 per person. Sadam, the young man who showed us the room and
helped carry our stuff was very friendly. Here is the hallway:


And the secure lock on the door:

You have to keep in mind we had a stunningly tough day yesterday and the crowd in front of the hotel was quite aggressive. We didn't feel unsafe, but very uneasy. Luckily the security guard
in front of the hotel (and bank) was very friendly and helped to keep the guys at bay. He also said he'd watch the bikes all night. That helped a lot. Thanks Griffin!

The room had a piece of old rag hanging from the light to attract the (lot of) flies:


From our lovely (shared) balcony we could see Moyale on Ethiopia's side:



The balcony also housed the two toilets and two showers:

And the open-air basin for brushing teeth etc. (standing with your feet in water of course):


If was good to experience a place this horrible, as everything thereafter will seem five star!!

We reached the border at 6h45, but they only officially opened at 8h00. The helpful customs official invited us in so long and very quickly stamped our Carnets. Then the friendly official outside called the immigrations officer who just as quickly stamped out our passports. We were then allowed to wait on the Ethiopian side of the order for immigration to open at 8h00.

A kind guy (cannot remember his name, sorry!) invited us for a welcome coffee which was GREAT (though a bit sweet for my taste):


and told us about Ethiopia and its people. After the procrastinating immigrations officer stamped us in, the two helpful customs guys quickly sorted our Carnets into Ethiopia. We were free to
go and stopped at the first bike shop to get more bolt for adjusting the chains. Tania and I each lost one on the bad road from Marsabit. Luckily I had a spare for Tania's bike, but had to wedge a flat stone into mine to keep the wheel from moving. After filling up in Moyale and sorting the chains we headed for Yabello, the first major town. We were SO grateful for the new tar road.

 It really was this good:


The reminded me of the Kruger National Park in some places:


We saw two bikers coming from the front (one on a XT and the girl on a DR) and briefly had a chat. They had been in Ethiopia for two months and had had enough. They said the people are crazy and
the guy could not stomach the Injured (local staple food). As with so many thing on the trip we decided to try and not form preconceived ideas, as everything has proved to be so different from what we've heard. If you want to know what anything on the Cape to Cairo route is like you have to do it yourself. For instance, according to what we've read and heard we weren't supposed to make the Marsabit to Moyale route, but we did it in one day on cheap Chinese road bikes! We have also not been asked for a bride once and the road that should take us ten hours in Tanzania took us eight days. I cannot wait to see what's in store for us on the last stretch to Egypt. Cheers.

Living up to its reputation: from Marsabit to Moyale

We did it! It was one hell of a ride today, but we made it to Moyale from Marsabit just as the sun was setting. The ride was very challenging and interesting as it took us through a series of ups and downs, frustrations and amazements. This stretch of 260 km gravel presented to us – rocks (many!), sandy patches, desolate desert scenes, even green valleys with trees, camels, donkeys, a jackal, bushbaby, mud and even some rain! The terrain is really harsh and we marvel at the fact that people can survive in this area.

Our first down happened about 20km after we set off from Marsabit – the road was good BUT the rains washed in a large ditch in the side of the road and as Francois approached the road was very slippery with tiny rocks and the wheel slipped out under him. Luckily he was fine, with a few scars to show (as you will see in the last photo in this post :o))

Here is the skidmarks…

As the road gradually got worse and worse after 60km from Marsabit the next down was me! I slipped on some rocks and put down my bike. Here you can see the rocky road.

From here on the next 60km was tough terrain, really rocky and washed out from all the rain with almost no traffic.

Sitting down for a rest

Lots of rocks!

But pole pole we made it to Turbi (about hallway to Marsabit) by 13h00. The worst part was over and we pushed on to Marsabit. But then, just a few kilometres out of town I got a flat tyre :o( We set out to fix it and just as we started next thing we knew an old red Landrover Discovery pulled up and out jumped the three Wadies from England. Mark helped us to get the tyre fixed and inflated it with his compressor which makes the job twice as fast. A piece of glass had pierced the tyre and tube. We were so grateful for their help and even though they still had a long journey ahead to Marsabit they still helped us to get back on the road – thanks soooo much guys – if it was not for them we would not have made it to Moyale in the daylight… What a blessing and they were the only travellers we saw the whole day.

