Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
1995
Ethiopia - Cairo to Capetown
Bec2004-09-20 13:09:54
Displayed times (last time: )
Galafi
The border formalities to exit Djibouti and enter Ethiopia in Galafi went smoothly and we climbed on the back of a covered pick up truck for the 20 km to Desiocho on the Addis to Assab highway. Desiocho is just a big truck stop at the crossroads. Mektum introduced us to the "traffic manager" who found a truck going east to Assab for Steve and Tam and another going southwest to Addis Abeba for me.
The 400 kilometre trip to Addis cost me 1 US$ for the "traffic manager" and only 7 US$ for the truck driver Mulugeta Gizaw. We travelled in a convoy of three trucks carrying sealed containers both ways between Addis Abeba and the now Eritrean port of Assab on the Red Sea. It was interesting to note that the three drivers enjoyed a much higher status than the three helpers who were treated like lowly servants.
Sammara
One of the trucks had a broken spring which had to be replaced so our departure from Galafi was delayed until 5:00 PM. Mulugeta explained that we were in Afar territory and that the Afar were bandits who sometimes shot at passing trucks to plunder their loads at night. The land we were crossing was so desolate that I was wondering how humans could survive there. Yet there was a hut here and there and we saw several lone Afars walking along the road with a Kalashnikov hanging from a shoulder strap and a traditional sabre slung across their backs.
It was already dark when we stopped at a small place called Sammara. We could have gone further as it was only 8 o'clock but the drivers did not feel safe driving at night in this area so we stopped at a roadside restaurant for dinner and beers where I took this photo. Then, I slept in the truck cab while Mulugeta and his helper slept on top of the container.
Truck drivers Mulugeta Gizaw and Giday Gereslase. Mulugeta was of the Amara tribe and Giday was Tigray. They often made jokes about the traditional conflicts
...
See photographs from:
Ethiopia Gallery
