Germany-Croatia

Well back on line after being in SA for a short wonderful trip. Thank you to all which made my trip so memorable. Merry, Viks, Erika for our weekend in Dullstroom. Heather Nick, Robyn, Tom, Maureen, Charmaine, Hugh, Adam and Elsabie and Little Rian for all the visits and friendship. Posting a super picture of Robs in front of the Gautrain which she was lucky enough to have one of the first rides on. Merry's Vegetable Garden, Some lovely photos of us girls in Dullstroom, Lovely flowers and Little Rian Barnard.

We leave 25th April for the continuation of our travels. This trip will take us back through Bavaria, (to see it green instead of white) then into Austria and then to Croatia. The first three weeks of our trip will be with our friends, Erika and Wolfgang Maier.

Christmas and New Year.

We can only say here, it was beautiful, we had both a white Christmas and white New Year. It was family time for us and really special.

Germans celebrate for all three days. 24^th is really just immediate family, starts with going to church and coming back to open presents first, (otherwise Jim would not have eaten) and then a wonderful meal.

25^th was then with Marina, (Nicole’s sister, she was out in SA with her daughter 4 years ago) Wonderful lunch with all the trimmings. 26^th Was with Franks family, wonderful soups and cold buffet and then on to other family for a drink and snacks. We really tried to have a rest from eating before doing the New Year thing.

This year Nicole chose going out to a pub, a lot of the people on the Carnival committee. Although there was music, nobody danced, really missed Karula’s evening. But really otherwise lovely, midnight, celebrated twice, at 11pm here for SA, phoned home had a cry and then did the whole thing again at midnight German time. As we all went outside there amongst all the fireworks (and plenty of it) it started to snow again and there we had our White New Year. During the evening a type of auction was held. You buy in the form of a playing card. A full pack of cards are then shuffled and the first so many are pulled without any prizes, then about a third of the tickets (matching playing cards) are put together with prizes. During the time of the cards being pulled you can buy someone else’s card for a price which is auctioned, sometimes it has a prize attached and sometimes you buy it and it comes up later before the prize ones, (obviously you then have paid for a loosing card) quite loud with lots of laughs. Wolf won a Gazebo (a second prize) the first was a suitcase, he promptly told Jim to see if the guy with the suitcase would like to swop, quite humorous to see Jim go over without any qualms, and two minutes later we owned an aluminium suitcase.

It snowed New Year’s Day and the day after.

This did not stop us moving, all ready with itchy feet to see more. We left on 7^th January, ready for a super month away. Started off in Bamberg, a little town about 90 km from Nuremburg. It boasts a beautifully preserved collection of 17^th and 18^th century buildings, palaces and churches. It is bisected by a large canal and a fast flowing river that are spanned by little bridges and it has its own local style of beer. A beer called Rauchbier, which means smoked beer. It has a bacon flavour when you first taste it. It is a very smooth brew and I rather enjoyed it but Wolf was not impressed. The town has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

The impressive number of buildings, a fair number of different styles are spread on either side of the Regnitz River but the “Altes Rathaus” (the city hall) is solidly perched on its own island. Its lavish murals are among many around the town. A lovely church, a Romanesque and Gothic Cathedral housing the statue of the chivalric King-knight, the Bamberg Reiter and a beautiful statue of the Lachelnde Engel (Smiling Angel)

A former Benedictine monastery, St Michaels, with a wonderful painted ceiling. Attached at the side of the cathedral there was a museum of Nativity Scenes, only open from November to Mid January. It was really fantastic. From the old fashioned scenes to the ultra modern, all from different countries of Europe. Did a little bit of shopping and had lunch with the local beer and local food in a lovely small pub on the street.

Spent the next day with a round trip of about 100km circular route, visiting Lichtenfelser, home to definitely the most moving and feeling church I have ever visited. It is called Basilica Vierzehnheiligen, (translation Fourteen Saints) and it was built on a spot where there had been a vision of angels. The actual church is built around a central altar which is the actual place where the vision took place. We went onto Kulmbach, home to the Kulmbacher beer, also home to the most famous experts of Pewter Figures. Obviously they have the largest collection of these little works of art in the entire world. Their home is in the walls of the Plassenburg Museum. It now has over 300,000 figures. We visited a Animal Park, although I don’t like zoo’s this was quite different, most of the animals in the open. They have wolves in this park and I was very keen to see the difference between this one and the Ethiopian Wolf. It was quite good and the White Owl’s a very different and beautiful Owl.

We also visited and rekindled a friendship of 10 years ago with Bianca, who at the time was married to the German Engineer responsible for the Maputo project, both Bianca and her ex husband also visited us at Ingwelala. She now lives in Nurnberg with her new partner and we had a lovely day with them and were invited back to stay with them on our way back from Bavaria.

On arrival at their house, we were given a beer to start off with, “Gutmann Bier” Genuine, really is a brewery called Gutmann Bier. Imagine the laughs!!!

We then left for a month in the Bavaria Forest.

This was possibly the most memorable time in Germany so far. We had a super camp site in Viechtach, in Eastern Bavaria near the Czech Border and in a lovely part of the country for skiing.

We spent three weeks, two of them me trying to learn to ski, Wolf getting back into it quiet easily, going up mountains on ski lifts and “rodeln” (coming down the mountain on a toboggan). We actually had so much fun, it was like being children again. There is also a quite famous “Glass Route” an area which specialises in Glass Blowing, a really super area. One of the things never forgotten was in Sweisel, a pyramid of Wine glasses, weight 9.3tons; number of glasses 90,000; and size of area about 4m x 4m. Reminds me of the old times, any one who remembers this was my most memorable time when (after a few glasses) loved building glasses up. I don’t think I got past 20, let alone thousands.

We managed a short trip into Prague, in Czech. Very old city, but difficult to see in such a short time.

Too soon February arrived with us ready to return for Carnival Celebrations.

Nicole is the president of the local Carnival Club here, so again we were invited to quite a few celebrations working up to the actual weekend. The “South Africans” even got a mention on the stage. One evening we watched 4 hours of different gigs, dancing etc. The actual weekend prior to Ash Wednesday, is the real celebration weekend, starts on Thursday with the night out for women. “Altweiberball” (Comes from the old times, direct translation, Old Woman’s Ball)We went to one of the local pubs, into the evening obviously the men turn up and it is supposed to be an evening when any man can ask a strange women to dance, etc etc etc. Leave all the rest to your imagination. It was a fun evening anyway to see it all happening around you. The Saturday was a “Dress up” ball. Another night of fun. Hiring or buying suits for carnival here quite cheap and really funny. Sunday was the Carnival Pageant in this area. We watched from the streets with Jim as Nicole and Frank were on one of the “Floats” throwing sweets, and small presents at all the kids, trying to collect them all. Cologne’s (Koln) carnival in the street is one of the best in Germany and was held on the Monday. We took a train to Cologne very early and had breakfast in a pub, (music and noise already at 8am in the morning). Everybody is dressed in costumes. We then managed to get onto a stand (called Tribune here) which the whole carnival pageant, pass by.

