The Ride to Bahir Dar…

Lukas bids me goodbye... Moments later, a large "BANG" was heard...

The ride to Bahir Dar started with a bang… Literally…!!

The BANG was caused when the Big Fella hit the wall opposite the entrance to Lukas’s house, and ended up lying on his right side in a storm water drain… In exiting the steep driveway onto the narrow road outside the house, I had neglected to take into consideration the concrete hump which directs water away from the driveway… I had to give the throttle a bit of a twist to get the heavy bike to make a start up the driveway, and as the front wheel went over the concrete hump, it rose into the air, and didn’t come back down again until I had crossed the road and ploughed into the wall and shrubbery beyond… It is the first time I have “wheelied” this bike, and I can’t say I am looking forward to the next…

I was certain that my journey had ended here when I got my head out of the bushes and looked down at the bike lying in the drain… Lukas dashed over and asked if I was O.K., before inspecting the damage the sudden impact had done to the Big Fella… A crowd had gathered around the bike, and it took five or six of us to lift it back onto its stand… I had wanted to take a photo of it lying down, as it was not often you get to see the underside of a 1200GS, but Lukas wasn’t having any of it… Before I could even get to a camera, the bike was up and glaring at me…

Ethiopian homestead on the plateau above Addis...

Surprisingly, there did not seem to be too much damage done to the bike, the worst being a dented right pannier, which I would have to get panel-beaten, and a broken stone guard, which connects to the handlebars, just behind the brake reservoir… A dab of superglue, and this piece was temporarily repaired… There was also a collection of scratches on the nose guard and the crash bars… Lucky escape…

Fifteen minutes after making our acquaintance with the wall, we were battling the traffic through the centre of Addis Ababa, following the Garmin Girl’s explicit instructions… I figured it was best to get back on the bike and ride, rather than nurse my aching left leg, and have to look at the damage my carelessness had caused to the Big Fella… I noticed that the bike handled differently and I had to adjust my position slightly to take this into consideration. It was leaning ever so slightly to the left, and I think this may be a result of a bend handlebar… I just hoped it wasn’t something worse… I had the 565 km ride to Bahir Dar to find out…

Is this a great road, or what...??!!

Just north of the capital, the road wound its way up and over a steep pass that sat at 2860 m.a.s.l. and then settled down to wind its way over hill and down valley, on a high plateau that had been too cold for Princess Taitu, who over a century ago, had moved her family down to where Addis is today and founded the city, calling it Addis Ababa, or “New Flower”…

These haystacks are Teff...used to make Injera, the sour, doughy pancakes that are the staple diet of Ethiopia...

Near the village of Chancho, I pulled over to give Lukas a call to let him know the bike was OK, and I wouldn’t be returning to have it seen to. All around us were the most beautiful scenery imaginable…lush green pastures stretched up and away to the slopes of mountains in the distance… The air was crisp, cool and clear… Children came running from every little hut, some of them hundreds of metres away, and I greeted them with their customary, “You, you, you…!” which halted them in their tracks… Then one shyly came closer and held out his hand…

“Give me pen!” he said…

“Give me money for pen..!” I replied…

“No money…”

“Then no pen…”

This went on for some time, until we all tired of the game, and then I pressed the starter to scatter the kids, so that I could get my leg over the saddle. I had discovered that this was the best way to get them moving, and they more often fell over themselves in their eagerness to get away from the noisy machine…

Crane offloading high voltage cables, blocks the road...

Chinese built power pylons march off across the landscape...

I passed Degem and then on the outskirts of Getre Guaracha came across a stockade where hundreds of rolls of high voltage wire were stacked. The Chinese are installing a series of power lines stretching from Addis Ababa, right the way into the far north of the country, and these shiny new beacons are more of a blight on the countryside than anything else, but are obviously necessary to bring sustainable power to those that have gone without it for so long…

Can't add anything to this one... But I believe the Japanese influence shines through...

Hugging the mountainside...but keep your eyes off the painted line... They will only confuse you...

I later discovered that it was the Japanese who had built the road leading to the Blue Nile Gorge and up the other side into Dejen. And it showed… Gone were the narrow roads with no markings that the Chinese seemed to specialize in. The Japanese had built a road that cannot be faulted… The cambers are in the right direction, the road is wide enough so that you do not have to involuntarily suck in your stomach when a bus or truck passes you, leaving little space for you to get past… And miracle of miracles, they even painted lines down the centre of the road to let the Ethiopians know which side they needed to drive on…

Just after Goha Tsion, the road reaches an altitude of 3160 m.a.s.l. and then begins the most amazing descent into the Blue Nile Gorge…

The Blue Nile begins life in the Lake Tana on the shores of Bahir Dar, and winds its sinuous way across the highlands of Ethiopia, first traveling south, then west, before it turns and heads north, and empties into Lake Rusayris on the Sudanese Border…

The bridge over the river lies at an altitude of 1100 m.a.s.l. and in just 17 km, the road descends from the high plateau above… That’s a drop of over 2 000 m in a very short space of time… This road is one of the most spectacular I have ridden on and is in such perfect condition that had it not been for its length, I would have ridden back up, and down it again…!!! It is a breathtaking experience, as some of the photos will show…

The road drapes itself over the steep slopes leading down to the Blue Nile Gorge...

Bridge over the Blue Nile... and the road leading towards Debre Markos behind it...

Shortly after the lines were painted, the gentleman concerned was shipped off to Alcoholics Anonomous...

A temporary setback on the road to Dejen...

