OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
Crossing over to North Sudan Driving down from Gondar in Ethiopia to the Sudanese border takes you from a very cool elevation of 2,100m down to just 600m. Upon arriving at the border town of Metema, we were completely dumbfounded by the intensity of the Sudanese desert heat. “Only 38 degrees today!” the locals cheerfully replied. “In Khartoum, it’s 46!”…
Truck on it’s side A herd of Camals A donkey carrying far to much hay Truck loses it’s load down a donga We found some interesting photo’s depicting Ethiopian roads while we driving south towards South Africa……
We are terribly proud of little Lily, she’s fitted in well with the travelling esp. when we have been forced to travel great distances. She’s really enjoyed running out side with no shoes on and seems to be picking up so many words, languages, experiences for a two year old. Here’s some of our favourites… Love your parentsxxx Lily’s bush…
We made our way up north to the Simien mountains to a town called Debark, looking for Sib and Pris who were two days ahead of us after they left Gondor. We arrived at the Simien National Park where we went looking for them and were told by the National Park Wardens that they were in the guest book and…
After a long day on the Marsabit Moyale road and then doing the border crossing from Kenya to Ethiopia it was time to call it a day. Our first night in Ethiopia was spent in a hotel 1, 5 km from the border. There we were also served out first Ethiopian meal, grilled goat meat with the traditional injera, bread,…
Metema border Lake Tana sunset Simien mountain bush camp, nic dragging a tree for the fire Bad road to Axum Their huts with a beautiful outlook over lake Tana Nicky lake tana Lily’s dog bite at Tim and Kims at Tana Bush camp in simian mountains outside Debark 12th-20th April We arrived at the Metema border at 9am on the…
Sulfuric acid is bubbling up through the salt-encrusted ground. The daytime heat soars over 46 degrees Celsius and the Gara (Fire Wind) is blowing incessantly. We’re in the Danakil Depression: -116m below sea level and officially, the hottest place on Earth. The Danakil straddles the Northern Ethiopian border with Eritrea, and sits atop the junction of the Arabian, African and…
Ethiopia, the homeland of Haile Selassi, is the heartland of Rastafarianism. As such Addis Ababa it is still firmly in the thrall of the Reggae that Selassi brought back from his exile in Jamaica. Before Reggae however the music heritage lay in Jazz and Swing. In the first decades of the 20th century Addis moved to the sound of Abyssinian…
We reached Addis! After picking up Margot, a friend from San Francisco, we dropped our bags at Wimms Holland House. Notorious as the overland camping site, the place has fallen a bit in amenities and hygiene. But it’s right in the middle of the city, which was perfect, given we needed to extend our Ethiopian visas immediately a few blocks…
It was a slightly drunken promise but none the less it was an invitation to Africa. Taking advantage of an absent boss, stretching one weeks leave into two and just enough time to get jabbed, insured and booted. I was off to Ethiopia to meet the ramshackle doctors on their travels. When I met them in Gondar it was the…
Ethiopia Part 1: South Omo Nothing we’ve seen in Africa quite comes close to South Omo. Here, you don’t find a trace of “modern Africa,” and passing through the Ethiopian mountains was like entering a time warp. Even up to 50 years ago, the people of South Omo weren’t aware of an “Ethiopia” entity. From the Mursi women who stretch…
To travel by plane is to step through a portal. As immersed as you become in your new surroundings, no matter how real it all seems, you can always step back, blinking and surprised at how easily you fall back into your old routine. Sitting in the same seat that I left the pinpoint familiarity of my parents’ driveway, the…
We had developed a bad habit of Samosas. These little bundles of food poisoning sit for an unknown length of time in shops, quietly incubating before a hungry traveller, looking for instant gratification decides to take a chance. Rich had taken ill. After a long, draining day of Timkat festivities, Rich was put to bed in the tent whilst Dan…
New teeth fitted – check! Nose bleeds under control – check! Rested & ready to move on – check! Time to hit the road again, with Lore & Bram who managed a quick (1000km) side-trip to Harar to feed some hyenas while we were in Addis and after celebrating the completion of their 1st year on the road. Our time…
Back in Addis after a fabulous few days in the Bale Mountains. The drive to Bale from Addis can be done as a loop, so we managed to add much more of Ethiopia into the trip. Whilst is can (theoretically) be done in a day, we took 2 long days each way. Obviously time had to be allocated to stopping…