There were about 300 floats and more than 1000 groups taking part. Some on foot, horses and carriages. For your entrance cost of Euro30 you get a glass and free beer or coke for as long as you are on the stand. Not bad considering a beer here is at least 2-3 Euro and the carnival procession lasts for a minimum of 5 hours. So you can do quite well if you drink beer. That’s the good, the bad (especially for men) going to the toilet every time you need it. Well only our pictures can tell the tale, it was wonderful and really hard to put into words. So all my friends will have to put up with home movies of Carnival. We left Cologne mid afternoon and when we reached the town we had left our car to take the train, there they were just finishing off their street carnival show, so we followed it into the town and went to a humdinger pub, where Wolf bumped into friends of his 30years back and then the party got louder and more and we had to take a taxi back home.

Well we will have a break on the blog for a while, Frank (our son-in-law) will be going into hospital for his replacement shoulder and muscles and we will be doing the Grandparents thing of looking after Jim and house.

This does not stop us doing things on weekends etc and have managed to have time with our friends in Germany and also doing some sightseeing around this area.

We visited Xanten, located on a site of the Roman city of Colonia Ulpia Traiana, Germany’s biggest archaeological open-air museum. Colonia Ulpia Traiana was on of the most important cities in the Germanic provinces of Rome. During its height, more than ten thousand people lived here. The daily lives of men, women and children can be reconstructed from the traces they left in the ground. The house of wealthier Romans were decorated with high quality mural painting, and filled with expensive furniture and precious dinnerware. The harbour temple, the amphitheatre, the towers and baths are exact replicas of the ancient structures. Reconstructed in their original size at their original locations using the same materials as the original buildings, these replicas convey a realistic impression of the former Roman city. You can also see the map of how the city connects in the old times with Rome itself.

Another trip we had was in Konigswinter on the Rhine River. We were able to walk along the Rhine River and also in the super old town dating back centuries. Walking in the little lanes among the old buildings was tremendous. Both areas and more around here must be lovely in the summer, unfortunately we have a full program for the summer and will have to miss this.

We will be leaving directly after I arrive back from SA in April, 2010 for our trip to Croatia

Germany

GERMANY

The first month’s German weather was very kind to us. So much so that out went the thoughts of the Web Site. Maybe being in one place for sometime and also being in “society” again makes one think that you are not on our travels as much as before.

Saying that, we have had some really good times, but the best has been to be with one’s family and especially being able to be “Grandparents” to a young one again. Hey Rob’s now you know you have “grown up”

Our first travel in Germany was a super train trip to Hamburg, why when we live in Africa is a train, travel something which we don’t even contemplate. (unless of coarse we could afford the Blue or White Train)

Hamburg is Germany’s leading port and its dynamic, multiculturalism and hedonistic red-light district, the “Reeperbahn”, all arise from its maritime history.It’s supposedly Germany’s wealthiest city.

We found it wonderful, with its old town quite medieval. The arcades of shops and café’s run alongside the canals and also on the River Elba. The beautiful red-brick neo-gothic warehouses lining the Elbe architecture south of the Alstadt once stored goods from around the world. Now the so called “Speicherstadt” merges into the “Hafen City” (harbour) an area where the old docks are being transformed into a 155 hectare extension of the city which when complete will house a new U-BahnStation, a university and about 5500 apartments.

We had a wonderful city tour of all the old buildings including two beautiful churches, St Michaels Kirche and St Nikolai Kirche, which was damaged during the war and restored and now is an antiwar memorial with some chilling photos of the then bombed out city, and we also had super views of the city by using the water-boats on the River.

The container harbour is huge, and this is where we collected our car & trailer. It was lovely to unload it, and it all became very real that we had actually reached Germany. Well trailer and car had survived its container trip with only two slightly flat tyres.Hamburg is quite famous for its music, and we were very lucky to see two shows while in the city, The Lion King and Holiday on Ice.

Of coarse a visit to the city could not have gone by without a walk down the main street, of the Reeperbahn. It apparently beats the Red Light District in Holland. (That’s what Wolf says!!!!)

On Sundays, there is a “Fischmarkt” Starts at 6am until 10am. The Market has been running since 1703 and started because all “Shops” are closed on a Sunday and fishing which still took place on a Saturday evening had all this fish which would be off if waiting for a Monday Market, hence a Sunday early morning market was established until 10am which would then enable the people to still go to church on Sunday.

Well it was really fun (not that I thought that at 5.30am on a freezing cold Sunday morning) It is like an auction, and only our video and pictures could give you an idea of what fun it was. Here was the “Markt Schreier” (seller) screaming and joking, so as to sell his fish above the next one. The fish, eel and any other fish that is caught in the North Sea is on sale. i.e. I have two eels, two salmon, one matjies, 5 salt herring, all for !!! 10.- Euros. Descriptions of what was for sale would equal any real good auction in SA. Then there are fruit stalls in baskets for “Euro Lots” you could drink “Gluwein” at 7am in the morning. It is quite usual for the locals to come straight from the Pubs on Saturday night to the Sunday Morning market. We saw and HEARD them.

We had fun, bought fish, drank Gluwein, and ate “Sausage” and “Fish Rolls before heading back on the road and driving home (the temporary one) with our Car and Trailer.

On the road back to Huckelhoven, we stopped over at Hamlin, “The Pied Piper” I am sure us oldies all read the book, as the story goes, when the city was infested with rats, the Pied Piper offered to get rid of them for a sum of money, after he had piped them to the river and they all drown, the city refused to pay him, so he piped all the way through the city calling the children behind him, down to the river they went. So as the story goes, there should be no rats and no children. However visiting the town is quite different, everywhere you look along the cobbled streets are fake rats and pictures of happy children. But it was super and there is a lot of 16^th-18^th Century houses restored half timbered houses. One of which has been restored into a “Pancake Restaurant” in which we had a super lunch. The Rattenfanger Glockenspiel (a carousel of Pied Piper figures and number of bells) which play at certain times during the day. It really was like a fairytale.

The next 10 days, we had our “poor car” repaired, The sad thing is neither Mitsubishi SA or Mitsubishi here could or would help us. But it’s all done now and seems to be in good shape, it has taken quite well to the roads towing our “new home” a 6 mt caravan.

We had a super weekend with Uwe and Rosie, friends who have been in SA with us and visited a very religious town of Kevelar with two lovely churches and many shops with religious artefacts. Many good evenings with our family, loving the time with our grandchildren.