The cherry on the top for me was when I stopped at the top of the pass, to look back one last time, down into the gorge far below… While I stood there, a pair of Egyptian Vultures came drifting across on a thermal, at eye level with me… They could not have been more than a dozen metres from where I stood, spellbound…

An hour later, I stopped in Debre Markos and refueled. I finally managed to get Lukas on the line and we had a laugh at my start to the day… I assured him that all was well, and then spent time talking to the three young guys who worked at the service station…

The guys from Debre Markos...

When I explained that I had had an accident that very morning, and showed them the damages to the bike, the one guy asked in halting English,

“This is why you walk with pain…?”

I had not rolled up my pants leg to see what my shin and calf looked like, but it hurt like hell, and I preferred to examine it later… He bent down as if to pull my pants leg up to see what the problem was. I stopped him, saying there was no problem, but he wouldn’t have any of it…

“We must go to clinic now…!” he said with a concerned look on his face that almost had me bursting with laughter… I later allowed him to fire up the Big Fella, which brought such a smile of joy and appreciation to his face that I wanted to put my arm around him… Instead, I held my hand out to shake his, which he then held up to his lips, kissing the back of it… I was astounded by his show of warmth, or appreciation…or respect… (I wasn’t sure what to make of it!!) I just nodded and gently pulled my hand out of his… My tank bag was open and I took a small packet of biscuits out of it and handed it to him…

“No, no… This is food for your journey…you must keep it…!”

He placed the biscuits back into my bag and then bowed his head and stepped back from the bike… The growl from the Big Fella reminded me that I still had 265 km to go before I could put my feet up for the night, and with a wave at my new found friend, I headed north again…

Fly whisks made from horse hair sway in the wind...

This part of Ethiopia is “wilder” than that in the central and southern parts, and it is where the I began experienced the first of many of the “stone throwing” incidents I had been warned about… One young guy even hit me with a long cattle whip as I passed him, the tip luckily cracking on my helmet rather than my arm… I stood on the brakes, screeching to a halt, but when I turned to look back, all I saw was the white soles of his feet, as he headed into the scrub on the side of the road… I was so annoyed that I sat there for a while, muttering dark phases into my helmet…

If you can't read either of these languages, then I can't help you..

Shortly after passing through the tiny settlement of Finote Selam, I saw a rain squall approaching on the road ahead… I hopped off the bike, desperately opening the zips on the backpack to get my rain jacket… I watched as the road ahead changed colour before my eyes as the rain bore down on me…

I just managed to get the zip pulled up around my throat when the storm reached me… The noise was like that of an oncoming truck, and I had to look around to see that there wasn’t one boring down on me from behind… It was a weird experience and I stood there in the pouring rain, letting it drive the thoughts of stone throwers out of my mind…

After a few minutes of this, I realized that this weather was here to stay, so getting onto a wet seat, I rode on through Burie, Injihara and Addis Kidam, and finally, just north of Dangila, the storm wore itself out and the road dried up, allowing me to get back up to speed… In some areas the road is being resurfaced, but the gravel here has been properly compacted, allowing me to continue traveling at speeds above 80 km/h…

Personnel carrier with cheeky bugger running to confront me in the background...

This area had clearly experienced a bit of “argy-bargy” in days gone past, as I began passing burnt out tanks and armoured personnel carriers, some of them in the front yard of houses… When I stopped to take a photo of one of them, a cheeky young fellow ran up to ask for money for the picture…

Looks suspiciously like a Ratel... Were we involved here too...

When I told him what he could go do with himself, he seemed a bit peeved, and began looking around him for what I presumed was a stone… I got the side stand out real quick, hopped off the bike and walked towards him… He took to his heels, wailing loudly, and didn’t stop running or look back until he was more than a 100 metres away… Little shit…!!!

Another Russian tank lies rusting on the road to Bahir Dar...

This village is famous for its cow-hide products, like footstools...

Large hand woven baskets on their way to market...

Donkeys loaded with Teff...

The future comes to town with a new housing complex...

The road entered a wide long valley, where thousands of cattle were grazing… It must have been the amalgamation of many herds, as large groups of herd-boys sat on the side of the road, watching over their charges.

I passed through Meshenti and then 25 kms later entered the outskirts of Bahir Dar, supposedly Ethiopia’s second biggest town after Addis Ababa. A massive housing project is in the process of being built here, and seems completely out of place with the down trodden look of the rest of the town…

Chicken salad...or was it Tuna... Who could say for sure...?

A short while later, I stopped at the Oil Libya service station and asked directions to the Papyrus Hotel… The attendant looked at me as if I had gone off my rocker…

“You are in front of it, sir…!” he finally said…

And so I was… It stood right next door to the service station, and was a lot bigger than I had expected, given the buildings surrounding area… After some serious negotiations, I agreed to a rate of 300 Birr, and watched as the porter struggled with my bags as he made two trips to my room and back to the bike… The hotel boasts a large swimming pool in a central courtyard, but one look at the colour of the water and I decided to use the shower in my room to cool off instead… When you can’t see the bottom of the pool, I usually come to the conclusion that there could be a shortage of chemicals in the immediate vicinity…

Dinner was a chicken salad that tasted suspiciously of Tuna, and the usual “you can’t go wrong” plate of spaghetti… I went out to the bike to put the cover on, as I was sure it would rain later, and before I pulled the cover down, I looked at all the dents and scratches again and for the umpteenth time today, mumbled an apology to the Big Fella…

I get the impression that he has not forgiven me yet…

A big old Fig Tree outside the town of Wetet Abey...

©GBWT 2010