Met up with Ragna and Amiram today, ex-colleagues of Matt's from Conergy. They used to work in the Singapore office and like Matt, decided to leave the company after it was plagued with problems, and do the next best thing: travel Africa.
The two are avid cyclists and are taking a year to explore this vast continent by bike, stopping along the way to give workshops and seminars on environmental conservation, the benefits of tree planting, etc. Check out their excellent website: Cycle Generation.
They just spent the past few days in Bale National Park hiking and spotting the elusive Ethiopian wolf. It was nice to see them and catch up. We took them to Adenium Campsite afterwards and introduced them to Jana, the German owner. We thought they might appreciate some of Jana's delicious vegetarian cooking (a fusion of German and Ethiopian tastes) before they head down to Kenya via Marsabit.
Arriving in Addis was not a pleasant experience. About 30 km south of Addis there were huge traffic jams and we were literally inching ahead for a couple of hours. By the time we reached the city, it was dark, rainy and extremely difficult to navigate. Kids would jump over the highway fences and then bolt full speed to the other side. We nearly hit one boy.
We arrived at Ithegue Taitu Hotel and found Christoph and Chiho. We shared an injera dinner and caught up on the past few days' activities.
We decided to take one of the cheap rooms instead of camp in the parking lot. I have to say, though, I do prefer our tent's comfort and coziness to the small, dark hotel room we got given, with stained sheets and a springy mattreess. And not only was there no hot water, there was no water to speak of at all.
With no shower, no way to flush the toilet or brush our teeth, we dreamed of a better tomorrow.
Start: Adenium Campsite, Awassa, ETH. 14:00
End: Ithegue Taitu Hotel, Addis Ababa. 20:00
Distance Traveled: a little over 150 km, can't remember exact distance
Road Conditions: traffic jams and mad pedestrians everywhere.
Temperature: rainy at night
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