Gael warning in the Congo

simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

Thanks Ash!

I have not covered my transit into Ethiopia as I am having problems loading pictures. But here are my brief notes

Friday into Ethiopia:

Heavy rain overnight and in morning

Chat to Nairobi bikers who are thinking of heading home
Break in rain so I go for it although still a steady drizzle
Empty landscape
Refilled in a sloping and bumpy muddy station surrounded by hustlers to change money
Kenya exit good and simple

Ethiopia slow
Evisa required call to head office
Customs slowly start their work
All panniers opened
Then generators turned off so computer down and it's time for the 12-2 lunch break

Only me here:

Everyone has gone to lunch!

Recent move but filing a bit behind?

I stretch out on a bench and snooze, listening to a podcast. I am the sole occupant of the vast new customs and immigration hall (picture)
Glad not to be hauled into the interrogation room!
No mzungu crossing here and I reflect that I have met no non/Africa based motorcycle travellers since leaving Windhoek, which surprised me as I had heard the East coast was a more popular (as safer and easier) route
Eventually return from lunch at 2:10 and painfully slow single finger tapping in of my details into the computer
Offered me a customer feedback form but I declined!
Eventually I emerge into the sunshine
Noone told me about driving on right! Quick change of side
Stop for SIM card
Big queue...I am ushered to front
Bit of a saga - wrong SIM size
Eventually I clear out as want to get moving to Yabello
And then the heavens opened...
Then a Police stop changes my poor impression of Ethiopia...gives me a bag of sugar cane as a gift...a real lift!

Finally get to Yabello at sunset....no riding after dark for me. Outrageous price for a sump but little choice

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simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

Glad I missed this!

Meanwhile the locals just walk through the frontier

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simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

On my way out of Kenya I saw the landscape changing and met my first camels, an echo of West africa

as were the village huts although a different style

Later that morning my road was blocked by this 'camelcade'...as they walked past me I saw there were at least 80 of them and they were not giving way

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simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

Time to open the top box which is like a small version of motoworks

The attempt to pump my tyre showed that my pump (bought in Namibia I think to replace the one confiscated in Angola as I was about to fly over the Congo river) was useless.

So add that to my Addis shopping list!

Jim will say I should have brought my mobile compressor but I resent the 1 kg of weight

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simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

At the lake hotel I met these agriculture aid workers....Manon from Holland (who lives in Ghana) Evelyn from Nairobi and Thomas from Addis. To my embarrassment they generously bought me drinks and supper and it was good to meet them and chat about their experiences around Africa

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Tango2 · Oct 14, 2019

Great reports. Thank you so much. Please keep them coming

simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

Safely arrived in Addis after battling the fierce traffic and hilly terrain

Stopped at one point to remove my gansy (Irish for jumper) as the heat took its toll and spotted this faded beauty who will roll no more I think

This was the point when I wondered if continuing to ride on the left hand side of the road was such a good idea

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simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

I tried to take a few snaps on this morning's more relaxed ride from Lake Ziway to Addis

Predictably, this lorry was stopped with a broken axle or suspension!

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simondippenhall · Oct 14, 2019

Half the traffic is these tuktuks and horse drawn carts...so constant overtaking and dodging going on.

First police bike seen in Ethiopia...the faithful divvy I think...

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simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

Hmmm.....no one has stopped me so far in Addis

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simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

My brain has been aching over that two days as I have analyzed the 6 or 7 options to getting the bike back to blighty.

I won't spell them out here for various reasons but it's clear that a decision point will come when/if I make it to Khartoum.

There I either go North and try to get into Egypt with all its hassle and apparently no way through the Sinai for 4x4 or motorcycle which are banned!

Or turn right and go down to the Red Sea (Port Sudan or Suakin) and try to Gerry over to Saudi.

So I have been weighing all these up plus where after Saudi as the European November weather looks.

Then yesterday I learned that, despite getting all around Africa' without a carnet de passage, Sudan will require one in some form!

So now I have applied this morning for a Sudan visa which is due tomorrow afternoon, and started to hunt down some way of getting through Sudanese Customs. The Sudan Automobile and Touring Ckub say they can do something but are being coy about the price.

So just a reminder to me that this adventure biking dies exercise 'ze little grey cells, Miss Lemon' as well as the body

.

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simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

So as I ha e to wait until tomorrow to get the

visa I went searching for petrol. And after three fails (the third had petrol but no power to pump it!) I struck lucky with these guys.

So in celebration of the petrol find I went to Tomoka Coffee shop again.

Now I need to go hunting for US Dollar

as Sudan has no ATMs

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Welshboxer · Oct 15, 2019

Really enjoying reading this.

gspod · Oct 15, 2019

Good luck with your onward journey Simon- gansey, really made me laugh

Oldrat · Oct 15, 2019

Great read, thanks for taking the time and trouble Simon

:beerjug:

simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

On my way here yesterday I was intrigued by the warning (shown by the big hand here on the map) that NO motorcycle was allowed in the lovely big expressway that runs some 30 kms into Addis.

So I wondered what would hypothetically happen if an imaginary GSer should slip through the entry toll booths on the offside of a big lorry and then ride comfortably on the magnificent and empty three lane highway. I would think in that hypothetical situation he might be stopped at the exit by the police and invited into the adjacent station for a chat. There he could express his contrition ('always better to apologise than to disobey!') for his ignorant error, have his hand shaken and be wished safely on his way. Hypothetically speaking

.

When I visited an Italian Ethiopian KTM adventure guy, Flavio, this morning he expressed amazement as he had never heard of a motorcycle going on that road.(Nor has one, of course!).

We also chatted about Sudan's apparent need for a carnet. He was equally amazed that I had lapped Africa successfully without one, in his eyes another first.

I am tempted by a little craft project for this evening

. Amazing how many officially stamped documents I have accumulated recently

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simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

gspod said:
Good luck with your onward journey Simon- gansey, really made me laugh

Thinking about the road through Europe (if I can get the bike that far!) I realise I am definitely short on the Gansey front, wearing a Revit Air lightweight motorcycle suit

.

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twizzle · Oct 15, 2019

Buy a jumper in Greece/Turkey/Cyprus - easy!! i'm sure that the lack of Euro Winter biking gear is going to be the least of your challenges after getting through the next phase...

simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

All this adventuring and planning on different ways and contingencies is making me hungry... Especially as Jim just WhatsAppd me to say his steak

had just arrived in front of him down in South Africa.

So I managed to refind the local chippie here for a 5,birr bag (20US cents)... Mmmmm.

I have a free evening and an excellent book. Tomorrow the goal is to find US dollars and get my Sudan visa and then head off into North West Ethiopia

the next morning.

But the best laid plans etc etc. I have learnt in this game to expect the unexpected

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simondippenhall · Oct 15, 2019

twizzle said:
Buy a jumper in Greece/Turkey/Cyprus - easy!! i'm sure that the lack of Euro Winter biking gear is going to be the least of your challenges after getting through the next phase...

Twizzle you are right... I think the next stage is going to be quite a challenging one given the countries and seas I have to cross

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Gael warning in the Congo

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So much better now Engineer is on ignore

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