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13th - 22nd March 2002

Cycle to the Summit Part 13 - Northern Ethiopia

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 19:53:22

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well. There were stroppy donkeys having some sort of argument in the darkness. The dispute was not over female donkeys apparently because 'there are no female donkeys in this village'. 'The females only live at high altitude and die if they come down' we were told. There was also a distressed deranged dog howling for hours on end, making itself hoarse. We observed that they live very close to their animals in Ethiopia. Unfortunately the cows are too malnourished to produce milk.

15th March 2002 - Maka to Gint 57km

Most noticeable were the clouds in the sky and we experienced the first few drops of rain since the freak rain in the Israeli wilderness. I should also stress Ethiopia is hilly, up and down though rolling countryside. The roads are very rough tracks but the few places where we were able to cycle on the new road being constructed, provided welcome relief. In the evening we stayed in a village with no latrines. It seems that everyone just squats out in the open. WaterAid has quite a task ahead of it here to improve the sanitation. The only water available was from the stagnant pools in the dried up river. It was a good job we had been kindly given some chlorine by a passing Medicines Sans Frontier Lady. She also gave us a message from our team-mates in Shady that Owy's Malaria test had proved negative. That was a relief!

16th March 2002 - Gint to Saraba 17km

I was feeling a little under the weather and Ruth didn't seem to enthusiastic about the hill ahead of us climbing out of the valley. We were pushing within yards from the bottom. It was all a bit much for cold muscles. A girl and two young boys followed us up the top half. The boys spoke very little English but I think would have helped me push for a very modest fee. Although tempting I was determined to get to the top under my own steam. The girl insisted 'your car is sick'. We told her 'No car, just bicycle' ...