Turmi - Illeret (13.033 km)

tells a tale doesnt itletting the tyre pressure down for the thick sand
the border post out of ethiopia was a shack in the middle of nowhere at the border post. our entourage + support vehicle our first nights camp in kenya. we slept at a barracks. such wonderful policemen. so hospitable. arriving at lake turkana

we started off the ride quite early in the morning. we got all our fuel (200litres of it!) enough water for a week and food. the road just went from really bad offroad to camel tracks. i really felt like we were entering africa that day. ethiopia is still very much arab africa. kenya is the real deal. the ride was lovely. lots of sand and accacia trees and the border post was a little shack in the middle of nowhere. this is bandit country now. so we had to awares. we hit lake turkana in the afternoon and all 5 of us road off into the nothing to reach the lake. i had such a sense of freedom doing that. just riding over the countryside. no tracks nothing. just over whatever was in our way. we hit the lake and payed with the children in the water. there were dows and fisherman. it was a wonderful arrival. we hit illiret that evening and were immediatly offered beers by the local policeman. 'welcome to kenya!' we slept that night in the barracks with the armed forces. theyre stationed there in order to fight off the bandits that steal all the cattle in the area. such lovely people. its so nice to have a decent conversation. kenyans speak such good enlgish. these guys stationed out here have a very hard life. going home every 6 months to visit there families. some of the die out here fighting these bandits. so its hard and made me think how simple and uncomplicated my life was. we are so very lucky and we forget that.

Martedi 29/01/2008 siamo andati verso la frontiera con il Kenya attraverso la strada che costeggia la sponda orientale del lago Turkana. Qui inizia una delle zone piu’ inospitali ed inaccessibili dell’Africa ricoperta da tantissima sabbia e grandi rocce. Alla frontiera i militari keniani hanno fermato il 4x4 impedendogli di proseguire oltre, cosi’ abbiamo dovuto scaricare tutta la benzina e le provviste che avevamo raccolto.

La notte ci siamo accampati vicino alla capanna della caserma (N 04 18,751’ E 36 13,641’) dove i militari ci hanno fatto compagnia aiutandoci ad accendere il fuoco e prestandoci alcune pentole per cucinare. E’ stato proprio un bel benvenuto in Kenya.

Colonna sonora: “Think” Aretha Franklin

Weyto - Turmi (12.850 km)

lovely scenery here

thought id try and fit in you know
having a wash. what fun!
the team planning our lake turkana mission. getting some good info from locals

Domenica 27/01/2008 siamo tornati a Weyto per recuperare le motociclette che avevamo lasciato alla piccola stazione di polizia del villaggio. Da li’ ci siamo avviati verso Turmi lungo una strada piuttosto sabbiosa. Purtroppo un po’ ingenuamente mi sono messo ad effettuare alcune riprese in movimento e la tracolla della videocamera si e’ impigliata nel casco fancendomi cadere su alcune rocce. Io non mi sono fatto praticamente nulla, anche se ho impiegato 10 minuti per liberare la gamba sinistra che era rimasta incastrata sotto la moto in mezzo a due rocce. Pero’ la videocamera e la leva del cambio si sono rotte. Ma la cosa piu’ grave e’ che si e’ piegato il manubrio, cosi’ dovro’ fare i 1.000 km piu’ impegnativi di tutto il viaggio con il manubrio completamente storto.
Gli ultimi 50 km per arrivare a Turmi (N 04 58,070’ E 36 29,454’) li ho dovuti fare spostando quello che rimaneva della leva del cambio con la mano sinistra.Verso sera ci hanno raggiunto anche George e Veysel che verranno insieme a noi in Kenya attraverso il lago Turkana.
Il giorno dopo siamo stati invitati tutti quanti in un villaggio Hamer per assistere ad una cerimonia di matrimonio: le donne non sposate si fanno flagellare dai giovani del villaggio per dimostrare la loro resistenza e capacita’ di devozione, mentre il promesso sposo deve affrontare una prova di coraggio saltando per sette volte consecutive sopra sette tori.
Colonna sonora: “No Matter” Jack Radics

