:: Carnet de Voyage ::David

// Nikon D7200 | 11,48631 : 37,58621 | alt. 1638m

The long 500kms drive between Addis and the blue Nile falls was an experience in itself. My paper map showed a nice tar road all the way, but we had to cross a few terrible sections. The part where we had to cross the Nile, at the bottom of a massive canyon (which seemed deeper than the grand canyon in the US, according to the altimeter) was fantastic, and we had to stop many times to take pictures.
The final part was a very bad gravel road, under construction, with many useless roadblocks, and it was really hard to figure out where to drive at night ( I missed the road many times….) but eventually, we made it to the blue Nile falls, where we could park in front of the ticket office.

Next morning, a fucking asshole working as a guide started speaking loudly next to our van from sunrise, yelling “the office is open !”, “Wake up !” and so and so every 10min. If I was not exhausted by the long drive, I would just step out and slap his face. Instead, I just politely told him to shut the fuck up and that we would never use his services.
A local guide came and told me to go as soon as possible, because the waterfalls get in the shade very quickly, but he didn’t ask for anything else. The other asshole came back, and ended up being the most annoying person I ever met on this trip.
Tickets are 50birr per person, fairly cheap, but if you know where are the falls, you don’t have to pay, no one will check your ticket :p The lady at the counter was nice enough to give us directions, and we could do everything on our own. Obviously, everyone is trying to persuade you to take a guide, because it’s a long walk, and you can get lost (every where the same speech) ….. blablabla, never listen to those guys.

So we went to the trail with the van (and OSM provides gps track for that particular trail), but our annoying guide was following us, and went with us on the trail…. it took a very long time to get rid of him…. Instead, we met a little girl selling stuff, but she quickly went on a mission to guide us to the waterfall, with her little brothers and sisters. This was a family event 🙂 This little girl was fantastic, very kind, guiding us into the bush to find the best viewpoints. The waterfalls are indeed stunning, not as impressive as Iguazu or Victoria, but still wonderful, and you can walk to the base to enjoy the mist, a mandatory refreshing stop. Many pictures on the way with those kids, and when we came back to the vehicle, we gave her a decent tip plus a half bag of candies. I forgot to mention, despite being only 10yo, she spoke a better english than anyone else in the country, clearly a smart little one. She just made our day a fantastic experience.

  // Nikon D7200 | 8,99182 : 38,74846 | alt. 2293m As suggested by our friends, we left Harar after lunch and took the road back to Addis. On the way, road blocks were getting bigger and bigger, but we always managed to swiftly cross them, dodging all the bigs rocks and boulders blocking the way….

  // Nikon D7200 | 9,31167 : 42,12249 | alt. 1895m Long drive to Harar….. my back is getting really painful now. I’m not used to cover long distances anymore since Botswana…… Using Ioverlander database, we managed to get a place to stay very quickly (at the Ras hotel). A very fancy hotel where we can…

  // Nikon D7200 | 8,99182 : 38,74846 | alt. 2293m The border was surprisingly quiet……way too quiet….. this cannot be right. Biiiig buildings everywhere, lot of construction, no sign, no one to guide me…. this is strange. Found immigration, they check for my ethiopian visa, and I got my stamp. Super easy to leave Kenya….