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Drive towards Inda Selassie

Today was a pure driving day from Debarq into the direction of Inda Selassie in the north or Ethiopia. It took us all day from 8am to 6pm to travel 150km. One reason was the mountains zigzag road, others the limited power of our trucks engine and bad road conditions.

Speaking about road conditions it is to mention that most parts of the roads in this area are dirt roads meaning they are not covered with tarmac. In addition there were lots of road constructions going on and we once had to stop because the whole road was covered with stones. While waiting our driver Daniel enjoyed himself throwing stones downhill basically in the same direction the stones from the road construction were rolling down. There were also some German tourists at an advanced age waiting with us. After a while they started to complain to each other about Daniels stone throwing in specific and the craziness of our whole group in general. However, they were not aware of me speaking their language as well and following their conversation. As I translated parts of it back into English Daniel got even more mad about throwing stones to make them even more upset.

Whenever we driving slow on dirt roads we are allowed to use the four roof seats of our truck. Up there you have an excellent view of the surrounding nature and in fresh breeze in your face. The only disadvantage is that you quickly get sunburned. So I spent only the early morning and late afternoon on the roof listening to my iPod.

For lunch we stopped on a river were some of us used the opportunity to jump into the water. Since nobody of us had their swimsuit out us either went in full cloth or underwear. In the evening we had some difficulties to find a bush camp since there was not enough space to the right or left side of the road in an area which looked somewhere remote and save to camp in. Finally, we ended up in a road construction site and put up our tents next to piles of dirt. The camp was not very scenic but once it is dark and you are in your tent you do not actually care where you are sleeping.

What I also like about bush camping is that you really put up your tent in the middle of nowhere. There are no surrounding lights and the sky is pitch-black with millions of stars. You also need only to look up for a few minutes and for sure you will be able to see a falling star.

Today’s cooking group prepared a very spicy dinner. There were also some local kids watching us cooking and eating. We also offered them the leftovers of our food but they found it too spicy to eat.

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