We took off on the 23rd November, going North West through the Harz Mountains. This is a mini-Alpine region in the Saxony region. The medieval castles overlook the fairy-tale historic towns.

We visited Goslar, a stunning 1000 year old city with beautifully preserved half-timbered buildings. There is a reconstructed Romanesque 11^th Century palace. Also a restored “Domvorhalle” which houses an 11^th century “Kaiserstuhl” throne used by German Emperors.
We visited Quedlingburg which is a world heritage town and best known for its spectacular castle district perched on a 25m high plateau above its historic half-timbered buildings. Originally established during the reign of Heinrich1, between 919 and 936. The Renaissance “schloss” (castle) dates from the 16^th century. The whole area’s mascot is a “Witch” so if you are into memento’s (Dawn) a witch of some sort must be on the list to take home.
We spent three days in the area visiting Blankenberg, Elbingerode and Wernigerode. The whole area must be even more beautiful in the snow. We visited the first of many, “Christkindel Markt” (Christmas Markets) in Goslar. These markets, for those who have never been to one, lots and lots of Christmas Decorations of all types, Beautiful Lights, Beautiful Cribs, lots of German Sausage Stalls and litres of Gluwein & Eier Punch drunk by all.
We made our way further south west, to Querfurt where Wolf’s cousin had invited us to his 70^th Birthday. What a bash, will post some photos on the web, when you see the “kloppers” little bottles of Schnaps, called kloppers because you klop on the table, open the bottle and drink. Note we were only 19 people, 17 drinkers and beside all the normal wine, beer, “klap my vrou” 245 Kloppers were consumed. Thank heaven we were transported to the venue by bus. (People take drinking and driving very seriously in Germany, you loose your licence here very quickly with this type of driving) Had lovely music, dancing and really a super party. Showed the rest of the restaurant patrons how the old people enjoy themselves. Thanks Manno and Ursula.
Left for Dresden on the 30^th November. This is a city on the Elbe River, famous before the war as “Florence on the Elbe” due to Italian artists, musician’s actors and master craftsman who flocked to the court of Augustus the Strong, bestowing countless masterpieces upon the city. But shortly before the end of WWII it was bombed and incinerated much of the baroque centre, a beautiful jewel like area dating from the 18^th century. More than 35000 people died and pictures of this ruined city are unbelievable. It is famous for the restorations which were first started after 1950 and more so after the reunification. We visited this city in 2000 and at the time the “Frauenkirche” (Church of our Lady)was being reconstructed piece by piece. All stones which could be identified were marked and numbered and original plans were used to restore this beautiful church to what it was when built between 1726 and 1743 under the direction of baroque architect George Bahr. Originally when it was bombed the communists decided to leave the rubble as a war memorial and because of this it was able to be restored by the rubble still being there years later. After seeing it half complete in 2000, we were determined to see it finished. We arrived at the church to be very lucky to be at a time when a service was about to start and for one hour, we were treated to the magnificent organ being played. The sound cannot be explained. It was just so heart moving. Again another Chriskindel Markt, this one being one of the best in Germany. Again pictures on the web might give you an idea of how beautiful they are.
Dresden has other beautiful buildings, but we had seen them before so we just enjoyed the city and the Christmas feelings.
Left to go north and stopped over at an area called “Spreewald”. This is an area of lots of little rivers and channels running between beautiful, green farmlands. The area gives you a feeling of Venice, with lots of boats running up and down the rivers. While I would love to revisit the “Hartz” area in the Snow, this is a place you need to visit in the summer. With lots of little café’s and restaurants on the rivers edges, it must be absolutely beautiful. Also home to the biggest grown Cucumbers. We of coarse had to sample, all types of cucumbers, done in the most unusual ways. Brought home lots of Semp Gurkin, and types of Pickled Cucumbers. We camped on a super dam (excuse the pun, “dam cold”) But beautiful all the same.
We will go back in summer with the family.
Left then for the big city of Berlin. Spent 5 days visiting the city, and the surrounding city of Potsdam. Here the buildings, history of pre and post Berlin Wall really, really interesting. Did a city bus tour. (easier out of the cold) and lots of street walking. The main street, Kurfurstendamm, was lit ten up like a fairyland. The amount of Christmas Lights in the street and the decorated shop windows was phenomenal. The most memorable visits were to Checkpoint Charlie, the Museum-Story of Berlin, the Holocaust Memorial.
Potsdam is the home of ornate palaces and manicured gardens dotted around huge riverside park gardens. It was the royal seat of Potsdam and was definite the highlight for me. Fredrich Wilhelm of Brandenberg laid the ground for the town’s success when he made it his second residence in the 17^th Century. But Friedrich II commissioned most of the palaces in the mid-18^th century. In August 1945 the WWII allies chose the Schloss Ceciliehof for the Potsdam, Conference which set the stage for the division of Berlin and Germany into occupation zones. The most famous castle Schloss Sanssouci was built in 1747. Unfortunately it is closed on a Monday, and this is the day we chose (unknown) to visit the castle. Maybe another reason to revisit.
We return now to our “Second Home” in Germany to have Christmas and New Year with our family.
Had a wonderful “Christmas Weekend” with Uwe and Rosie again. A spread of Seafood especially shopped for in France (267km) done on the Saturday of our Christmas Dinner and was unbelievable. See the sights on the web. Once again thank you Uwe and Rosie, we hope to host you to the same unbelievable standard back in SA when we get home.
With our weekend (before Christmas) we were treated to our first snow. (How quickly I turned into a child) It was absolutely wonderful to wake up to a white, white outside. The snow stayed with us until Christmas.
Our Christmas and New-year to follow.

Ethiopia to Djibouti to Europe

ETHIOPIA TO DJIBOUTI TO EUROPE

We had a pleasant trip from Ethiopia to Djibouti with one stop over at Awash. We also spent a further evening about 120km before Djibouti City so that we could arrive in the “CITY” early in the day.

Djibouti, the whole city is about 10square km. It is so small that on our way in we saw a Massida Logistics truck on the road, just followed it and sure enough it brought us to the offices of Massida, where we met Odette, our contact who Warren Erfmann put us in contact with to do the shipping of our car & trailer. Odette had warned us of at least a 7day wait for our vehicle to leave, she really did her best and the help we received while there was outstanding. We were loaded and out of Djibouti in 5 days. Djibouti as a city is really small with almost no parking especially at hotels; all parking in the streets and that is really difficult, except during the hours of 12.30 to 4pm when the whole city closes. Not that you can blame them, temperatures are anything between 35-40deg all day. The humidity is almost unbearable and thank heaven that all offices, shops, hotel rooms are air-conditioned. But price wise it is unbelievable, especially coming from Ethiopia. Cheapest hotel room $40 US dollar. Beer $6 and food does not really get much cheaper. Anyway it was an interesting city and nice to visit a new sea, Gulf of Aden. Never saw any pirates or anything so exciting.