Bulletin: We have finally decided upon a name for our Land Rover. Tess, short for Temeraire. Named after the Turner painting of the old warship being dragged in for scrap at the end of its days, temeraire (where we get the word temerarious) is French for foolhardy bravery. We felt all these things summed the expedition up. Like each city…
It was a big relief to finish the “Road to hell” in one piece. It was mentally and physically challenging, stressful, and just pure survival. Nick was super relieved especially travelling with a wife for obvious reasons of abduction, looting and even murder. 2 days later a British guy was shot dead travelling in a Land Rover and robbed and…
How best to get between Kenya and Ethiopia is a subject of constant debate amongst overlanders. The traditional route has been via Moyale and Marsabit in north eastern Kenya. The main advantage is that it’s a proper border, an actual road and is pretty direct. The disadvantages include a horrendous corrugated road surface and bandits – potentially needing to take…
We had pretty high expectations going into Ethiopia, as various friends had been there and raved about it, but throughout all of our trip we really weren’t disappointed. As we headed south from Addis, every drive continued to be absolutely stunning – which was fortunate as we had quite a long distance to cover to get down to the Kenyan…
It was a minor miracle, when travel weary after a hard 5 days crossing Sudan, we rolled into a small hostel in the mountain town of Gondar to found that Ali had managed to meet us there. So vague and unconfirmed were our plans, I had had my doubts, but on his own adventure via Addis, Ali had checked into…
Wadi Halfa is a Nubian town on the Sudanese shores of Lake Nasser. This huge man-made lake has divided the Nubian people and displaced them into southern Egypt and Northern Sudan. The deliberate inundation of the old city of Wadi Halfa is still a source of resentment and a favourite topic of nostalgic lamentation amongst the older tea drinkers of…
It took us five months and 25,000 kilometres to reach South-Africa. We travelled through some rough terrain, had our share of setbacks and met some very interesting people. In this three-part series we will take you back to some of the highlights of this journey, while we prepare for ‘the long way up’ along Africa’s west coast. ‘To the end…
Saturday 10th to Monday 12th November 2012. Debretabor, Gonder. It was quiet the next morning and lovely to catch up on a little sleep. We tried out the breakfast in the hotel as it’s just so cheap to eat out here. Luke was brave ordering the Lamb Dulet. He suffered buyer’s remorse when the plate appeared though, it was not…
Thursday 8th to Friday 9th November 2012. Lalibela, Debretabor. We left Wim’s Holland House as the sun was just creeping over Addis. With quite a few other travellers in Wim’s tiny yard, it took a little manoeuvring to get our cars safely over the mechanic-pit in front of the gate. It was a good time to drive through the city,…
Sunday 4th to Wednesday 7th November 2012. Addis Ababa. We awoke to find the sky the colour of Wedgewood china, with just a few fluffy bread-roll clouds balanced on it. We thanked Karatu for his kindness in having us stay and braved the main road to Addis Ababa. The land leaving Awassa was flat and dedicated to fertile farms. Being…
Saturday 3rd November 2012. Arba Minch, Awassa. The next morning we breakfasted on the terrace whilst soaking up the gorgeous view of the pastel mountains above the twin lakes. We savoured the cold crunchy toast, a wonderful mature cheese omelette and a creamy macchiato. In Arba Minch itself we stopped to find an ATM and then refill with fuel. People…
Friday 2nd November 2012. Konso. Our morning started way too early for our liking, mainly thanks to all manner of noises in the town around us. At 4am we were woken by some kind of religious revival that sounded as if it were happening by mega-phone. Trucks roared in and out of the Edget Hotel grounds, providing us with a…
Thursday 1st November 2012. Mago National Park, Jinka, Key Afra, Konso. It was raining and dark the next morning. By 6am we were outside our hotel waiting for our guide, Manio. For the next fifteen minutes we tried to call him, but there was no answer. We were just about to call another guide we’d spoken too when we saw…
Tuesday 30th to Wednesday 31st October 2012 Omerate, Turmi. North of Lake Turkana we met our first Ethiopian road and turned west towards Omerate. We were driving on the right again, for the first time since Angola. In Omerate the immigration compound was easy enough to find. As we entered we met a couple of French overlanders exiting. We chatted…
Thursday 11th to Monday 22nd October 2012 Nairobi. First thing the next morning we dressed as smartly as we could and drove to the Sudan Embassy. We were pleased to find our passports ready for us and freshly stamped with a two month tourist visa. Next we headed straight for the Ethiopian embassy. As we were checking in with security…