Sun, Sand and...Stars in Sudan

After three days sitting in the rain in Gonder with muddy feet, Andy and I were jubilant when the truck finally departed to head north to the border. We'd been reminded that the next country on our itinerary, Sudan, was a dry country where the sale and consumption of alcohol is forbidden. Therefore, we'd spent quite some time repacking our lockers so that our beer, gin and rum were safely stored (well hidden) at the bottom. So organised, we set off...

The drive was particularly scenic as we descended through lush green valleys passing numerous idyllic waterfalls.  It was a good way to spend our last few hours in Ethiopia - enjoying the beauty the country undoubtedly has to offer with not an annoying tout in sight. We compiled a group playlist and sang our way to the border. With high fives, whooping and, on our part, silent tears of joy, we made it across the Ethiopian / Sudan border that evening just in time to set up camp.

Descending the Ethiopian highlands 

Ethiopian driving skills

Spot the kidd

With everyone in good spirits,  it was decided that the '2011 Truck Awards Ceremony' would take place after dinner that evening. Laura and Falcon had spent their free time in Gonder compiling a comprehensive category list and we'd all been asked to complete our voting sheets that afternoon. After a 'Team Local' dinner, Falcon delivered the results.

Awards given included, 'Best Boobs' (jointly awarded to Andi and Gary), 'Most Likely to Join a Cult' (Mandy), 'Most Likely to Die from Drinking Local Alcohol' (Falcon), 'Worst Dressed' (Matt), 'Truck Bitch' (Tim), 'Most Likely to Eat Another Human' (Kim) and 'Best Beard' (Danny 'Pubeface' Passco) and 'Worst Beard' (Danny 'Pubeface' Passco).

I won 'Best Pooing Incident', 'Best Storyteller', 'Most Likely to have Children Next' and 'Weakest Sphincter Muscle'. It was humbling to be recognised by my peers. Andy won 'Best Cookgroup', 'Alpha Male' (much to his amusement) and 'Most Likely to have Children Next' (luckily for him). He also got an honorary award for 'Most Likely to Get Married in Flannel'. Everyone won something and the awards reminded us all of many funny episodes from the previous 14 weeks.

From our border camp we headed West enjoying the escalating heat. We stopped at the town of Gedaref so my cookgroup could shop for dinner in the local market. The locals were really welcoming wanting to know where we were from and how we'd found ourselves in their town. We have since concluded that the Sudanese are the uniformedly nicest people we have met on our trip. We lost count of how many of the cab drivers, officials, restaurant owners and random people on the street who thanked us for visiting their country and who have wished us well on our travels.

As we travelled west from the border to Khartoum, Sudan's Capital, the landscape changed dramatically - no longer were we surrounded by hills and valleys, but stretches of vast flat and dry land, where rocky hills rose from the horizon. The landscape made for fun bushcamps with spectacular sunsets and sunrises. We tried to enjoy every bush camp to the full, conscious that there were only a limited number to go before the trip ended.

Khartoum was an enjoyable place to spend two nights. Camping at the dilapidated 'Blue Nile Sailing Club', our tents were pitched to a riverside view next to Kitchener's gunboat used at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. The only slight drawback was that the sailing club made us set up our tents on some grass where local men congregate each night to drink tea and play cards until the early hours. It felt a bit odd walking through their games to get into bed each evening but they didn't seem to mind or even notice.

Travelling in Sudan, an Islamic Republic, during Ramadan had its drawbacks.  Things in the city were undoubtedly quieter as the locals conserved their energy during the heat of the day while they fasted. We also had to find discrete ways to take a drink in public places and most of the restaurants and street vendors were closed. After a particularly long morning walking miles to the National Museum in the heat of the day, we were forced to find lunch at the 7* Burj al-Fateh Hotel - treating ourselves to several hours of aircon and a clean flush toilet. On the way back we were passed at great speed by a motorcade of about 20 vehicles surrounding a blacked-out limo with the Sudanese flag. The motorcade was speeding away from the Presidential Palace.  We assumed it was President Bashir.

Madhi's Tomb, Omdurman (near Khartoum)

Our days in Khartoum were relaxing - we did lots of slow wandering (it was hot) and visited the markets around the central mosque where Andy purchased a man-dress, known locally as a jilabia. Most of the guys on the truck decked themselves out in one in preparation for the 5 day drive north through the Nubian desert to Wadi Halfa.

