Borgi - Fototapete

da kam so ein komisches Geräusch von unten...

Team2 in Libyen:

Sat 13th of December - A farewell & Lucy

It got a little late last night and Frank who always got up first for the last 4 weeks is late for breakfast. No matter, there is work to done. Again Alex is there to help. We travel to a welding shop 12km outside Addis. The yard is full of old mercedes trucks with no rust. Soon the loose spring bracket is welded into place .

Erwins final parking spot is in a secure compound about 10km south of our hotel. Erwin has a protection team complete with armed guard and mum and kid! Finally Erwin is wrapped up in a plastic cover . Its a sad sight - cannot wait till March 2009!

We move on to visit Lucy in the national museum.

Friday December 12th - Addis Ababa

We have a pre dawn breakfast as we want to reach Addis in good time. The mountainous terrain slows us down but Erwin clears the top altitude of 3119 meters without complaint. Downhill the breaks are not working all that well but in second gear and pumping on the break pedal Colin safely gets the Borgi down a long and steep decline near Goha Tsiyon.

Several crashed vehicles line this tortureous stretch of the road.

Approaching Addis we make contact with Alex (aka Alemayehu Abraham) who is cousin to Yohannes from Frankfurt and a rendevouz point is being agreed. We are now on the final stretch of the first leg of the 2008 Transafrika having covered more than 12,000 km. At 1500 hrs we reach the outskirts of Addis and we pull into a Shell petrol station to clean the Borgi.

The Borgi now looks as good as new when we meet Alex and agree that first we need to check the potential parking site. Alex leads us through the centre of Addis until we turn off the main road and reach the gate of a walled property. The first impression is very good indeed and when we learn that there will be security guards on site we know this is a good place for Erwin to rest.

Alex then takes us to the Weygoss Guesthouse which also find very agreeable. Quickly we clean ourselves up and hit town with Alex for food and drink.

Thursday December 11th – The winding road to Addis Ababa

A days driving through mountainous terrain lies ahead of us which Erwin and crew hughly enjoy. Ian and Frank do there good deed of the day by refueling a car thats run out of petrol.

The day is crowned by the resting place we find just South East of Debre Markos on top of a mountain overlooking a big valley and a village. Glorious end to the day.

Wednesday December 10th – Bahir Dar

We leave Gondor to head to Bahir Dar. 193 km to go on perfect roads. Our first big problem is we have lttle fuel and no body is selling any petrol as today is the day when fuel prices change. Its Addis Zemen before we get fuel.

There is hardly any traffic but crossing animals and people wandering the roads take the drivers‘ full attention. We pass numerous rusting Russian made Panzer hulls which still litter the landscape from the civil war that saw the end of Mengistu’s socialists Darg regime.

With its wide palm tree lined boulevards Bahir Dar has a mediterranean feeling to it. We stop at the Ghion Hotel which is situated right on the shoreline of lake Tana.

After a quick refeshment we head out to the Blue Nile Falls 35 km out of town. Upon arrival the usual haggeling over the price for a guide begins.

The initial demand is for 300 Birr which we whittle negotiate down to 30 Birr. Before we set off the heaven opens and Erwin’s canvass roof has to be put up. Once the rain and rainbow have cleared we go crossing a 17th century Portugese build stone bridge and being passed by bare footed locals who navigate the slippery rocks expertly. Sadly since the opening of a hydro electric dam 75% of the Blue Nile is being diverted – still the scenery is impressive.

Back at the Ghion Hotel we decide to use the camp ground rather than their bungalows light a camp fire and call it a day.

Tuesday December 9th – Gondor

It’s an early morning start and soon the
gravel road makes way for tarmac. The short stretch from Meteme to Gondor (233 km) has taken about 12 hours to cover during which we get an impression of life in rural Ethiopia. Small children (3 to 6 yrs.) herd the livestock. Children aged 6+go to school. You see them carrying school books all day as here a two shift school system is operated to overcome the lack of school buildings. There is no school bus everybody walks. The role of the men seems to be to work the fields. It was harvest time and crops and grass were cut with an sicle, fields were prepared with a wooden ox drawn plough. Women you see heading to the market in distant town carrying heavy loads.

The roads are rough and the borgi starts to play up. We stop for a while and we make so friends with the local armed gangsters, really they are protecting their cattle. The Borgi ....turns out it was a blocked fuel filter!

Anyhow for our bad road suffering we are rewarded when we spot the Dashen Brewery just outside of Gondor. A guided tour is quickly arranged which is rounded up by more than one round of the delicious Dashen cellar beer, burger and chips.

Finding our accomodation, the Belegez Pension, is easy as lots of people offer their “help“ to take us there. Getting rid of them is much harder. The Belgez Pension is perfect as we can park Erwin in an enclosed court yard (next to a white UN vehicle). Gondor with ist splendit castles and churches is well worth a visit.

Frank gets a haircut.

The evening is rounded up with some local delicatessen at the „Golden Gate“ restaurant – well not for all – Colin does some proper cleansing of his guts which he tells us took him all night. ian.