An early rise follows a solid night of rain. Today is the day we drive south. Impressively we are on the road by 7.10! The streets of Addis are already clogged with traffic however. Most of the disruption seems to be caused by flooding. Drainage isnt so good!
Soon we break through the traffic and descend into the Rift valley. Its warmer and drier here. There is a fun atmosphere on the bus. Songs are sung, jokes are told, quizzes set and a running commentary on what's going on outside.
The roads are fine, smooth and not too busy. The driver has to slow down a lot however for all the donkeys in the road. After about 3 hours we stop is Sashashame for lunch. The waiters are very friendly and the food is good but it was extremely slow coming out. We were there for 2 and half hours! This is African time.
Eventually we were back on the road but e needed to stop for bread and bananas. Right in the midst of our shopping excursion the heavens opened and once again we were caught running through torrential rain.
A little damp, we pressed on to Dodola. Dodola is a quiet one street town where we will be based out of. Here we met our guides and friendly hotel owner. The rooms are comfortable with hot showers. The rest of the bathroom however leaves a lot to be desired. Pretty basic!
The mood is good as we have a lovely dinner of spicy spag bol. We have a busy itinerary ahead so we go to bed at 8.30.
Tomorrow we trek to Garamba, the village where our project is. In 10 days time we return to Dodola.
Glad to here you are having a good time and the food is good.
ReplyDeleteHope Bryony, Hind, you and the rest of the group are well.
Greg (Bryony's Dad)