30 April, Saturday Bahir Dar to Motto
On our way to Addis are the Blue Nile Falls. It is a 40 minute hike to the outlook point and we decide to take Sammie with. We have an attachment as soon as we start: a self-appointed guide who sticks with us even though we tell him that we don’t need a guide. “No problem”, is his only answer. We find ourselves in the same situation so often and I think experience has made us a little more callous than what we’ve been. You try to be nice, tell them that you do not need their services, but they ignore it and in the end create a scene, because they did walk with you and now you do not want to pay.
Our route takes us through a small village where Sammie creates hysteria. Kids scream and laugh, run ahead of us and gather the rest of the village’s children. We look like the Piper with our entourage… When we reach the top of the hill, Willie told our “guide” one more time that we do not need a guide and he needs to know that we will pay no money. This time he understands the more direct approach and we continue on our own.
I’m not sure what I expected, but the Falls are a disappointment. It is nothing spectacular, but I can see that it must have been at one point in time. They have diverted the river to a hydraulic plant which has stolen probably half of the water from the Falls – the reason the Falls are quite mediocre. It is quite hot on our way back and Sammie, being black and out of shape, because of his sedentary life style overheats quickly. He runs from tree to tree where he falls into the sand huffing and puffing. Willie and Hugo walk ahead to get the car whilst Andrej and I nurse Sammie with water and sponging him down. Andrej carries him at one stage, because the hot sand burns his paws…creating even further amazement amongst the onlookers. We gather several attachments on our way down demanding money or pens.
On our way to Addis are the Blue Nile Falls. It is a 40 minute hike to the outlook point and we decide to take Sammie with. We have an attachment as soon as we start: a self-appointed guide who sticks with us even though we tell him that we don’t need a guide. “No problem”, is his only answer. We find ourselves in the same situation so often and I think experience has made us a little more callous than what we’ve been. You try to be nice, tell them that you do not need their services, but they ignore it and in the end create a scene, because they did walk with you and now you do not want to pay.
Our route takes us through a small village where Sammie creates hysteria. Kids scream and laugh, run ahead of us and gather the rest of the village’s children. We look like the Piper with our entourage… When we reach the top of the hill, Willie told our “guide” one more time that we do not need a guide and he needs to know that we will pay no money. This time he understands the more direct approach and we continue on our own.
I’m not sure what I expected, but the Falls are a disappointment. It is nothing spectacular, but I can see that it must have been at one point in time. They have diverted the river to a hydraulic plant which has stolen probably half of the water from the Falls – the reason the Falls are quite mediocre. It is quite hot on our way back and Sammie, being black and out of shape, because of his sedentary life style overheats quickly. He runs from tree to tree where he falls into the sand huffing and puffing. Willie and Hugo walk ahead to get the car whilst Andrej and I nurse Sammie with water and sponging him down. Andrej carries him at one stage, because the hot sand burns his paws…creating even further amazement amongst the onlookers. We gather several attachments on our way down demanding money or pens.
It is after 2 when we finally are back on the road again for Addis. The road is bad and our progress slower than expected and we realize that we will definitely not make it to Addis. We stop in Motto to buy a few supplies for bush camping. Hugo and I, with a guide, of course, criss-cross the town from butchery to butchery, but they do not have meat anymore – tomorrow morning! I buy tomatoes and potatoes and back at the car Willie suggested that we try to find a hotel for the night, because it has started to rain.
All of us are relieved and we find a hotel that has a safe courtyard for the car and they are ok with the boys sleeping in the rooftop tent; Willie and I have a room with clean sheets, but there is no running water therefore no showers or flushing toilets! It is interesting that it has dropped on the list of essentials for a place to sleep. Running water, showering showers and flushing toilets are luxuries in this part of the world – even when you stay in a hotel.
On our way in Hugo has seen a restaurant, Twilight Café, with a poster displaying hamburgers, spaghetti, hot dogs. He has dreamed up the most spectacular, mouth-watering hamburger explaining the taste, the feel, the look in the finest detail…We walk across the street to Twilight which seems busy with many people sitting around. I do not see any food on the tables, except small coffee cups. The not-speaking-English-at-all waitress comes and when Hugo asks for hamburger she shakes her head and tells him, “no” Maybe they do not have hamburgers, but something else. He asks and she shakes her head again. Someone else at a nearby table comes to our rescue and tells us that they do not have food anymore – only drinks! Oh, the disappointment! We regroup over tea and decide to go back to the hotel – surely they must have food. They do, but only a limited menu: spaghetti and Ethiopian food. It will take more than an hour for spaghetti with meat sauce and after our butchery tour I am convinced that they will have to slaughter the goat first, before they can serve meat. What we have taste good and we are happy to have a place to stay where the car is safe as well.
All of us are relieved and we find a hotel that has a safe courtyard for the car and they are ok with the boys sleeping in the rooftop tent; Willie and I have a room with clean sheets, but there is no running water therefore no showers or flushing toilets! It is interesting that it has dropped on the list of essentials for a place to sleep. Running water, showering showers and flushing toilets are luxuries in this part of the world – even when you stay in a hotel.
On our way in Hugo has seen a restaurant, Twilight Café, with a poster displaying hamburgers, spaghetti, hot dogs. He has dreamed up the most spectacular, mouth-watering hamburger explaining the taste, the feel, the look in the finest detail…We walk across the street to Twilight which seems busy with many people sitting around. I do not see any food on the tables, except small coffee cups. The not-speaking-English-at-all waitress comes and when Hugo asks for hamburger she shakes her head and tells him, “no” Maybe they do not have hamburgers, but something else. He asks and she shakes her head again. Someone else at a nearby table comes to our rescue and tells us that they do not have food anymore – only drinks! Oh, the disappointment! We regroup over tea and decide to go back to the hotel – surely they must have food. They do, but only a limited menu: spaghetti and Ethiopian food. It will take more than an hour for spaghetti with meat sauce and after our butchery tour I am convinced that they will have to slaughter the goat first, before they can serve meat. What we have taste good and we are happy to have a place to stay where the car is safe as well.
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