We left our bikes at a police station for 3 days whilst we visited the Omo valley. and came back to collect them in the morning. the ride was a pretty easy one a part from matteo wiping out whilst filming something. apparently it was a very hard crash. he split a rock open with his helmet, busted the video camera, twisted his handlebars and wrecked levers left right and centre. its not a joke out here, and were being constantly reminded of the dangers that we are facing daily here. we arrived at Turmi. our last ethiopian town before hitting kenya's infamous lake turkana. iwe spent many hours planning our route there and talking to locals. trung to understand were the water and gas was positioned on the ruote. we stayed in a lovely campsite near a dry river bed with a water pump. there were many hamer villages in the area and they came in droves to fetch water. i had a bath under the pump which was fun. it was just lovely relaxing there. all our biker buddies rocked up and the place felt like home. i painted a frescoe on a mud wall with this hamer kid. spent a lovely afternoon with him. had to make the paintbrushes out of sticks by chewing on them for hours.

Omo Valley

The omo valley is one of those special places in the world. a place that kind of got forgotten whilst the rest of the world was thinking about things too much. the valley is host to a number of tribes, the principle ones being the Hamer and Mursi. they are everywhere and all you have to do it ride down the road and stop. they come. they stare and we all laugh. i can just imagine them chatting over a hot cuppa cows blood later that evening ' so there we were, herding some goats when these two red ufos came along. they stopped. took off their helmets and they were white! with this funny hair on their face. and my gawd did they smell!!!'. we are literally aliens for them. there is very little we have in common and its just and incredible experience to be there with them. these guys live in huts, they herd goats. theyve probable never walked further than 30 km from their village. live is very simple. they paint themselves with body paint which turns it into a really surreal experience. we stayed there for about 5 days cruising around all the villages. the Mursi (lip people) have these huge lip plates. these guys were super agressive with us, we had to be escorted by a scout. all of them were swingin ak47's and machettes. we got off the bikes and they would tug us, pull us and krikey... i felt like we were being accosted by them. took lots of photos and did a drawing of one kid. it got a bit sickening after a while as just by being there we felt that we were playing a part in killing this culture. so we left. the day after we visited the market. were all the tribes come together to sell and swop their wares to the other tribes. its the best place to view all of them together. and again its very surreal. everyone is practically naked, wearing goatskins and donning red die in their hair... at one point i was feeling pretty left out! mental note to everyone that reads this blog: this is a place to visit in your lifetime. go soon, their beautiful culture is vanishing as we speak.

Nella Omo Valley si possono incontrare diverse tribu’ indigene. Ognuna con differenti caratteristiche ed abitudini. Venerdi 24/01/2008 siamo andati in un villaggio Mursi. Le donne usano portare un piattello labiale alla bocca, mentre gli uomini decorano il proprio corpo con cicatrici procurate ad arte. Visitare quel villaggio e’ stata sicuramente un’esperienza particolare. Ci vuole un po’ di tempo per superare quella sensazione di disagio che si prova quando ci si trova in mezzo a tanta gente cosi’ diversa. Ma la cosa piu’ strana e’ che tutte queste persone apparentemente semplici e genuine hanno sviluppato un fortissimo senso del denaro. Appena arrivati il capo villaggio pretende di incassare 100 birr come “tassa d’ingresso” e poi si viene letteralmente assaliti da tutti i componenti della tribu’ che cercano in tutti i modi di convincerti a farsi scattare una fotografia in cambio di un po’ di soldi. Non e’ sicuramente una situazione piacevole. Da una parte a causa dell’aggressivita’ delle persone e dall’altra per il fatto che ci si trova costretti a scegliere solo alcune persone da fotografare dovendo rifiutare tutte le altre richieste.

