Surprising Ethiopia !

Aurel: What do you think of if one says "Ethiopia"? Personally it made me think of a country victim of famine without any touristic interest. And actually it is the contrary...

The first impression is not the best one. We reach the border while it is raining. It is such a quagmir! And people are not very welcoming... I don't know why but I have never liked customs. They are always the ugliest places and inhabited by people the least welcoming. They are often the worst places when riding through a country.

But overall we are getting through the customs without a hitch. Once the procedures are done we ride a little while and then stop in a village to eat a bit. In the end there is only some bread to eat but the tea is good and warms us up. And this is the first contact with Ethiopians.

Landscapes are hilly and green. It's quiet. The trafic on the road is almost nonexistent. We only cross small villages where houses are made of wood and where people seem to live in harmony with nature.

The road progressively rises. Ethiopia is high up. We quickly reach 2400 meters in the clouds!

We meet many people on the road and also a lot of flocks. We are never alone for very long when we stop to take a picture

Here this is a hunter we meet. Loïc lets him a Polaroid as a souvenir.

It's a pleasure to ride here when the rain stops and that the road is dry. We could be in the Pyrénées! Small sinous mountain roads in the middle of nature, perfect!

Our bikes attract people at each stop. It's the chance to get to know some Ethiopians. They seem to be pacific and quiet people. In any case they are very curious and run up to meet us

The night surprises us the first evening so we spend it in Gondar. The first hotel we find is nice, our room is about 80 m² and we have got hot water in the shower! But no cold water... and the day after the water is so hot in the tank that we can't even take a shower, that beats everything!

We follow our route in direction of Addis Abeba, the capital. The road is still pleasant and we are lucky to ride in between showers.

Loïc: Ethiopia has its own alphabet

Aurel: All villages in Ethiopia have at least a very small hotel and sometimes a couple of them. We decide to try our luck in the "Extreme" hotel.

For 50 Birr (3€) we obtain a double room with a bathroom, hard to find better. Moreover the hotel holds a bar/restaurant where we carry on discovering local beers.

It's nice to spend the evening in one of those villages which are quite animated at nightfall.

We continue our trip in Ethiopia, still in direction of the capital.

The only time we ride under 2000 m is to cross the Nil at 1000 m. 1000 m of altitude in a few kilometers it's fast! The canyon dug by the Nil is beautiful and pictures do not do justice to it. The difference of temperature is amazing, we win 15 degrees!

We decide to visit a market in a village. A bunch of kids stays around, not easy to be discreet...

Aurel: We do a "technical" stop at Addis Abeba. We maintain the bikes and I have to pick up my new camera sent from France! Yeah!