SOME STATS AT THIS STAGE.

TOTAL KM FROM SA TO DJIOBOUTI- 25056 - 13 COUNTRIES - 176 DAYS. PUT UP CAMP 46 TIMES AND SPENT 42 NIGHTS IN HOTELS (mainly Eithopia where not much camping is available)

I was very tempted and tried very hard to try and persuade Wolf to have our passage across the sea in a dhow to Yemen, but Wolf thought I was completely crazy and the only concession was to fly to Yemen on route to Frankfurt. This actually proved to be really reasonable and we were able to fly to Sana (the capital), have a night and full day in a hotel, with all meals included for $490 US. We spent our day in Sana with a super tour of both the new and old cities and also the surrounding area. The old city is absolutely amazing and a few of the buildings and churches reminded me so much of Lalibela in Ethiopia. The whole city is absolutely amazing, with most of the newer parts all being built with the same architecture of the old city. It is an absolutely amazing city for those of us who like buildings, churches etc. They have built a new mosque in the city, unbelievably huge and absolutely beautiful. Our guide could not tell us exactly how long it took to build but about 4 years, with hundreds of builders on site daily.

I really would like to revisit this country seeing more, The Arabian Horses, driving through the Haraz to the Kamaran Islands. The road from Sana through the windy mountains highway in the Haraz to the Red Sea coast is supposedly an amazing experience. Yemen’s diving is supposed to be really fantastic with the coastline of 2000km bordered by stunning coral reefs teeming with marine life. Anyway this was not to be for now, but anything is possible on our way back to SA.

We had a non eventful flight to Frankfurt arriving to a mere 5deg. From our 40deg in Djibouti to this was a real shock to the system.

Surprising the family was really super, and what a welcome we got.

Not much news will follow now as we will spend some time with family and friends and wait for our vehicle to arrive in Hamburg, this will be about 5^th or 6^th November

We have spent a bit of time, looking for “A Winter Home”, and have bought a Caravan, complete with gas heater. We also wait to hear when Frank, (our son-in-law) will need his next operation on his shoulder, we will stay “home” for this to look after Jim and after this will take off on our exploration of Europe. Not much time before Christmas, but do hope to see Berlin and some of the old East Germany cities

ETHIOPIA

ETHIOPIA

Well a short continuation of Kenya, Wolf managed to buy a spring in a “dorp” as big as Plaston, bring it back to “Henry’s Camp” where we were staying. A Swiss man married to an Ethiopian Lady, has been in Ethiopia for 30 years. He has a workshop, bakery (real with proper ovens) a camp site and one “rondavel” with 8 beds in, the inside is fitted out with colourful material, roof, walls, you feel like you are in a Bedouin Tent.

In his workshop they shortened the spring to fit our trailer, this is now the spare and the original broken one which was welded is still on the trailer and going strong. Well the next day we did the final 250km, slowly carefully and 5 hours later crossed into Ethiopia.

Welcome to Ethiopian Standards. Our first eye-opener, “Hotel” These are dingy rooms, and if you are lucky with what they term as a “Shower Room” This is a small room attached to the room which has a small basin, toilet and a shower. The shower is literally a pipe out of the wall and a drain in the floor and as Northern Kenya and Ethiopia are in a drought situation, you can forget using the shower, you get a bucket of water, which is for both to flush the toilet and to wash in.

The only difference between Northern Kenya and Ethiopia is the cost of the hotel. A single room (as it has only one double bed) costs maximum Birr 80, about R64.00 for the night. Our travel guide, (Bradt Book) actually mentions that Ethiopians do not do maintenance so if you are lucky to get a fairly newly built hotel, take it as the rooms will be relatively clean and decent. As the hotel gets older so do the rooms, no painting, no upkeep and really not much cleaning. Thank heaven for Heather and Baby Wipes, she brought us two big packets and these are used to clean the toilet seats, and wash where you wouldn’t use their water. We have managed to buy mineral water and this you use for everything except washing you feet.

The hotel I have described is in the “Moderate” bracket. In any of the smaller towns, you only get moderate and budget. Also Electricity is usually on only from 6pm until about 11pm and sometimes during the day for an hour. (and we worry about “Load Shedding”)

25^th August to 1^st September.

After spending the first night in the border town of Moyale, we headed west towards the South Omo Valley.

The Omo Valley is home to about two dozen different tribes with all their own culture, dress etc. Descending from green highlands into the low-lying plains, South Omo is as close as one can come to an Africa untouched by outside Influences. This is what our guide book said in 2006 but this is already changing so fast, due tourists and commercialization. (Note my later remarks)

We spent a night over in Karat Konso, home to the Konso people. There is very little camping and none in this village, another “moderate hotel” and local food which consists of “injera” which is a large, pancake-shaped substance made from a nutty tasting grain that is unique to Ethiopia. The dough (tef) is fermented for three days before it is cooked, the result is a foam-rubber texture and a slightly sour taste. (Looks like a very big grey pancake) This comes on a tray (plate) about 40cm and on top is meat, fish or vegetables. This also depends on the day of the week, whether you get meat or vegetables. I had the vegetable one, which you get small amounts of spinach, a sweetcorn of sorts, lentils, some sort of dark bean, a little bit of tomato and onion. It is served with a small bowl of either tomato sauce or a chilli of sorts. “The Chilli sorts the bland taste all out” (for me that is) Ethiopians think they are the only ones who can eat hot sauce.

The meat is usually goat or lamb. You are supposed to eat it with your hands, wrapping the injera around some veg or meat, making a small wrap of sorts and “eat” The closest you get to “Western Food” is spaghetti served with a separate bowl of a Tomato type sauce. Hence of course after two days in Ethiopia, Wolf has had enough Spaghetti.

The Konso People.

The village close to Karet Konso is enclosed by a 2m high stone wall. Within this wall, there are lower stick and stone walls enclosing each individual family compound. In the village outside Konso there are leafy Morninga trees which they use the leaves to make a stew with and then add dumplings made from sorghum flour. The families make up a sub community and they build a large “mora” or community house. This is used as a meeting place for the men and boys over 12 years to sleep in. (No women allowed) This custom meant that the men were easily mobilized during the night, to fight off enemies and it also helped with family planning, as even married men spent a large time in the community house, rather than with their wives!! Konso people also follow the “Kata” generation set where every 18 years a new generation is initiated. The older generation step down and make beer for the party, while the younger generation (8-25years old) elect a “generation pole” in the village square and take over the leadership of the village. You can calculate the age of a village by counting the number of generation poles and multiplying by 18. Victory poles are also erected in this square. Tall ones for a victory and short ones for a defeat. They also carve wooden grave markers called waga erected for heroes in the community. These have for a large extent been damaged or stolen by 'foreign collectors' so now they can only be viewed in the regional tourist office.