Colonna sonora: “Hop, Hop, Hop” Goran Bregovic

Arba Minch - Weyto (12.719 km)

Giovedi 23/01/2008 abbiamo assistito all’ennesimo drastico cambiamento. Entrando nella Valle dell’Omo, la zona sudoccidentale dell’Etiopia, la vegetazione inizia ad infittirsi e cambiano anche i tratti somatici delle persone. Fa impressione vedere quanta gente si puo’ incontrare in giro da queste parti e ci vuole un po’ di tempo per abituarsi all’idea che qui tutti portano con se un machete o un kalashnikov. La strada che porta a Weyto e’ sterrata, ma per la maggiorparte in ottime condizioni. Tuttavia ogni tanto ci si puo’ imbattere all’improvviso in tratti di sabbia profonda che rendono il tragitto molto pericoloso. Uno di questi e’ stato fatale per Robin che e’ caduto rovinosamente rompendo la leva del cambio, il manubrio ed il cruscotto della moto. Fortunatamente lui se le cavata con qualche graffio ed un gran bel livido sul fianco. Mentre riparavamo la moto siamo stati raggiunti da Werner e Tom che ci hanno aspettato ed hanno fatto con noi l’ultimo tratto di strada fino a Weyto (N 05 22,383’ E 36 59,609’). Colonna sonora: “Jungle Boogie” Kool & The Gang

started off the morning nicely by having a massive wipeout. and we got in all on film as well! krikey it was a big wake up call. we ride every day and have near misses often. after a while you get a sense of being slightly immortal out there and you forget your circumstances. so getting bitten is very important, shaking you back to your senses again. i was going up a small hill,too hot on the gas. the road had a huge ditch covered in powdery sand. my front went down and i went over. very simple. it hurt like hell and i realy buggered up the bike. bent handlebars, broken levers all round. serious gash on my hip bone and just generally really shaken up. tome and werner arrived shortly after, dishing out some tlc. we carried on moving and it turned out to be a fantastic ride. we descended into the Omo valley. dropping in altitude and into the heat. the place is just awesome. we stopped regularly to just gawk at the view . i had a little sob in my helmet at one viewing point. its strange i know but sometimes out there you see things so beautiful that they touch a little place deep inside of you. i immediatley thought of the people i love and tears came flooding. its a wonderful emotion and not very manly so ill stop here. i had another realization whilst riding around 16.00. i was alone, on my pegs, riding under the accacia trees, i felt the hot air moving through my jacket and around my arms and waist. and i was feeling so content and serene. i was so happy to be there, at that point in time, and above all, to be me. there.

Awasa - Arba Minch (12.555 km)

Mercoledi 22/01/2008 ci siamo svegliati presto per arrivare in tempo a visitare il parco nazionale di Nechisar, ma dopo un centinaio di metri ci siamo dovuti fermare per 2 ore per sistemare il cavalletto laterale della moto di Robin. Verso le 4 di pomeriggio siamo arrivati al Bakele Mola Hotel di Arba Minch (N 06 00,309’ E 37 33,106’) ed abbiamo fatto appena in tempo per effettuare un giro in barca sul lago Chamo dove abbiamo potuto vedere alcuni ippopotami e tantissimi coccodrilli, molti dei quali lunghi piu’ di 6 metri! Colonna sonora: “Regina del Florida” Vinicio Capossela.

its was wednesday and we awoke early to get a good days riding in. my fabulous sidestand broke off practically around 09.00. and as i couldnt put the bike down i had to redrill it on the spot and sort it out straight away. bush mechanics are fantastic, they are complete hackers but the get the job done i tell you. so our little convoy split up and i found myself travelling alone to abra minch. it was a wonderful solo ride. every now and again its fantastic to go alone. to follow your own instincts and go where your heart tells you. in a group its all about compromise. so i had a wonderful time singing to myself in my helmet and having a ball of a time. the ride was long and the road was very bad. huge potholes everywhere on some fast stretches. i was up on the pegs swerving left and right the whole day. some fantastic scenery the whole day and the land was rich and furtile. banana trees everywhere. i stopped to take a photo and this guy with a machette asks me for money. mmmmm.... then i look down in his other hand and hes holding two of motorolas latest model cell phones! bugger you matei told him, panga and all. ethiopians expect you to give. its a real shame, one gets the feeling that they've received too much aid in the past.