Look how happy he is!

After two nights in Khartoum we were ready to move on and excited about getting truly off-road. Hastie did plenty of work on the truck to make it desert-ready and the decision was made to ignore the tar-sealed road option and to follow the abandoned railway line instead. We were loaded up on water bottles and rehydration sachets, the men put on their dresses and off we went. A few hours in we experienced our first sand storm. It was mental. Keep in mind that we travel with the sides of our truck rolled up so we truly experience our surroundings - it was awesome. It got really dark and we could barely see each other as the wind and sand cracked around us. When we pulled up for the eve to set up camp (in the desert!) it rained. Bloody stupid ran in the desert where it NEVER rains. Hastie and Andi are convinced that Murphy is to blame for the freak weather we've experienced along the trip so we debated whether to leave him behind the following morning. The good thing about the rain is that it cooled the air, we got to fill up our wash bowls with rain water, Danny dug a really deep hole without the sand falling in and I built a sandcastle. Every cloud...

Sandstorm on road from Khartoum

Passco displaying his digging skills

Proud of my efforts

That first night was spent camping beside the Meroe pyramids - funeral tombs built approximately 2500yrs ago - which we visited the following morning. I opted to ride around to the site by camel. Helpfully, I'd awoken to find several sitting outside our tent so I picked the biggest and off we went.

Zoe of Arabia enroute to the Meroe Pyramids

The pyramids were one of our favourite sites of the trip. We wandered freely around the striking tombs that sit upon the dunes without security restrictions. We were privileged to be the only visitors.  Many of the tombs still housed stunning hieraglyphics. Exactly two weeks later we'd be visiting the pyramids in Cairo but we felt that nothing could top Meroe purely because we got to experience it in solitude, without the usually touristy accompaniments. Amazingly, Meroe only received UNESCO status in June of this year. We pondered whether the lack of tourists was a good or bad thing and couldn't decide. It seems sad that the site is so unknown and unappreciated but perhaps hoards of tourists would diminish the specialness of the site. Either way, we were very pleased to be one of the few that has been.

As we left the site, Andy donned his man dress and hopped on to a camel for a short ride and photo opportunity. I thought he looked awesome and have never fancied him more.

From Meroe, we came to the end of the tar-seal road from Khartoum, and pulled on to the desert proper.  We followed Kitchener's railway built by the British-Egyptian army in the 1890s; they built it, all 300 miles, in just 5 months through the blistering summer.  Another awesome British accomplishment : )

We all wondered how long we'd survive if we broke down and concluded, not very. Despite drinking copious amounts of water, I felt pretty woozy on days one and two as temperatures soared to 46 degrees and found myself passing out early evening with little energy. The heat was intense. I definitely preferred it to the rain of Ethiopia but it was hard work. I'd start a sentence and be unable to finish it as there would be no moisture left inside my mouth, everyone's sweaty clothes went crispy and books fell apart.  I recovered by day three but Andy then succumbed. Despite all the water and rehydration sachets we'd been taking he felt crappy and spent 36 hours trudging off into the desert at regular intervals armed with a trowel. He suffered pretty badly and we assume he probably had a little bug that the heat exacerbated.

Beautiful desert sunset

Driving through the desert was brilliant and we enjoyed it as much as the dusty drive we'd had through northern Kenya - nothing but blue skies, sand and us. We were lucky and only had to sand-mat a handful of times (help get the stuck truck out of the sand). The only people we came across were groups of men prospecting and mining gold. They couldn't believe it when they saw our truck coming straight at their camp and they'd whoop and cheer and will us to stop.

View from the truck, crossing the desert off road

Modelling desert attire 

Competition from Jedi Gary

Well at Station No 6

Following Kitchener's railway

Gold mining camp

These types of drive days are the days I will try to relive when I'm stuck behind a desk at work in months to come. When the most stressful part of your day is deciding whether to have an egg at breakfast or which direction to pitch the tent, whether to wash your armpits or change your shorts, life feels pretty good.

One of the best moments of the drive was when Hastie spotted a pump-action trolley at the side of a disused railway station. Hastie is a quiet man who avoids the limelight so we found it pretty funny when the truck breaked to a halt and he jumped out of the cab to hotfoot it to the trolley. He couldn't wait to have a go! It was like stumbling across a Indiana Jones film set and we spent an hour going up and down the tracks, exploring an old train carriage and generally acting like children. Even Andy forgot his stomach troubles for a little while and joined in the fun.