Here they are with Francois and we wish them all the best with their journey to Uganda!

Soon after I got the flat tyre, it started raining a little and we then had to dodge some muddy sections. Again it took us down a few times (mine a few times more than Francois!), but luckily nothing serious! The terrain also changed here and after the rains that fell here in the last week or so it was incredibly green and puddles of water were still lying scattered next to the road. Here we had the opportunity to ride with three running camels in front of us :o) they have a very peculiar style of running which made me laugh out loud. We also saw some jackal, and a bushbaby along the way. We also saw a rainbow, so really we had something of everything today…

Unfortunately the border just closed as we got to Moyale and we had to look for some place to stay on this side (though all the places on the GPS are just 1km on the other side of the border). Now I don’t know if we were just tired, but some of the people here really got to us, getting a bit too close and loud and again asking for my shoes! The only place we could find at this hour was in the main road, the Sherif Hotel – now this place is really scruffy looking and depressing, but we have a roof over our heads and we decided that tonight there will be no showering or brushing teeth and I am trying hard not to look at the flies, but tomorrow is a new day and it will be time to move on and all this will not seem so bad anymore ;o)

Today was definitely the most challenging one on Crossing Africa so far, but also one of the most rewarding and one we will definitely not forget! Here is Francois showing his scars… eish!

The road with the bad reputation is awesome, so far...

Last night at Laisamis it was unbelievably hot and even more so when we got up this morning. We saw the sun rise for the first time on Crossing Africa at 6h10 this morning, which is rather embarrassing! We might have seen it before, but then we weren’t up yet (like at Bagatelle Lodge in Namibia). We wanted to get on the road before it got any hotter and quickly stopped for water at a small shop at the edge of the village. A couple of colourfully dressed women came over selling bead-works and we bought some bracelets in the Kenyan flag colours. Sadly my wrists are too fat to put mine on. They were very friendly and we regret not taking photos, but there were more than ten spectators in less than a one metre radius. After exiting town through a deserted police barrier the people got less and less until we were completely alone in one of the most beautiful piece of Earth we’ve seen so far.

The road is severely corrugated, but where possible vehicles have created new roads next to the main one for two reasons: Either the corrugations got too harsh or someone got stuck one the main route. This is evident from the deep ruts in dried mud in some places. Wherever possible we took these smaller tracks which remind me of the Makgadigadi Pans.

At places they fan out in all directions, but eventually meet up again after a while:

There are not a lot of traffic on this road and at a moving average of 27 km/h we were the fastest (except for one Land Cruiser and one Land Rover racing past at speed), overtaking a few trucks and passing some from the from. There also weren’t a lot of people, but those we saw were dressed in traditional wear and asking for water. The only wildlife was a lone ostrich and a small group of camels:

We got to the Jey Jey Centre in Marsabit before 12h00 where we’ll be staying tonight. We had lunch. Tania had samosa and chips and I had fried meat (which came as stew) and chapatti. Then we read our books (which we bought for the long wait for the ferry at Lake Aswan..) and supper. More samosas and chapatti. Since before we left home all we worried about on this stretch of road was bandits and as we came closer our fears turned to the condition of the road. Being here on the road itself we don’t feel unsafe at all. It was a bit scary seeing some goats-men just outside of town with big (ancient) guns it has to be said, but the waved and we waved back. As for the road, the worst bit is apparently North from here toward Turbi, some 125 km from here. We’ll pack up early again tomorrow and take is slow. Pole pole as they say in Swahili. Riding like this is tiring and it’s necessary to stop every so often to stretch before lamboudia sets in:

The internet connection is pretty weak, so I’ll post this via email again, thus the photos might not come out so good.

Tackling the first part of the journey to Moyale

This morning we woke up to the most beautiful bird songs. We also spotted this big guy in the garden this morning…

We had a chat with the Danish manager here at Gaddisa lodge this morning and it was interesting to learn more about the tribal problems here in the North of Kenya. It seems that the tension is a bit high in Isiolo at the moment as it is the first time that problems have been experienced so close since last week. Due to the drought and issues about grazing lands and food the people have been suffering quite a bit and this is spurring on the tribal conflicts. This morning we heard a lot of children screaming and a bit of chaos as the kids at the school across the road got scared when Samburu men approached them and there were no teachers present. Apparently it was all fine, but still shows that people are stressed and that the situation is not so good at the moment for the locals.She also reassured us that tourists are not being targeted, but still advised us to chat to local police at road blocks to check on the situation as we continue and we will definitely do so. We left at about 10h30 and had 140 km of beautiful tar road to look forward to. The road was quiet, with a few trucks and army vehicles coming mainly from the front (there are a few army training camps in the area). The scenery was absolutely magnificent and must be one of the most beautiful stretches we have done so far.