Addis Abeba - Awasa (12.247 km)

Martedi 22/01/2008 siamo finalmente riusciti a partire da Addis Abeba. E’ bastato rimettermi in sella alla Multistrada per ritrovare il buon umore che avevo perso qualche giorno prima un po’ a causa della febbre che mi aveva debilitato per 4 giorni, un po’ a causa dello stress a cui si e’ sottoposti quando in questi posti si cerca di organizzare anche la piu’ semplice delle cose. Sono contento anche perche’ e’ venuto a trovarci un amico e potremo cosi’ passare un po’ di tempo insieme e condividere parte di questa stupenda avventura. Lui ha deciso di affittare un 4x4 ed accompagnarci fino al confine con il Kenya, cosi’ noi abbiamo approfittato dell’occasione per caricare sul fuoristrada tutte le provviste e la benzina che ci sarebbero servite per affrontare la parte piu’ impegnativa di tutto il viaggio: il lago Turkana!

Verso sera siamo arrivati ad Awasa ed abbiamo dormito tutti alla Roman Pension (N 07 02,778’ E 38 29,250’).Colonna sonora: “Father and son” Cat Stevens

Well we finally made it out of addis abeba alive. it had been a hard 2 weeks of fruit smoothies and club sandwiches. our spare parts arrived from ducati and we were as happy as bob marley in a donut shop. matteos friend arrived to follow us for 2 weeks. he hired a 4x4 which would give us some valuable support on the road to lake turkana. supplying us with food, water and enough petrol to get us through one of the remotest places in africa. organizing the 4x4 was probably harder than riding lake turkana in itself. the ride down was fast, we had good tarmac and it was wonderful to be on the move again and back on the bikes. its funny but when your on a bike trip you cant stay put for long, you have this inner urge to keep moving. and when you finally do everything feels so right.

Tara centre for orphaned children - Gonder

Durante i 4 giorni che abbiamo passato a Gonder abbiamo fatto visita al Tara Centre, un centro d’accoglienza gestito da Mrs Kate Faraday Eshete, una signora inglese che tredici anni fa ha deciso di vendere tutto quello che possedeva per dedicarsi interamente ai bambini poveri dell’Etiopia. In questo centro c’e’ una scuola e vengono ospitati i bambini provenienti dalle famiglie povere della periferia di Gonder. I bambini vengono seguiti sia durante l’attivita’ scolastica sia durante quella ricreativa ed ogni giorno possono consumare due pasti nutrienti, fare una doccia e lavare i propri vestiti. Il Tara Centre e’ sostenuto dall’Associazione Muti Onlus ed e’ stato inserito tra i beneficiari del progetto umanitario “Una Scarpa per un Sogno”. Per maggiori informazioni si puo’ visitare il sito internet www.muti.org ed il blog del progetto.

We visited the tara centre for orphaned childnre in Gonder. we made contact with them and we will be sending them shoes from the Muti association. Miss Kate has done an amazing job with these children and you can feel the love and care that vibrates from the school.

Bahir-Dar – Addis Abeba (11.704 km)

A long days ride, we had 550km to cover. I was praying to make it to Addis with my rear tyre. The road was good for most of the way. We were going from varying altitudes, 1400m – 3600m. you could feel the bikes taking strain in the thing air. I had fantastic economy with the gas. Doing over 400 km on a single tank. We had a lot of run ins with kids and teenagers throwing stones at us. It got so bad at one point that we would actually stop the bikes and complain to the elders of the village. Some kids tried to stick a pole through matteos wheel as he was passing by. Not a funny joke ad there could have been serious consequences. From there we went down into a gorge (1400m above sea level) and passed the blue nile with a bridge that was under construction. We stopped to gawk and moved across to meet 6 armed military guys with ak47’s shouting ‘Wheres the camera? what are you doing? Who are you? Where is the camera!!!’ we kept saying that we didn’t have one (you try getting your camera away from a guy holding an ak47) and they continued to get madder. Eventually we steered their attention away with our gps device (it really amazes people over here) and drove off. Phew, it was a scary incident and one I wouldn’t like to repeat. We then drove up to a whopping 3600m on this terrible road with huge rocks and trucks and dust. Really tough riding and I was praying that my rear wheel wouldn’t die on me. Anyhow we arrived later that evening at 8 much to my moaning and muttering. I dont like riding at night. Especially in Africa! I just feel that my risks increase ten fold. Its dangerous enough out here. So we arrive at our hotel Taytu to find, yet again, our biker family awaiting us with good food and cold beer. 3 canadian bikers, and two germans as well! Our two friends that we traveled with from Syria and Jordan. Michael andWerner. What a lovely surprise to see them again! Addis Ababa is a fantastic city. It is very African but has a nice balance of chaos and order and is just a great place in general. People are very friendly and one can even get a decent cappuccino and club sandwich out here! I never thought I would be picking up weight in Ethiopia! Ih ih ih, don’t worry Ani I will be losing it very quickly again on our trip through Lake Turkana. life is getting very cheap now. were paying 3.5USD for a room a night and eating out can cost you about 2-3USD for a big meal. im now spending on average about 20USD a day now. a big change from 50 euros a day in eastern europe.

