I must admit that I am feeling a little maxed out on Ethiopia by now.
Whether it is all the driving, the intense scenery, the very filling
national food, or just the constant Faranji (foreigner) fever, I don't know.
Our final leg of our visit here is about to start and it could be the making
or breaking of our experience of this country.
We had just what the doctor ordered at Gorgora, Tim and Kim's project. There
is not much built yet but things take time in Africa. At the moment it is
just a bush camp on the shores of the lake with no facilities and not a soul
around to pester us or demand anything from us, heaven! I also managed to
isolate the windscreen washer relay that I presume is the root of our washer
problem. Now we no longer have the washer facility or intermittent wipe, but
at least the wipers only work when instructed. We will try and get hold of
another relay at some point but if it doesn't get fixed before Johannesburg
then no problem. It was also Paul's birthday so we celebrated late into our
second night by the lake. Sadly the following morning it was time to part
company with Paul and Lizzie as they were Sudan bound and we were heading
south towards Addis. Hopefully at the time of writing this they have
successfully managed to enter Sudan and head towards Egypt. N12 13.691 E37
17.966
Our stopping point on the way back to Addis was Bahir Dar on the southern
shore of Lake Tana and the Ghion Hotel where we camped the night. As for the
town itself, we didn't venture very far but it is a large bustling place and
purely a transit stop for us. N11 35.878 E37 23.155
Our final drive on the northern circuit back to Addis was uneventful and it
was no surprise to us that we were greeted back in Addis with rain. It was
raining when we left two weeks prior and it was wet and gloomy when we
departed for the final time the next morning. After eventually finding Mr
Martin's Cozy Place and being allowed to camp for the night we made our plan
for the next stage of our trip. N9 00.233 E38 46.809
Mufasa was due a service, well mainly an oil change and fuel filter change.
We checked out one option in Addis but they seemed clueless so we decided to
head south to Awassa and see what we could arrange there. The road was good
and there were plenty of overturned trucks and buses along the way, the norm
for Ethiopia. A brief stop in Ziway for lunch, cold pizza and Spriss (a
layered papaya/avocado/mango juice) and Awassa was reached early afternoon.
First stop the Toyota garage to see what they could do for us. Hmmm. Ask
them to do a simple service and they just don't seem to understand. I
eventually managed to get a price out of them despite them just wanting us
to bring the car and then tell us how much after the work had been done! It
all seemed a bit pricey and as I was itching to get my hands dirty I decided
to do the work myself. Thankfully Paul had been very helpful in explaining
some of the routine maintenance jobs to me so I was well armed to tackle the
greasing and other jobs that needed to be done. The fuel filter was a bit of
a pain as whoever had put the last one on had done it far to tight for me to
remove, but thanks to the help of a local mechanic I had it sorted and
replaced in no time. I cleaned the air filter and checked all sorts of
things. The final job of changing the oil was achieved with the help of the
man who is looking after the campsite we are staying at. So hopefully Mufasa
is now fit and healthy for the next onslaught Africa can throw at him. Sue
even gave him a clean, so for the moment at least he looks white and not
muddy brown!
We have had a few relaxing days here at the Adenium Campsite and tomorrow we
head of to the Omo valley and the delights or horrors that it has to offer!
N7 04.564 E38 29.043
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