It was a quick ride to Merille, where the tar road towards Moyale ends. We decided to push on for the next 30km to Laisamis on the gravel to see if we could find a place to stay for the night. The first few kilometres were not too bad, but the road is completely corrugated and it is difficult to get speed up to more than 35km/ph. Luckily the road was dry so far and we could see some muddy areas of the previous days that have dried up already. We arrived here at 14h00 and someone showed us in the direction of the Catholic Mission. Here Phillip gave us a nice clean room to stay so we are very happy to have found a place for the night.Here we are on the steps in front of our room.

Francois also took the opportunity to quickly check the bikes again before we set off towards Marsabit tomorrow (about 96km away from here).

So we are taking it slowly (pole pole!) towards Moyale on the gravel to make sure we have enough time to also soak in the beauty and remoteness of this area.

Africa is a small world

Just after going to bed late last night we heard more vehicles come in and we also heard Afrikaans voices and something about Paarl (where we come from). Yep, it was the Voetspore guys again. We rushed out to greet them before they left before the restaurants close again. This morning we had a chance to chat with all of them. It was great as their first trip on TV about a decade ago was an inspiration and we also used their Cape to Cairo trip’s book as a reference when we planned the very section of road we have to take over the following couple of days. Johan Badenhorst (the Voetspore team leader) said they will be in Cairo a few days after us and offered to help with the shipping of the bikes (as they have three containers booked) if all works out. Wow, that would be amazing and it would be cool to catch up on their stories again. After chatting while packing our stuff in the shade of Gideon’s bakkie they took some pics and filmed us riding off. All the best with your trip and thanks for the shades Andre!


Here they are filming some interviews with their team mates:



We also so said goodbye to our Dutch and German friends on their bikes. They are heading South and gave us some useful info and tips for the road North.


After refuelling and filling our fuel bags we took almost an hour to get clear of the greater Nairobi area. The traffic became less as we passed Mt Kenya and the last stretch was the most beautiful savannah and grasslands we’ve seen so far. We also crossed the equator for the third time on the trip:


We are camping at Gaddisa Lodge 3 km out of Isiolo and are alone here. We had to pitch the tent in the parking area as there are some nasty thorns on the grass, but the owner opened a room for us to have a hot shower. There is also a huge swimming pool, so I’ll be taking a dip before getting on the bike tomorrow.


For the guys (and gals) out there who like wheels, here is a few pics of the vehicles parked at Jungle Junction:

The entrance is lined with weird customised vehicles:


This one apparently had four kids on board, but when they got restless they flew to Disney Land for a break:

This one is from South Africa:

and had this on the back:

Old timer:


And another one:

Iveco bus:

Lots of wheels:


There were normal ones as well:


But my favourite remains: (the one on the left)

 

All cleaned up and ready for our next stretch North

We are all cleaned up now and ready to take on the last third of our journey Northwards to Ethiopia. Today involved some last bit of washing, cleaning up of the bikes and stocking up with some supplies for the next few days. We also put in a quick last visit to get some pizza :o) With all our visas sorted for the last three countries we are ready to go!

We will be heading to Isiolo tomorrow after which comes a bit of challenging gravel road to Moyale before we reach the Ethiopia border. This will take a few days and we hope to have some Internet access in between to keep you posted.

We enjoyed our stay in Nairobi and have met some interesting fellow travellers here. Here is our tent pitched between interesting stranded vehicles waiting out here in the yard for the day when their owners come back to complete their journeys.

I have also made friends with the resident dog here.

Good night!

PS: For those who have asked, just to clarify, normally we take turns to post everyother  day, so tomorrow you will hear from Francois and then the day after my turn again. It got a bit mixed up when I wasn't feeling so great in Rwanda but for most of the time we do it like this - hope this helps :o)

Thanks again for everyone's support, it is really great to hear from you all!