Hastie, Lee, Danny & Mike commandeer a handcar 

Andy tries hard...not to poo himself

Matt proving he deserved 'Worst Dressed'

Fun!

We made such good time in the desert that we got to Wadi Halfa a day earlier than expected. This meant we had plenty of time to sort out our paperwork for the ferry to Egypt and to check emails, sort luggage etc. We spent two nights bushcamping outside of the small town, sleeping outside in the desert air under the stars and eating our way through remaining truck food supplies.

We spent our final morning in Sudan in town waiting for the drawn-out ferry boarding process to begin. Andy, Danny, Alex and Falcon wiled the time away playing Urban Bocce (c) while the rest of us squeezed into any shade available. The ferry taking us to Aswan in Egypt would not depart until 5.00pm but our immigration / boarding process started at 11.30am.  The port terminal was fairly busy although, thankfully, not as busy as usual with it being Ramadan. We sat about a bit, queued a bit and pushed a bit and were finally allowed on the ferry at 2.00pm. Andi and Hastie armed us with tarpaulin and rope and directed us up to the top deck where we sat up elaborate tenting to shade us from the scorching sun. The locals were both bemused and envious. We settled down for the 24 hour journey, taking turns to sit in the one airconditioned room on the boat available to us.

Seeking shade on the Lake Nasser ferry to Egypt

Chilling out on Lake Nasser

Mike doing likewise

Around 9pm we sailed past Abu Simbel - the Nile-side tomb built by Rameses II. We were to visit the site a few days later but it was a bonus to see the impressive structure at night, lit up for extra effect. Sleeping on the deck was a highlight of the trip - once the sun went down and the locals had completed evening prayers, we lay down under the stars to a surprisingly sound slumber. The following morning we woke in Egyptian waters and waited for the ferry to dock. We waited, waited and waited some more. For some reason upon docking, all the ferry's cargo was unloaded first; lifted over and through passengers waiting to depart (?). Finally, we were given the signal to disembark and it was every man for themselves. People shoved and pushed and shoved some more. Hastie had to restrain himself from knocking down a particularly large local women who repeatedly threw herself at him to try and overtake. The ridiculous thing was that once off the ferry, she reverted straight back to African walking speed: painfully slow.

We'd finally made it. 14 countries and 16 weeks after meeting our group in Cape Town, we'd arrived in the final country of our African adventure....

I Guess It Rains In Ethi-op-ia

In Addis we'd taken the decision to leave the truck for a couple of days to visit Lalibela & Axum. The quote for our planned journey was $118 by air and $155 by road. Although we had some reservations about flying internally in Ethiopia, it would mean spending a scheduled 2 hours of flying as opposed to 36 hours of driving and doing it for less money. From Bahir Dar we'd fly to Lalibela for two nights, fly to Axum for two nights, then fly to Gondar to meet the truck. Too easy.

The flight from Bahir Dar was then cancelled from under our noses so, no problem, we arranged road transport for $50 (the same price as flying but six hours longer and departing a day earlier)

Sporting a tiny hangover, courtesy of The Black Boy, we signed off the truck and embarked on the bus journey to Lalibela, home of famous medieval rock hewn churches. The Chinese had recently completed a sealed road so the journey was twice as fast as the previous year.

We ascended to about 4000m onto the central plateau, driving through spectacular green mountains high above fertile valleys. It was some of the most spectacular scenery either of us had seen. Zoe described it as Tolkein-esque.

Ethiopian countryside from Lalibela Monasteries

The villages were spotlessly clean, with the locals busy farming & shepherding. There was barely another car on the road, not even bicycles. Not much has changed in about 2000 years, the villages made up of thatched roofed huts and mud brick churches. The locals were almost uniformly dressed in white linen shawls, white headscarfs & leather sandals (if not barefoot), carrying staves and herding donkeys, cattle, sheep & goats.

The stalking abilities of the locals were as strong & creepy as ever. Several loo breaks were made unnecessarily difficult by locals staring at the girls while they peed.