Mercoledi 09/01/2008 siamo partiti dal Ghion Hotel insieme ad Audrie ed Eke che pero’ si sono dovuti fermare subito a causa di un problema alla moto. Noi abbiamo proseguito verso Addis Abeba. La strada e’ quasi interamente asfaltata ad eccezione di 80 km di sterrato piuttosto impegnativo in corrispondenza del Nilo Azzurro. Le moto hanno patito leggermente l’altitudine perdendo un po’ di potenza oltre i 3.000 mt. Fortunatamente le gomme non ci hanno dato problemi anche se ormai hanno davvero superato il loro limite e dovremo obbligatoriamente sostituirle.
In Etiopia si incontrano sempre molte persone lungo la strada, specialmente bambini. La maggiorparte di loro generalmente ti corre incontro salutandoti festosamente, ma non e’ difficile per i motocilisti stranieri ritrovarsi a fare da bersaglio dello sport preferito da alcune piccole canaglie etiopiche: il lancio delle pietre.
Il piu’ indemoniato di questi bambini ha addirittura lanciato un bastone di circa 1 metro di lunghezza con la precisa intenzione di infilarlo tra i raggi della mia ruota. Fortunatamente la sua mira non e’ stata perfetta ed il bastone e’ passato tra la ruota anteriore e quella posteriore.Verso sera, miracolosamente incolumi, siamo arrivati al Taitu Hotel di Addis Abeba (N 09 01,815’ E 38 45,232’) dove abbiamo ritrovato Tom ed inaspettatamente anche Michael e Werner.
Colonna Sonora: "Sunny Afternoon" The Kinks

Gonder – Bahir-Dar (11.125 km)

Well after being in Gonder for a week we were really well and truly happy to be getting going again. We drove the 150km on a road that could easily be the best one to date. Beautiful scenery… rolling hills, dramatic landscapes – please guys send me some adjectives! It was an easy ride down to the lakes with loads of good quality tarmac below us we flew there. My rear tyre is in very bad nick and the thread is showing now. I have constant punctures and slow leaking puncture that I cant find. We arrived there to this kind of paradise b&b by the lake under the trees. We found all our biker friends, the candians already aprked out front. It is wonderful having a group like this, as you arrive someplace and you feel like your coming home. We have met so many wonderful people on thie journey, from all corners of the world. But I must say that we bikers have a special bond whilst traveling. Its something a lot closer and intimate. The next couple of days we just relaxed and visited some churches on these small islands in the middle of the lakes. Namely Kebran Grabriel (no woman allowed sorry!). which was wonderful. It was founded circa 1320 a.d. took loads of photos for my girlfriend Anita who is an art restorer (the murales were incredible there and in desperate need of some restoration. I sat there for sometime drawing a picture of Jesus with a priest kneeled in front of me watching my every mark. Lovely little moment. Found some kids playing football in the streets and have been taking lots of shots for the Muti project