The roads don’t get better, they are busy making new roads, but no where do you get to drive on them, you just go from one side over a piece of new road to the other side and a km later back to the other side. The roads are very stony and as you will read later, a killer on both car and trailer. One of the strange things you see is that most of the villagers store their food in the trees under thatch. This is to keep it safe from animals and children. The crops grown here are sorghum, (used to make beer), maize, beans and coffee. They make the most of the hard, rocky slopes that characterise their relatively dry and infertile homeland through a combination of extensive rock terracing, using the dung from the animals as a fertiliser.

After picking up a Guide, Gabino, we went further west to a town called Turmi.

Here to our delight found a hotel that has a camping ground and quite clean toilets and showers. Only water and electricity for very short times. Again a bucket of water supplied for the toilet. Our Solar shower worked like a bomb and with this hung up in the shower we both managed to have a really hot shower, and hair washing a pleasure.

From here we visited three other tribes. At this point I must mention the worst of Ethiopia, even worse than the accommodation. The children on the Street, The worst in Africa. They stand in the roads and scream, faranji, faranji, (means foreigner) give me money. They really try your patience, jumping up and down not moving until you are almost on top of them, We have met people who even driving at the slowest of speeds hit one. When I tell you they don’t stop and you do not travel far between villages without coming across dozens of kids.

Visiting the village is another nightmare. You pay per person and for the car (even if you leave it outside the village) and then for every photo. The people come in droves all want to be photographed as you pay per photo per person. (Eg if you take a picture of mother child and baby on back that is 3 people) Everybody shouts, me photo, me photo. The cost are really minimal for photos usually one or two Birr. 12-13 Birr is one US dollar which is about R8.00 so if you take ten pictures this could cost about SA 80 cents a picture. The problem is having enough change to pay each one, the best is to try and negotiate with the head of the village on one price, but even with the guide, it becomes a nightmare to decide on how many pictures as well explaining to the people that the money is with the Village Head. Without our guide, a visit to these villages would be impossible. Of course the other problem we had is Wolf refused to pay for the car. He would leave it about quite a way out of the village and then fight about not paying for the car. Actually it is not fun. You don’t really get to talk to the people or even see how the village is constructed, as everyone is yelling, me photo, me photo. In one village the one young girl was determined I should give her my tee-shirt, because in this particular village the women have nothing on top I don’t think she could get the gist that I really could not take off my shirt and go topless as easy as she did.

Without the guide, it would be even worse but not even then could we spend time in the village. We actually needed him not only for translation but to explain the ways and living of the tribes.

Unfortunately the tourists, the commercialisation in the bigger villages, are eventually going to be the end of their cultures so for us I can only say again, like the gorillas in the near future this will all be gone and impossible to see.

Hammer Tribe.

The women are particularly striking, with thick plaits of ochre-coloured hair hanging down in a heavy fringe, leather skirts decorated with cowries, (not sure where they come from, nowhere near a sea) a dozen or more copper bracelets tightly fixed on their arms, thick welts on their body created by cutting themselves and treating the wound with ash and charcoal. Colourful beaded bands hang from their waists. Married women wear one or more thick copper necklaces, often with a circular wedge about 10cm long projecting out of the front. The actual copper necklace stays on even when they sleep. The men, also given to body scarring, are more plain, except they do paint themselves with white chalk paste before a dance or ceremony. The clay hair buns fashioned on some men’s heads indicate that they have killed a person or a dangerous animal within the last year.

The most important event in Hammer society is the Bull jumping Ceremony, the culmination of a three-day long initiation rite. The afternoon of the third day, (the one we attended), they line up to 30 bulls and the stark naked young male or males, sporting a unkempt Afro hairstyle has to jump up onto the first bull and then jumping from one bull to another he reaches the end of the row, he then must turn around and repeat the performance in the opposite direction, again a third and forth time. If he does not fall he has proved his manhood. This then starts a spree of violence from the men beating the young unmarried women with whips. The women actually almost beg the men to hit them. This means they are strong and will make strong and good wives. They actually leave these women with open bleeding backs. For me it was quite bizarre. (Each to his own!!!!!!!!!)

KARRO TRIBE (painted) at Murele. This tribe is best known for their body painting which they mainly do before important ceremonies. They dab their torsos with white chalk paint, supposedly an imitation of the plumage of a guinea fowl. Colourful facemasks prepared with a combination of pastes made by mixing water with chalk, charcoal, powdered yellow rock and iron ore. The men also have their hair plastered into a tight bun, after killing a human enemy or a dangerous animal. The women’s hair is rather striking, tightly cropped at the side and tied into knots and dyed ochre on top. It makes them look like they have rushed out of the bathroom without removing their shower cap.

After spending 4 days, 3 nights visiting the villages, I was happy to cut short the last one. All I wanted to do was go to one of the lakes up North and crash for two days. Well this was not to be. On our way back to Konso, we had two punctures, one on the car and one on the trailer. Needless to say a journey of 200km took 6 hours. While getting the punctures repaired, Wolf noticed the gap between the car and canopy had widened. We booked into a “moderate hotel” and although Wolf checked with both Johan by telephone in White River and checked under the car, we could not see the problem. Obviously the mud was so thick the damage did not surface until we had done about 120 km. The frame on the car cracked and the distance to the next town (60km) was done at a speed of about 10km an hour. The complete journey of 200km is done again from one side of the road to the other. The roads here are graded for the entire piece with no tar being put on until the complete section is ready. Therefore at no time do you get to drive on the decent graded piece just the side roads which have been partly graded while they make the new road.

I really believe only prayer and Wolf’s slow, slow driving got us to “Soda”.

We got to “Soda” and there managed to get the frame welded to get us to Addis Ababa. We decided to skip our original planed route so as to rather use the only good road from the South joining the main road at Shashemene, this now being the main road from the border to Addis. We actually only had two days to then ensure we had a plan for Tom and Caroline who are joining us in Ethiopia for 10 days. Due to the damage on the car, we decided to hire a car and driver, (which is quite reasonable here) This was a worry off our minds, with only 10days with them we could ill afford to be stuck somewhere without a back up vehicle.They both arrived on Monday 7^th September, Caroline in the morning and Tom in the evening. During the day we visited the Entoto Hills. This was the site of Menelik’s capital before Addis Ababa was founded in 1887. Here we visited three Churches, 1^st, Maryam Church, an octagonal building with a traditionally painted interior, where Menelik was crowned in 1882. Unfortunately you can only visit the interior if you are there about the time the service ends which ends in the morning about 9am. But to get our first taste of “Ethiopian Orthodox Churches” many people visit the churches during the day, praying outside of the doors. The churches are mainly round or like this one octagonal with many doors, one for men, one for women, one for the clergy, and one for visitors. There are quite a few paintings or pictures on the outside of the windows and doors where you find many people praying all day. The second, Kidus Raguel with an interior full of beautiful paintings and pictures of saints, and others depicting many different holy people from the bible. They have a centre section which only the priests are allowed to enter, each church having a copy of the Arc of the Covenant. The floors all have the woven woollen type carpets on. (All shoes left outside) The third was a disused Rock Hewn church which was carved out with a similarity to the churches in Lalibela. (We go their later in our trip)

