Turkana Route III – 1,000km offroad

Friday May 9th, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia, Kenya | 10 Reacties (Comments)

Turkana Route III - 1000km offroad 31To know how much fuel, water and food we had to take, we had read several reports of travelers who had done the Turkana route. Travel reports that in the first place describe the adventures on the road. The information about the state of the ‘road’ was quite interesting to say the least. Long stretches of deep sand, a great number of river crossings, paths with loose stones and fields with sharp lava rocks as big as footballs. An additional factor was the weather. It could either be very hot, what makes driving even more difficult, or very wet, which would make the route impassable. Although the travel report also describe how incredibly beautiful the route was, in Omorate I was mainly thinking about the challenges that awaited us. Lees meer (Read more)

Turkana Route II – Bull Jumping ceremony

Monday May 5th, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia | 6 Reacties (Comments)

Turkana Route II (klein) 1Like in Arba Minch, it is very hot in Turmi. However in the shade of the mango trees and with the breeze blowing through the valley, it is OK. We use the Sunday to relax, to select some photos and to do some maintenance. At the end of the afternoon we walk with Jan and Margriet (blog) and Pim to the adjacent Buska Lodge for a beer. Not a bad way to spend the day! Even the next morning we can take our time to eat breakfast and pack the tent, for the Bull Jumping ceremony only begins after lunch. Lees meer (Read more)

Turkana Route I – To the Omo Valley

Monday April 28th, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia | 4 Reacties (Comments)

Turkane Route I - Naar de Omo ValleiTo go into Kenya from Ethiopia there are two routes we could follow. The first route runs from Moyale in Ethiopia to Marsabit in Kenya. A route known for the poor condition of the road and the many freight trucks and also the road that is sometimes referred to as the “Bandit Road”. The second option is from Omorate in Ethiopia, along Lake Turkana, to Maralal in Kenya. This route leads through a remote part of Kenya without any tarmac roads for over 800km, where facilities are far away and where gasoline, food and water is hard to get. But this is also the route through one of the most beautiful and unspoiled parts of Kenya. We chose to follow the Turkana route. Lees meer (Read more)

“Boerenkool” en “Bitterballen”

Tuesday April 22nd, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia | 6 Reacties (Comments)

Bitterballen en Heineken in Addis Abeba 8After our tour through the north of Ethiopia and our visit to Lalibela, it is time to drive to the south again. We will go to Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia, where we have to apply for a visa for Kenya. But to me that is not the main reason to go to Addis. I especially want to go to “Wim’s Holland House” in Addis Ababa. In the middle of the city Wim has a bar that serves Heineken beer, a restaurant with Dutch specialties as “Boerenkool” and “Bittenballen” and a camp site for “overlanders”. It is like a hub where many travelers come together. That is where we will go! Lees meer (Read more)

Rock-hewn churches of Lalibela

Sunday April 20th, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia | 4 Reacties (Comments)

Rotskerken van LalibelaIn most guidebooks it is listed as a highlight of Ethiopia: a visit to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. In the small village high in the Ethiopian hills, eleven beautiful churches were carved out of the rocks in the 13th century. The village is a place of pilgrimage for the Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, for tourists a ’must see’. Lees meer (Read more)

To the north

Friday April 18th, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia | 2 Reacties (Comments)

Ethiopisch HooglandBefore we go further south, we drive to the north of Ethiopia for a tour around the beautiful Ethiopian Highlands. First to Gonder, a medium-sized provincial town north of Gorgora. There we can withdraw money, buy motor insurance and hopefully get internet access. At Tim and Kim we could not access to the Internet, but the blog could use an update and we would like to read some emails. After Gonder we drive on towards the Siemien Mountains and the rock churches in the Tigray province. Lees meer (Read more)

See you, North Africa

Thursday April 10th, 2014 | Leonie | AFRICA, Ethiopia, Sudan | 6 Reacties (Comments)

Tot ziens, Noord-Afrika- 1With a visa for Ethiopia in our pocket we leave Khartoum and head for the border. It is about 600km to the border town of Metema. South of Khartoum there are no places of interest that we want to visit, so we plan to ride two full days. If we then camp just before the border on the second day, we can arrive there early to complete all the formalities so we still have sufficient time to ride to the first campsite in Ethiopia. Lees meer (Read more)