Living the Dream Solo Around the World Trip
- Thread starter schalk vd merwe
- Start date
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Nie so dat jy dit sal agter kom nieHB 9 said:
Once again, friggin awesome Schalk, you have truly lived your dream.
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Thanks mate, I tend to agree with you.Warren Ellwood said:
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2007
- Messages
- 2,606
- Reaction score
- 324
- Location
- Dana Bay, Mossel Bay
- Bike
- Suzuki DR650
schalk vd merwe said:
:thumleft: well done.
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Thanks MateTony the Boney said:
gwild
Race Dog
Awesome, keep those pics coming :thumleft:
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Ethiopia on the way down
The next morning I was up early and I did not waste any time and went to the border. Both the Sudan as well as the Ethiopian border at Metema was no problem. Now I was back in the country with fuel problems again. The last fill up was 100km back in Sudan and I was trying to make it to Bahir Dar next to Lake Tana where the Blue Nile begins 300km away. I could not help but to notice the big contrast between Sudan and Ethiopia. Sudan is a dry desert country and the moment you cross into Ethiopia it is this beautiful lush light green country with lots of vegetation and ploughed fields. You travel mainly on the ridge of the mountains and as it is quite cold I put on my rain suite jacket over my riding jacket. As far as I went I stopped at every petrol pump to enquire about fuel but they were all dry. I then ask one pump attendant where I could get fuel from and he called someone from across the road who sells petrol privately. You get them all over Africa especially where they are far away from pumps and they normally supply the picky picky’s and the tuck tuck’s but this was right at a petrol station. The guy came from across the road and I ordered enough fuel to fill up my tank and that should get me to Bahir Dar where my friend Dedu is keeping 15 litres of fuel for me. I at least now had the confidence that I would make Bahir Dar. As I said it was cold and I stopped at a road side spaza coffee shop where they serve real Ethiopian coffee and some people belief it is the best in the world. The spaza coffee shop had green grass strewn on the floor as a floor covering and I sat on a homemade chair. The building was made out of corrugated iron and I had a chat to the other patrons as well who offered me chad for free which I refused. Chad is a green grass type of drug that they chew and which makes them high. It is quite popular in Ethiopia and the northern parts of Kenya and it is legal. The riches woman and person in Ethiopia export the stuff with her own Boeing aircraft. By 3 o clock in the afternoon a large part of the population is high on the stuff and I know of other tourist that don’t drive after 3pm as people sometimes would just stand in the middle of the road with a funny look on their face. If you ride over a kid in Ethiopia and kill the kid it is an immediate minimum 7 year jail sentence even if it was the kids fault. What makes it worse is that the kids sometimes play chicken and run across the road at the last second as you approached. If you kill an animal on the road there are different prices for the different animals that you have to pay. Africa is definitively not for sissies.
About 50km before Bahir Dar I found the first petrol pump with fuel and I filled up. When I reached Bahir Dar Degu was happy that I found fuel as he could then use the 15 litres that he kept for me to instead use it for his boat that he use to take tourist out on Lake Tana.
I stayed as the same cheap rooms that I slept at coming up. The next morning I was up early as I wanted to make it to Addis Abeba a 560km drive with hundreds of animals and people on the road. At one place I came over a beautiful mountain pass and there was a downhill pass of about 25km down to a bridge and then again a mountain pass on the other side of about the same distance going up. As I reached the bridge I stopped to take photos. A truck came the other way and driver shouted “dangerous area not allow to stop”. When I got to the other side the police was waiting for me and wanted to know why I took photos. In most parts of Africa you are not allowed to take photos of bridges as they fear sabotage. I explained that I am just a tourist and I am taking photos all over. I was very friendly towards them and they eventually let me go.
For the rest of the trip to Addis I stopped at every petrol station but they were all dry. My reserve light was on and there were not even these private fuel sellers next to the road. All the pump attendants told me to try in Addis. As I reached Addis with 300km on the clock I found a petrol pump with fuel. I filled up and found that I was nearly dry as the bike took 15 litres which is the capacity of the tank.
I looked for House Holland again and started to follow the big orange buses as the terminus for the buses is just close to House Holland. Addis Abeba is big city. I eventually found the place and as I walked in here sat Evelyn van Hooren and her friend Philip whom I both met when I came the other way 2 months prior. We had a nice dinner and a glass of wine together and a catch up on everything that happened in the meantime. She had arranged for me to go on a boat with her dad in Holland but as I could not make it to Europe we postponed the appointment to next year when I am doing stage two of my trip.