Arriving in Lalibela , we checked into our hotel and were pleased to discover the rooms had possibly the cleanest toilets in Ethiopia. The touts were even more annoying than those in Addis. Approaching with the same lame lines, over and over and over:

Pest: "Hello! Remember me?"
Victim: "Nope."
Pest: "Yes. We met yesterday!"
Victim: "Oh yeah, I remember you. You're the pain the arse I've told to piss off five times already."
Pest: "You need guide?"
Victim: "No. Go away."
Pest: "You need hotel?"
Victim: "No. Get lost."
Pest: "You want drink?"
Victim: "No. Nothing. Go away!"
Pest: "I get you anything you want!"
Victim: "I want to be left alone. Goodbye."
Pest: "Ok. Give me money."
Victim: "#$!&@ off!"

But that wouldn't guarantee to be left alone. They'd often follow you into shops and restaurants demanding a commission from the proprietor for supposedly bringing them business (hence inflating the price). The other trick would be to follow a victim who is trying to get the best price and tell the highest ask price of the previous vendors to the new vendors. Suddenly haggling becomes alot more difficult as all the vendors know the 'Farangi' price being offered.

Lalibela is renowned for its churches. The churches are beautifully carved, inside & out, from huge monoliths, a single large piece of stone. It's absolutely incredible in terms of craftsmanship & engineering. Ethiopian legends say they were created by one man, St Lalibela (who also happened to be king). Whilst it appears that the person who oversaw this project had great vision and amazing skill, it's impossible that it could have been done by one man. Archeologists suggest that about 40,000 craftsmen and slaves were involved in the construction.

Bete Maryam Church, Lalibela

The crew at Bete Maryam

It's certainly impressive and has attracted many thousands of pilgrims over the years. There were plenty of them wandering into town throughout our stay. As we walked past a cave in an external wall I did a double take seeing a couple of pairs of mummified feet hanging out of the hole. Our guide explained that they were the remains of pilgrims who'd died after completing their journey. Weird.

Bete Giorgis Church

Mummified pilgrims

Pre-European influence fresco of St George i.e. he's black

The wonderful exteriors speak for themselves but the interiors were another matter. Shamefully, they were a diabolical mess. The original frescos were minimal which is to be expected over time, but the rest - carpets, curtains, artifacts etc were shabby and dirty. Religious items, ornaments and furniture were strewn or piled up in random fashion. Dodgy wiring & lighting hung precariously from walls & ceilings. In one church our guide was showing us an 800 year old wooden chest with a unique locking mechanism to deter would be thieves. It was a beautifully carved piece of furniture. Unmissable, however, was the fact that someone had jigsawed a hole in the front and installed a shoddy chipboard door. The guide told us that the current priest had decided the original lock mechanism was too difficult to use so "built his own hole". In other words, he was too lazy to use something properly, so decided to vandalise it.

The churches are definitely a highlight of Ethiopia. However, it's a shame that those charged with their care are so careless. Walking around Lalibela reminded me of a conversation Zoe & I had over beers with some young Syrian guys in Damascus. When we mentioned the amount of litter at some archeological sites, one said "The Syrian people don't deserve Syria". In other words, they are the beneficiaries of a tremendous natural & cultural inheritance and fail to appreciate that fact. Ethiopia & Africa, in general, suffers the same way. It's nothing to do with lack of money or education - it's sheer laziness on the behalf of people who know better, have the capacity to do better but choose not to.

The following day we drove a 100km loop through the beautiful countryside to visit two famous historical churches. The first, a 10th century marble cave church, impressive for its spectacular location, similarity with a modern mosques (including stunning iconoclastic artwork) and a pile of several thousand mummies (of pilgrims) stacked up in the corner of the cave. The girls were repelled by the grisly sight but the lads were macabrely fascinated; simultaneously taking lots of photos whilst feigning sounds of revulsion.

Bete Kirkos Cave Church

Emperor's tomb, Bete Kirkos

Mummified pilgrims, Bete Kirkos

Priest with processional cross, Bete Kirkos

The second church was carved from a single piece of rock in 570 AD and had been in continual use since. The priest was very excited to show us a bible allegedly from the time of constructing and two bronze crosses of equal antiquity. We cringed as the priest carelessly fumbled the crosses, clanging them together. He then produced the bible and flipped through the pages as if it were a pulp fiction novel. It was hilariously illustrated with recent Disneyesque cartoon icons. When I enquired as to the amazing state of the book our guide responded that it was one of the miracles of the church. Hmmm.