We spent a night in Addis on Monday and left early the next morning with our tour guide to go south, our first stop going to be Bale Mountains. It was a very long road, the first being the good road going south towards the Kenya border again. At Sashameine we turned off east and for the next 30km not too bad. Then the “normal” Ethiopian roads began. Bale lies in the green highlands southeast of the rift valley. We travelled through some really lovely hills, all very green in fact at some times you would have thought you were on a beautiful trimmed golf course. The mountains in the background were really magnificent, one of which was the second highest in Ethiopia, Mount Tullo Deemtu at 4377mt. The dominant trees in the forest between Ababa and Dodola are the African Juniper and the Hagenia Abyssinia. This is very similar to the area in Dinsho which is the gateway to the Bale National Park.

We arrived at our night stop at 7pm, Robe, in the pouring rain, to find the town in the dark, the only hotel worth staying at, pitch dark with a few candles. Well, slush and mud the order of the night, we got into our rooms, then found our way to the dining room, just ordered our “St George Beers” and wow on came the lights. We actually gave the staff a round of applause. After quite a good dinner and a good nights sleep, we left the next morning for a trip into the Sanetti Plateau at the top of the National Park. Within minutes of ascending the start of the hills, we were treated to our first sight of the endemic Ethiopian Wolf. The local people refer to it as the Red Fox. We also were fortunate to see some endemic or unusual birds, Ruddy Shelduck; Rouget Rail; Abyssinian Flycatcher, a White Collared Pigeon and a Thick Billed Raven.

We identified another 9 other types. We went on to have another 3 sightings of the Wolf. The mountains were absolutely freezing. We managed to find a super picnic spot in between the mountains for a light lunch. We went back to Robe via Gobe and did a walkabout in the town which has a mud street and plenty of donkey carts.

The next morning we went into the bottom of the mountains to the entrance of the park. The only way you see any part of the park is on foot or donkey. As we were very limited to time we organized an hour walk and were rewarded with seeing good sightings of the Mountain Nyala, Bohor Reedbuck, common Jackal, Menelik Bushbuck, and Warthogs (they have much longer hair on their backs) and again lots of birdlife.This brought us to the 10^th September, Ethiopian New Year is on the 11^th September, and so we had arranged to be in Wonder Genet where we thought we would experience a bit of their New Year festivities. Wonder Genet is home to some warm springs, (they have two hot pools, it even resembles our warm water pools at home, e.g. Badplaas) We expected a late night, but to our amazement there was none of that and we were in bed by 9.30pm with little noise later. “New Years Day” we had an early warm swim, and then after breakfast a good 2 hour walk up the Mountain behind the hotel. Good sightings of the White and Black Colubus Monkey, Unusual or Endemic Birds, White Cheeked Turaco, yellow fronted Parrot, Black winged Lovebird, Grey headed Woodpecker, Olive Mountain Thrush, Banded Barbet and Ethiopian Oriel and another 10 other species. Although we had seen the Silver Cheek Hornbill before it was a first for Tom and Caroline and we had really nice sights of it. It resembles a toucan with a huge double white bill.

After our walk we travelled a little more south to the town of Awasha. This is on a caldera lake with no outlet. The Lake spans about 9000 hectares. This lake is the smallest in the Rift Valley. We had rooms in a super position right on the lake edge. We spent a super afternoon sitting on the lake with beers in hand, took a sunset cruise out to “Fish Market”, a spot where the fish market is held in the day and late afternoon you have a different Market, it is visited only by hundreds of Marabou Storks and other water birds. Magnificent sight at the sun goes down. Again we had some really great birds, the unusual he Van Decker Hornbill, the Hemprichs Hornbill, the Northern Red Hornbill, the Eurasian Hoopoe and a Striped Kingfisher plus another 20 or more normal species.

Next day we headed north, first stopping at Shashemene where there is a Rastafarian commune, informally known as ‘Jamaica’ formed during Haile Selassie’s reign by a group of Jamaican devotees. We visited the Black Lion Museum which celebrates the community’s Rastafarian roots and where you can also purchase local art work. We all chose some pictures which are made from dried Banana leaves. Then we headed further north up to Lakes Shale, Lake Abiata and Lake Langano. Taking in an 887 square km National Park. Unfortunately this park is still shared with the local community and therefore there is no park to speak of. However on the Lake Abiata, the declining water level has increased the number of algae-eating birds, with flocks of Flamingos and Pelicans. We also saw a wide range of water birds, the unusual being the Mongolian plover and Pacific Golden Plover and the red necked Phalarope. We then headed over to Lake Shale from where you can do a couple of walks, unfortunately this was spoilt by a load of loud and rather pushy locals trying to annoy you, wanting the usual, “money” (And these were not the usual small children) Lake Shala has an incredible depth of 266m and has been calculated to hold a greater volume of water than any other Ethiopian lake, including Lake Tana which covers an area almost ten times larger. We stayed on the third lake, Lake Langano with a surface area of 305sq km and only a depth of up to 45m. This lake is developed mainly for tourism and as we arrived on a weekend, it was a very busy, tourist attraction, adding the fact that it is the only lake which you can swim in. They have water sports, swimming etc making it a real tourist attraction even for the locals. The lakes and the National park were a bit disappointing but we did have quite a few really nice bird sightings and Caroline and I enjoyed a short swim in the Lake. Our next destination was north to Lake Ziway. This is the northern most of Ethiopia’s natural Rift Valley lakes and the largest of the four we visited with a surface area of abut 430sq km. It lies at an altitude of 1636m and ringed by steep volcanic hills. It is a shallow lake and is fed by two rivers, the Maki and Katar and is drained at the south-western tip by the Bulbula River which then flows into Lake Abiata. It has an abundant population of Tilapia fish, a really nice eating fish which can weigh up to about 1.5kg. There are five islands on this lake and one known as Tulo Guddo (Large Mountain) in Oromo lingual and to the Amara people as Debre Sion (Mount Zion) On the highest peak, is the church of Maryam Tsion and is known to be the oldest active monastery in Southern Ethiopia. The church has stood on this peak since at least the 12^th Century. According to the legend this was the sanctuary for the Original Ark of the Covenant for about 70 years before it was considered safe to return it to Axum. This is where it is said to be today. There are many theories about this and before leaving Ethiopia I would like to get a couple of books on this subject. The older churches here really do not resemble a church as we know them. (described before) Each morning, before any eating, people come to church for some sort of Ceremony (I was never lucky enough to attend one) No one is allowed to enter if they have eaten. At all times of the rest of the day, people visit the church, kneel and pray at the closed doors of the church. We will post a picture on the blog to try and explain what I mean. After visiting the church on the island (taken by small motor boat) we headed back to the mainland where we negotiated a trip to Bird Island. This is a very small island with hundreds of birds. Mainly of course, Water birds, Flamingos, Pelicans, African and Eurasian Jacanas, Dartar, Black and Grey Heron, super Spoonbills with babies in a nest and the normal egrets and plovers with a few special plovers. We were so impressed with this little island we arranged any early one for the next morning to see the sunrise and the island. We weren’t disappointed, this time we actually were allowed onto the island and spent about an hour walking about. The sunrise and the birds tremendous.