Domenica 06/01/08 siamo andati a Bahir-Dar. La strada e’ completamente asfaltata e costeggia il lato est del lago Tana salendo e scendendo dale montagne dell’altopiano etiopico ad un’altitudine media di 2.300 mt. Il panorama e’ incredibile, la natura e’ ricchissima e piena di colori con rocce maestose che emergono da colline rivestite d’erba verde/oro e qualche albero d’acacia.Arrivati a Bahir-Dar siamo andati all’Hotel Ghion (N 11 35,843’ E 37 23,161’) dove abbiamo ritrovato Audrie, Eke e Tom con i quali abbiamo discusso su come attraversare il Kenya che attualmente attraversa un terribile stato di crisi. Ad ogni modo sono contento di aver ritrovato i canadesi. Sono persone fantastiche e viaggiare con loro e’ davvero piacevole.

Colonna Sonora: "Somewere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world" Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Simien mountains

we fell asleep under this tree and awoke to about 30 people, 50 cows, 40 goats all staring at us!

dancing and singing around the bush fire on the simien mountains. what a night!

matteo getting back to his roots

all the hard workd was worth it in the end. what a view from up there

matt getting some quite time

Drove the last 50km to gonder. Which is this touristy town about 150km from the Simien mountains. Spent new years night there which will be remembered as a pretty arb night out. With the bar closing down before 12 and the lights coming on. Matteo got really sick in gonder and was in bed for literally 3 days sweating it out. Must have been that club sandwich! Stayed in a hotel (pretty decent one this time) with a shower!!! Highlight of our week now this whole place is networked like sicily. You cant do anything without forking out the USD. We go to the park board cos we were trying to buy our ticket into the office and came out fuming mad and ready to fly back home. Non-sensical organized chaos ensued and we finally found a way to get 36k into the park without paying the exorbitant 100USD. Started our days hiking into the mountains there. We had a scout with us armed with a stey m.95 rifle. Really nice guy called Addis. Anyway he drilled us over 6 hours to the first camp. Nothing really spectacular with regards to scenery but we still managed to get up to 3600m. slept that night in a tent huddled up to matteo (yes it was cold and no I aint gay). Had a wonderful experience in a hut with all the scouts singing and dancing around the fire. So tribal and such an unexpected event that makes the heart smile. The next day we walked up to 3900 metres and the scenery just dropped away to leave us breathless (from all the hard walking not just the views!). It is an incredible place up there. the mountain range is basically all volcanic rock. And that is why it is so particular. Ive never really seen anything like it before. 20 minutes of joy and our slave driver Addis was cracking the wip for our decent. We bumped into a hundred gelada baboons on the way. Amazing animals. Getting up to just about everything including monkey business! We then hitched a ride in the back a truck to the town Debark. Had some goats pee on my boots (numerous times) and then we made it back to civilization, which was Gonder (yeah right!). our bikes are literally grounded, we have no tread on the rear tyre and it really is touch and go on the road. Were hoping and praying for our spare parts to arrive in Addis , without them we cannot move anywhere.

Giovedi 03/01/2008 siamo andati con un pulmino locale a Debark per scalare le montagne Simien, ma organizzare un escursione li’ e’ davvero un’impresa. Sembra che tutte le persone del posto si siano messe d’accordo per complicare le cose ed estorcere piu’ soldi possibile ai turisti. Il direttore del parco inizialmente si era addirittura rifiutato di venderci il biglietto d’ingresso finche’ non ci fossimo accordati con qualcuno di suo gradimento per un costosissimo passaggio in 4x4. Dopo 19 ore siamo finalmente riusciti ad entrare nel parco. Il primo giorno siamo arrivati fino a ghich a 3.600 mt di altitudine dove abbiamo campeggiato per la notte con una temperatura sottozero. Prima di andare a dormire ci siamo scaldati al fuoco insieme ad alcune guide locali che hanno improvvisato canti e balli tradizionali. E’ stato veramente coinvolgente ed emozionante! Il secondo giorno siamo andati fino alla vetta a 4.000 mt d’altitudine dopo di che siamo tornati a Debark su un camioncino insieme ad lacuni locali e 2 capre.

Colonna sonora: "Miles from nowhere" Cat Stevens