The guide then pointed out a beehive in a hole above the main entrance. It is considered as sacred with miracle producing honey. The priest offered us some honey which we ate as he appeared to bless us. Although I'm not sure if it quite worked. I think he might've cursed us.

6th Century Axumite Church

1500 year old frescos

Clumsy priest

The following day we departed early for Axum, a 500km flight to the north. Eleven hours forty minutes later we arrived in Addis Ababa, 700km in the opposite direction. According to our pilot, Ethiopian Airways were "sorry for the ten minute delay and any inconvenience caused by it. The fact that we were eight hours and forty minutes late and 1200km distant from our intended destination did not seem to warrant a mention.

The flight was delayed out of Lalibela by two hours due to bad weather. "No problem.", we thought, "Delays happen.". Twenty minutes into a 35 minute flight we suddenly changed direction. Ten minutes later we were informed that, due to bad weather at Axum, we would be landing at Bahir Dar in another ten minutes. This surprised us as the weather was not all that bad from where we were and we were in a Canadian built Bombardier aircraft which could handle poor conditions. Our guess was that the airstrip could not be used in poor weather. Not good in the Ethiopian wet season.

To cut a long story slightly shorter, we landed at Bahir Dar, waited four hours, were assured, despite strong rumours that we would not be flying to Addis, departed again for Axum, circled over Axum, returned toward Lalibela, circled over Lalibela, flew toward Addis, circled over Addis for 90 minutes and, finally, landed at Addis. All the time we were given almost no information and I had to use the compass on my phone to determine exactly where we were going.

The holy honey had damned us.

Bahir Dar, the 2nd time

Just prior to landing we were assured that an Ethiopian Airways representative would meet us to sort out our onward flights and other concerns. Naturally, nobody did. However, as seems to be the way in Ethiopia, after been let down by a multitude of people, one person went our of his way for us. Upon hearing our predicament, an embarrassed looking manager rebooked us to Axum the next morning and organised a four star hotel in central Addis, with dinner & breakfast and free transfers. Sorted.

The hotel was ridiculously plush and was beyond our expectations, as was dinner. We could help but compare the reaction of Ethiopian Airways with respect to our delay on an internal flight, and British Airways with respect to a major delay on an international flight and losing our luggage. Ethiopian did everything they could, BA did and still have done absolutely nothing.

Maybe we were blessed after all.

Luuuxury! Addis-style

But the tide of Ethiopia is stronger than one man and it started to go downhill again. After a sleep interrupted by very loud hotel staff and the Ethiopian Nocturnal Furniture Arranging Championships, we woke at 5am for our 5.45am transfer back to the airport. As we gathered, bleary eyed, in the lobby we were informed that the airline had called at midnight and delayed our flight to 10am; the new departure time for the transfer being 7am. We trudged back to bed. When we arrived at the airport the airline staff informed us that we'd missed our flight, it'd departed at 7.45am.

They then proceeded to simultaneously argue that nobody had called the hotel, that we we weren't booked until the next day, that we would have to pay a penalty fare to change the flights etc etc. In the process they lost Jonno's passport for 10 minutes. Brilliant.

We stood our ground and insisted on a proper resolution. Once again, when we thought all was lost, a single person rose above the rabble and sorted the situation. They provided a chartered aircraft.

We finally arrived at Axum at midday.

Axum is famed for its ancient & Christian monuments. It is the most important pilgrimage town in Ethiopia, the site of St Mary Zion church which allegedly houses The Ark of the Covenant. Legend says that in 980BC, a fellow called Menelik, the son of King Solomon of Israel and local lass, the Queen of Sheba, went to Jerusalem & returned with the Ark hidden in his luggage. It has been housed at Axum ever since. Allegedly. Despite no independent verification and several invasions by resulting in the total destruction of Axum, it has apparently remained safe.

We were allowed to see the exterior of the chapel which holds the Ark but the only person allowed to see the Ark is a sole monk who is let into the enclosure as the lone guardian and only leaves as a cadaver.

Chapel allegedly containing the alleged Ark of the Covenent, Axum

The other point of interest of St Mary Zion is the extensive treasury. Housed in a small museum, the collection contains crowns, chalices & crosses from each of the 265 coronations of Ethiopian emperors stretching back 1600 years. Intricately made of gold & silver and studded with precious stones, the items are utterly priceless. That are stored in glass cabinets with handles secured with...string. At least the crowns had string - there were golden umbrellas stacked helter skelter in a corner and an enormous pile of silver incense burners on a shelf. Two Dutch lads on our tour were so astonished they could not stop laughing.