At the hotel, we had super sightings of the White Bellied Go Away Bird.

After breakfast we headed slightly west to Butajira and then north to Addis Ababa visiting the Tiya Stelae, this is a belt of mysterious engraved stelae that stretches across southern Ethiopia. Little is known about the origin of these stelae or of the meanings of the symbols that are carved upon them. Recent excavations revealed that the stones mark the mass graves of males an females who died when they were between 18 and 30 years of age and who were laid to rest in a foetal position about 700 years ago. The presence of several engraved swords on the steal suggests that the people buried were soldiers, but evidence of this is far from conclusive. Today this is listed as a world Heritage site, this site comprises of about 45 stones some of up to 2m in height, The largest which has been broken seems to have originally been about 5m high but only the base remains, the top part has been removed to the university in Addis Ababa. Apart from the stylised swords, the number which appears on the Stelae is thought to represent the number of people killed by the warrior, two other symbols predominate, plain circles and what looks like a pair of podgy leaves rising on a stem from a rectangular base. The plain circles appear on about one in ten stones and deem to denote that a female is buried underneath. The leaves look like enset (false bananas) that is sill widely grown in Southern Ethiopia, recent thinking they are a sort of visual RIP note. What also looks like a Greek ‘E’ symbol which no interpretation has been thought up? Tiya, would appear to mark the medieval boundary between pagan and Christian Ethiopia.

Our second visit was to Adadi Maryam Church. This is a rock-hewn church, the most southern rock-hewn church in Ethiopia. It dates back to sometime between the 12^th and 14^th century while local tradition associates it wit King Lalibela’s visit to the nearby Mount Zikwala in AD106. It is very close to the style in Lalibela than any other rock-hewn church. It measures about 19m long and 16m wide and has 24 windows and ten doors. The tunnel that leads from the back of the church to a nearby watercourse was carved later to prevent flooding. It is known that Almed Gragn attacked the church in about 1527 NS Although the excavation survived this more or less intact the large cross above the entrance was severely damaged and the priests were either killed or forced to flee. The church fell into disuse ad it remained so for several centuries when discovered by local hunters was reopened during the reign of Menelik II and remains in active use today. The Swiss embassy funded the extensive restoration work in 1996-1998.

Our last stop before going onto Addis Ababa was Melka Kunture. This is a museum known for the numerous Stone-Age artefacts hat they have unearthed along the river including a variety of cleavers, hand axes and other tools made from basalt and other hard rocks.

On reaching Addis and only having one more day with Tom and Caroline we checked into a super hotel, (For Ethiopian Standards) and were very fortunate for our night there and our dinner later to be the guests of Tom and Caroline. Once again to you both ‘THANK YOU”

For our night out we visited a Traditional Ethiopian restaurant. Sitting on low chairs with little round basket type tables, lots of tapestry type mats and wall hangings, traditional music and dancing, we were served some very traditional meals and after had a coffee ceremony where you sit around on small stools and watch the whole roasting and preparation of the coffee being made. This is really quite special and very Ethiopian.

The next day we did a city tour, seeing about 4 different churches, a museum, the Djibouti/Addis Abba railway station built in1928-29. The churches all being built between 1911 and 1933. Caroline and I really enjoyed it. Tom and Wolf gave up after lunch which left Caroline and I to be able to enjoy another two. There is so much history here, it would take as much as I have written about the whole of Ethiopia to fill you all in. Wolf always says I write too much, so I will leave it all for an evening with friends who would be interested when we eventually get back to SA.

We had a second tradtional Ethiopian Restaurant meal with our Guide (Brooke) who had done our whole trip. The restaurant was a lot smaller and quite a bit more traditional in décor. A super evening to say farewell. Tom and Caroline left the next day. We spent a few days trying to sort our car out and to make a decision to fix it in Ethiopia or Europe. Lots of fellow travellers all giving their suggestions, we decided Wolf decided Europe would be best and that we would get there. (This episode will only follow when we get to Europe.)

20^th September to 1^st October.

On all these “Mechanics and specialists of Roads” it was decided we would get up Gonder via Debra Liebanos, Debre Markos, Bahir Dar (Blue Nile Falls) then to Lake Tana, slightly south of Gondor. We had met Kim and Tim, the “owners/managers” of a newly built campsite/bungalows on the shores of Lake Tana at Gongora at our campsite in Addis, a place called Wims. Both Wims and Kim & Tim are Holland nationals, living and working in Ethiopia. Wim is together with a lovely Ethopian lady, Rahel, and runs a very good restaurant and has lived in Ethiopia for 18 years. Tim and Kim are volunteers from Holland setting up the resort, a community based project, funded from Holland. I can only say, we went for two days and stayed seven. I think this say’s it all. Wolf helped Tim a bit with fitting of the windows in the new bungalows. After having not much guests for the past two weeks, the day we arrived they ended up with 15 of us travellers. Kim managed to feed us all from her kitchen, (about 3mts by 2mts) a two plate gas stove and supplies from the village. Kim was a wiz, but again one of those people I know from home, must do all herself (Chandy!!!!!!!) cook, the best cleanest toilet I have been to in Ethiopia, breakfast, lunch, supper and endless cups of coffee, cold beer without a fridge. Even the campers, ate all meals prepared by Kim opposed to cooking for themselves. I was honoured to be taken on two walks by Tim, who is desperately trying to finish the “resort”. When completed they will have 6 stone bungalows, about 10 camp sites, with tents and mattresses and bedding supplied (these with a thatch roof over a cement slab) and then the site for all over Landers and campers like ourselves with our own tents. All the sites face the lake with spectacular views. On our walks we saw any endemic birds and the most beautiful scenery. It is in the middle of hills and the walks unbelievably beautiful. It was quite an emotional time for me to say goodbye, Had we had more time, both Wolf and I felt, we could have quite happily stayed a few months and helped these very brave people finish their dream (What’s more its all for no pay) They are on a real time frame now, it was estimated it would take 18months to complete and the funding from Holland on the last month now and it is estimated it will still take another 6 months. Just the electricity connection will be about 3 months and about $6000 US cost.