I also noticed two bikes under a canvas in the yard and when I went to check I saw it was two Suzuki DR’s and I then just knew that the bikes belonged to the Australian couple Tanya and Mick whom I met coming the other way at Jungle Junction. They arrived back later that night from dinner and I convinced them to stay another day so that we could chat as we did not have time at Jungle Junction in Kenya. The next day we indeed had a nice chat.
There was also a German couple Conni and Alexander Ries who was stuck there due to their Land Rovers leave springs that was broken. They managed to source some parts after I left.
Then it was the trip to the Kenyan border which normally takes 2 days to complete due to all the roadwork for about 300km. At one place the detour road was next to new road under construction. A picky picky driver and his paying passenger were riding on the new tar road which was not open yet and the road was also higher than the temporary gravel road that I was riding on. I went faster on the gravel than the picky picky on the tar and then the two roads came together to form one gravel road under construction. The road had a lot of round stones sticking out above the road surface and it was a downhill as well. The picky picky driver then thought he is going to show me how a bike should be ridden. He was really sending it downhill and close to the bottom his bike caught a wobble and the bike swerved to the right and there they hit the ground. They had no protective gear on and no helmet. The driver just crawled to the side of the road as he was in a lot of pain and the passenger just sat there on the ground. Both their clothes were torn to pieces and some bystanders picked up their bike and started to straighten the crash bars and handle bars. I stopped to enquire if they were OK but they could hardly talk. As I could not talk their langue I carried on further. At one place there was guy next to the road with a type of a self-made golf club and he took a swing at me as I drove past. I took a duck and he just missed me so it was nearly my turn to come short. I suppose he was also on the green stuff.
That night I slept at a town called Dila at the same hotel that I stayed coming up. The price was good the food was good and the room 4 floors up were good. There was no lift but the hotel staff helped me to carry all my heavy baggage up. The next day I travelled to the border and decided to sleep on the Ethiopian side at the same hotel that I stayed at before. They booked me in to a reed hut with the name Barack Obam. I suppose that is the correct spelling of his name. Biruk the money changer came over and changed my money to Kenyan shillings that night. I had the same goat meat meal as before where they put the pery pery meat in a pot with place underneath for the coal to keep it hot.
I am writing a book about the trip that will have more information in than on this forum. If you are interested in the book please e mail me at [email protected] with your contact details in order for me to print the right amount of copies. The book should be out by the end of the year. The proceeds will also go towards financing the 2nd part of the around the world trip. The book will be about R200 with lots of photos
The next morning I was up early and I did not waste any time and went to the border. Both the Sudan as well as the Ethiopian border at Metema was no problem. Now I was back in the country with fuel problems again. The last fill up was 100km back in Sudan and I was trying to make it to Bahir Dar next to Lake Tana where the Blue Nile begins 300km away. I could not help but to notice the big contrast between Sudan and Ethiopia. Sudan is a dry desert country and the moment you cross into Ethiopia it is this beautiful lush light green country with lots of vegetation and ploughed fields. You travel mainly on the ridge of the mountains and as it is quite cold I put on my rain suite jacket over my riding jacket. As far as I went I stopped at every petrol pump to enquire about fuel but they were all dry. I then ask one pump attendant where I could get fuel from and he called someone from across the road who sells petrol privately. You get them all over Africa especially where they are far away from pumps and they normally supply the picky picky’s and the tuck tuck’s but this was right at a petrol station. The guy came from across the road and I ordered enough fuel to fill up my tank and that should get me to Bahir Dar where my friend Dedu is keeping 15 litres of fuel for me. I at least now had the confidence that I would make Bahir Dar. As I said it was cold and I stopped at a road side spaza coffee shop where they serve real Ethiopian coffee and some people belief it is the best in the world. The spaza coffee shop had green grass strewn on the floor as a floor covering and I sat on a homemade chair. The building was made out of corrugated iron and I had a chat to the other patrons as well who offered me chad for free which I refused. Chad is a green grass type of drug that they chew and which makes them high. It is quite popular in Ethiopia and the northern parts of Kenya and it is legal. The riches woman and person in Ethiopia export the stuff with her own Boeing aircraft. By 3 o clock in the afternoon a large part of the population is high on the stuff and I know of other tourist that don’t drive after 3pm as people sometimes would just stand in the middle of the road with a funny look on their face. If you ride over a kid in Ethiopia and kill the kid it is an immediate minimum 7 year jail sentence even if it was the kids fault. What makes it worse is that the kids sometimes play chicken and run across the road at the last second as you approached. If you kill an animal on the road there are different prices for the different animals that you have to pay. Africa is definitively not for sissies.