St Mary Zion, Axum

Byzantine art, St Mary Zion

It was astounding as it was hilarious to see such priceless artifacts stored in such a manner. When Zoe told the guide of our amazement at the lack of security, he looked confused. "We have security now", he said, motioning toward a dozing octogenarian, slumped in his chair, armed with a walking stick.

Other highlights included huge stelae, carved granite monoliths, left as permanent reminders of the Axumite civilisation, several Axumite treasuries and the Queen of Sheba's excavated palace.

Pre-Christian Axumite stelae

Axumite tomb

The Queen of Sheba's Palace...allegedly

The place is so full of unexcavated graves and treasure its ridiculous. As we left St Mary Zion, a hawker offered us a handful of 2000 year old coins for USD50. We declined, although Zoe was sorely tempted. A while later we asked our guide about the authenticity, he replied that the coins would be real; that when he was a student he would go digging on a nearby hill and sell his finds for enough money to pay for his textbooks and fees.

Up bright and early for the third day running, Ethiopian Airways showed consistent form; we were delayed for two hours leaving Axum for our 30 minute flight to Gondar. Then, as we approached Gondar in relatively good weather, I sensed a slight change in direction then noticed the bronze tinge of Lake Tana beneath us: we were on our way to Bahir Dar. Again.

The holy honey had definitely cursed us.

Sensing another unscheduled trip to Addis, as we disembarked Zoe demanded that they unload our bags and let us complete the journey by road. Several other passengers did likewise. The airline staff not only ignored us but placed a security cordon between the departure lounge and the tarmac, and stood around the plane, effectively hiding from their passengers. Zoe, Heather & a Spanish passenger tried unsuccessfully to convince security to let them speak to the airline reps. Then, suddenly, an Ethiopian Orthodox bishop, armed with a large crucifix, walked straight through the cordon, toward the airplane. Zoe asked security why he was permitted when they weren't. The reply was priceless.

"He is a divine holy man. We cannot stop him."

It was like a red rag to a bull. Led by their Spanish friend, Zoe & Heather pushed past the grasping hands of security and onto the tarmac. Security caught up with them only to be thwarted by about 40 Ethiopians who, encouraged by the actions of the Farangi, poured out of the departure lounge and joined the invasion. Meanwhile, I sat quietly in the lounge reading a book and grinning to myself.

At the sight of the angry mob, the pilot descended from the cabin and asked Zoe what the issue was. Following a brief explanation the pilot ordered ground staff to unload luggage for whoever wanted it and remove them from the manifest.

Someone should give the man a gold star.

After haggling with some extremely annoying & dishonest touts, we were crammed into a minibus and, 3 hours later, delivered to our hotel in Gondar.

The next few days were spent eating, drinking, hiding from the torrential rain, watching the Wallabies get led over a cliff by the NZRFU's special double agent, and counting down the hours for our departure to Sudan. We didn't even visit the castle at Gondar - unheard of for someone like me who loves history; we simply didn't want to deal with the locals, particularly the touts.

Before we started this trip, Ethiopia rated as the country I looked forward to the most. While there were plenty of positives - the scenery is beautiful and we learned a great deal about some amazing and obscure cultures - I'd rate it as the country I've enjoyed the least. Zoe concurs. Many of the problems had their genesis in or were exacerbated by the weather, so I'd recommend to anyone thinking about it, to definitely avoid Ethiopia in the wet season. All destinations have their drawbacks and potential problems. The issue with Ethiopia is that, in general, the behaviour of the locals did not help to make our experience better, particularly when problems did occur. While I truly think that it is mostly a problem with those people in Ethiopia who work in tourism or simply prey on tourists, the almost universal treatment of tourists as an object of curiosity is so bad it's dehumanising. Touts, pickpockets, bad customer service & poor hygiene can be part and parcel of travel - even in extreme cases such as this. Staring at a woman who clearly wants and needs privacy to pee (it happened alot) is simply disgraceful and reveals of lack of basic human decency.

Experiences on this trip have led me to subscribe to the view that European colonialism was the best and worst thing to happen to Africa. For Ethiopia the rule holds except, having never truly been colonised, the inverse is true.