We left them to travel east to Lalibela, home of a strange, isolated town, and set high in the mountains of Lasta. It is famous for its rock-hewn churches and is very often said to be the 8^th Wonder of the World. Lalibela was the capital of the Zagw dynasty which ruled over Ethiopia from the 10^th century to the mid 13^th century and its name derives from that of the most famous of the Zagwe rulers, the 12^th century King Lalibela. There are two versions of why the churches were built but the one given to us by our guide, I think bears more chance of being true. Lalibela went into exile in Jerusalem and decided that with all the pilgrims coming to visit Jerusalem in those days, millions of miles on donkeys and camels, he would build a new “Jerusalem of Rock” for all the Ethiopians. As soon as he was crowned Lalibela gathered the world’s greatest craftsmen and artisans to carve out the churches from rock. In fact the excavation of the churches is something of a mystery, some sources estimate that about 40,000 people would have been required to carve them.

Even before visiting the churches, Lalibela is a strikingly singular town. It is perched at an altitude of 2630m among wild craggy mountains and rocky escarpments. There is a stark cathedral like grandeur that is very similar to the Drakensberg Mountains at home. The house of Lalibela are of a design unlike anywhere else in Ethiopia, two-storey circular stone constructs that huddles over the steep slopes on which the town is built. We had seen two other Rock-hewn churches previously but nothing like what these are. The churches here are huge, some in excess of 10m high and because they have been carved below the grounded level they are ringed by trenches and courtyards, the sides of which are cut into with stone graves and hermit cells and connected to each other by a maze of tunnels and passages. Each individual church is unique in shape and size and precisely carved and minutely decorated. What struck us both was the rock is carved completely straight, the walls, windows, different type’s carvings and ornaments carved out of the rock completely symmetrical. If you look at the buildings in Ethiopia, (Tom and Caroline!!!!!) nothing is remotely straight, not a wall not a building anywhere. You just wonder with the type of tools they had in those days, and what “artisans” they must have been. These churches are not primarily tourist attractions, nor are they the crumbling monuments of a dead civilisation. What they are and what they have been for least 800 years is an active Christian shrine, the spiritual centre of a town’s religious life. If you wander between the churches in the thin light of the morning, you will see white-robed hermits and monks emerge bible in hand from their cells and the air is warmed by Eucharistic drumbeats and gentle swaying chants. Any of the churches are being damaged by seepage and for the last few years they have bee protected by roofs and scaffolding. Although this does not feel right or look right they are preserving the churches for future generations.

The churches are divided into two clusters, separated by the “Jordan River” (given its name by King Lalibela). The northwest cluster comprises of seven churches and the southeast cluster consists of five churches. They were constructed by using one of two different methods. One excavated from below the ground and these are surrounded by courtyards and trenches. Some of these are monoliths or semi monoliths, this meaning free from the surrounding rock on three or four sides, a style of excavation that is unique to Ethiopia. The other excavated from a vertical roc face by exploiting existing caves or cracks in the rock. Again to describe each church, one not so easy and again a lot of writing, (Wolf’s words) I will tell you though I visited all 13 churches and to my amazement Wolf managed 8 of them. They are all still in use but I was lucky that only one, were we not able to see the interior. One of the churches, women are prohibited, but Wolf went in and took pictures. I don’t think it is at all possible to take photos which will depict the actual buildings, we can only tell you it is total amazement. The largest of the churches, Bet Mdhane Alem, (the largest in the world) measures 11.5m high and covers an area of almost 800 square mts. It is supported by 36 pillars on the inside and 36 on the outside. The oldest, Bet Maryam, (means Virgin Mary) is the most popular with the people mainly because of it association with the Virgin Mary. It is also smaller and less imposing and has more intimate ad elaborately carved interior with carvings of the original Lalibela Cross and Star of David and dense painting on parts of the roof. It is 13 mts high and its upper floor has seven rooms. One of the smallest is Bet Meskel (means Holy Cross) is barely 40square mts in area. In the courtyards of this church is a pool that s believed to cure infertile woman, they are dipped into the water three times on Ethiopian Christmas (7^th January) the water is green and slimly and they say enough to suggest a favourable effect on procreativity. The water level I about 2m below the courtyard so the women have to be lowered down on a harnessed rope!!!!!!!!

One of the courtyards in the northwest cluster contains the twin churches of Bet Debre and Bet Golgotha. These churches share an entrance together and they form a semi-monolith. These are the most atmospheric with an air of sanctity. Bet Golgotha is the one that women prohibited from entering. This one has seven life-size reliefs of saints carved around its walls. It is also believed that King Laibela is buried beneath a slab on the floor of this church.

I think I have given you the gist of what you see, and we will try to put photos on the website, but for me Lalibela has been the highlight of our trip to Ethiopia.

That evening we found a new (one month old) small ethnic restaurant, Roha Café where we were entertained by a local singer, strumming on a locally made instrument, a real squeak of a noise and singing all about us. He established we were from SA and Bafana Bafana, my hair, Mandela and all sorts of other made up stuff were the songs of the night. Of coarse all in Ethiopian, but we had a translator who told us what he was saying. We were then pulled up to dance, (not dancing as we know it) almost a jumping shaking movement. But I must say, they can move their shoulders like nothing I have seen before. They look almost triple jointed. All in all a super evening.

The next day, we left early (6am) to go south via Dessie, Kombolcha, Debre Sina and to Debre Birhan where we hoped to overnight. The roads again are all being carved up and on entering the town we were diverted about three times, couldn’t find the hotel we had decided to stay in. Wolf now not in the mood for trying to retrace steps pushed on. No more places to stop, we eventually got into Addis at 7.30pm. Its only 695km but again, nothing is easy in Ethiopia. When dark came we were horrified to find that outside of Addis, no one uses their lights until about an hour and a half after dark. We were told later they believe it uses more fuel. There we were driving between people who walk all over the road (no one wears light clothing) no lights, and any animals that are still around. I cannot describe the last two hours. Needless to say, by the time we got back to Wims I was ready to kill!!!!!!!!!

Our plan was then to spend two days doing a quick clean up, repack the trailer to take the weight off the car and head for Djibouti where our car and trailer are packed into the container and sent to Europe. We got back to find that Wims had been nominated to host the October Fest on Saturday so within hours of getting here we were persuaded (did not take much) to stay for the Fest.

We will leave on Sunday, with one stop over west of Addis Ababa at Awash National Park and then onto Djibouti. The balance of Ethiopia will follow with the travel to Europe. Hopefully we can get is on the web before we leave We will also post the pictures from Europe.