About 50km before Bahir Dar I found the first petrol pump with fuel and I filled up. When I reached Bahir Dar Degu was happy that I found fuel as he could then use the 15 litres that he kept for me to instead use it for his boat that he use to take tourist out on Lake Tana.
I stayed as the same cheap rooms that I slept at coming up. The next morning I was up early as I wanted to make it to Addis Abeba a 560km drive with hundreds of animals and people on the road. At one place I came over a beautiful mountain pass and there was a downhill pass of about 25km down to a bridge and then again a mountain pass on the other side of about the same distance going up. As I reached the bridge I stopped to take photos. A truck came the other way and driver shouted “dangerous area not allow to stop”. When I got to the other side the police was waiting for me and wanted to know why I took photos. In most parts of Africa you are not allowed to take photos of bridges as they fear sabotage. I explained that I am just a tourist and I am taking photos all over. I was very friendly towards them and they eventually let me go.
For the rest of the trip to Addis I stopped at every petrol station but they were all dry. My reserve light was on and there were not even these private fuel sellers next to the road. All the pump attendants told me to try in Addis. As I reached Addis with 300km on the clock I found a petrol pump with fuel. I filled up and found that I was nearly dry as the bike took 15 litres which is the capacity of the tank.
I looked for House Holland again and started to follow the big orange buses as the terminus for the buses is just close to House Holland. Addis Abeba is big city. I eventually found the place and as I walked in here sat Evelyn van Hooren and her friend Philip whom I both met when I came the other way 2 months prior. We had a nice dinner and a glass of wine together and a catch up on everything that happened in the meantime. She had arranged for me to go on a boat with her dad in Holland but as I could not make it to Europe we postponed the appointment to next year when I am doing stage two of my trip.
I also noticed two bikes under a canvas in the yard and when I went to check I saw it was two Suzuki DR’s and I then just knew that the bikes belonged to the Australian couple Tanya and Mick whom I met coming the other way at Jungle Junction. They arrived back later that night from dinner and I convinced them to stay another day so that we could chat as we did not have time at Jungle Junction in Kenya. The next day we indeed had a nice chat.
There was also a German couple Conni and Alexander Ries who was stuck there due to their Land Rovers leave springs that was broken. They managed to source some parts after I left.
Then it was the trip to the Kenyan border which normally takes 2 days to complete due to all the roadwork for about 300km. At one place the detour road was next to new road under construction. A picky picky driver and his paying passenger were riding on the new tar road which was not open yet and the road was also higher than the temporary gravel road that I was riding on. I went faster on the gravel than the picky picky on the tar and then the two roads came together to form one gravel road under construction. The road had a lot of round stones sticking out above the road surface and it was a downhill as well. The picky picky driver then thought he is going to show me how a bike should be ridden. He was really sending it downhill and close to the bottom his bike caught a wobble and the bike swerved to the right and there they hit the ground. They had no protective gear on and no helmet. The driver just crawled to the side of the road as he was in a lot of pain and the passenger just sat there on the ground. Both their clothes were torn to pieces and some bystanders picked up their bike and started to straighten the crash bars and handle bars. I stopped to enquire if they were OK but they could hardly talk. As I could not talk their langue I carried on further. At one place there was guy next to the road with a type of a self-made golf club and he took a swing at me as I drove past. I took a duck and he just missed me so it was nearly my turn to come short. I suppose he was also on the green stuff.
That night I slept at a town called Dila at the same hotel that I stayed coming up. The price was good the food was good and the room 4 floors up were good. There was no lift but the hotel staff helped me to carry all my heavy baggage up. The next day I travelled to the border and decided to sleep on the Ethiopian side at the same hotel that I stayed at before. They booked me in to a reed hut with the name Barack Obam. I suppose that is the correct spelling of his name. Biruk the money changer came over and changed my money to Kenyan shillings that night. I had the same goat meat meal as before where they put the pery pery meat in a pot with place underneath for the coal to keep it hot.
I am writing a book about the trip that will have more information in than on this forum. If you are interested in the book please e mail me at [email protected] with your contact details in order for me to print the right amount of copies. The book should be out by the end of the year. The proceeds will also go towards financing the 2nd part of the around the world trip. The book will be about R200 with lots of photos
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
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