These are the emails I sent from various cybercafes across the continent. It will give you a good narrative of all we did and saw, as well as of the excitement that went with it!
1. Cape Town, 1 January 1999
2. Swakopmund, 11 January 1999
3. Vic Falls, 28 January 1999
4. Vic Falls, 30 January 1999
5. Zanzibar, 25 February 1999
6. Dar Es Salaam, 27 February 1999
7. Nairobi, 12 March 1999
8. Addis Ababa, 31 March 1999
9. Addis Ababa, 16 April 1999
10. Hurghada, 2 May 1999
11. Cairo, 14 May 1999
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Cape Town, 1 January 1999
Hello everybody,
I’m keeping my word: here is the first update. I just finished the “pre-departure-meeting” here in Cape Town. The group is one Project Leader/chauffeur/doctor/everything-else, plus fourteen participants. So far they all seem to be very nice, although obviously I don’t know them yet. I do know I like the project leader, since during his briefing (which lasted about one hour) he must have mentioned the word “beer” at least 25 times.
So tomorrow morning we set off into the wine country north of Cape Town. We’ll be sampling some Cape Wines by lunch… After that onto Namibia, where one of the activities will be “sand surfing” – cool, uh? Anyway, really not too much too tell yet. Happy New Year to all, and I hope I’ll have a chance to email again soon.
Wim
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Swakopmund, 11 January 1999
Dear friends,
A second message from the road so soon – don’t get used to it, because after this it will probably be a while. I am currently in Swakopmund, on the Namibian coast, some 30 km north of Walvis Bay. It has been a fun week so far, mostly filled with lots of sand, sand, sand.
Let me see, where shall I start. We set out from Cape Town on Jan 2. The plan was to de a wine taste, but unfortunately all vineyards we stopped at were closed on Saturday – we’ll have to make up for that some other time. That night we camped in South Africa, and got used to camp life. We cook on outdoor fires for dinner, and use a camp stove for lunch and breakfast. The beds are like the ones you may remember from MASH – just a kind of stretcher (but pretty comfortable). Fortunately, the weather has been nice enough so far that we haven’t needed tents; I have just slept outside, though some people have put up tents anyway. The second day we crossed the border into Namibia, and camped at Noordoewer, just across the border, at the side of the Oranje Rivier. Went river canoeing the next day in beautiful weather. After that the SAND started. Namibia is mostly desert, and it is quite windy. As a result, the truck, our backpacks, our clothes, our hair, etc. is filled with sand every evening. So far, all the camp sites have had nice showers, so it hasn’t been too difficult to cope.
From there we went to Luderitz, which is on the coast just northwest of the big diamond area. Here we visited a ghost town called Kolmanskop. A little town built to accommodate the people working in the mines, but deserted when the mines ran out of diamonds. Quite interesting to see 80 year-old buildings being eaten by sand. Some houses had the sand filling up the rooms to the level of the second floor windows.
After that we visited a castle in the middle of the desert (Nuwisib I believe it was called). Quite extraordinary to see, but pretty boring after a few minutes.
From there to Sesriem, which is no more than a campsite in the desert, at the edge of where the Sand Dunes begin. We climbed some dunes to see the sunset, and me and one other person took a balloonflight early the next morning to see the sunrise. This was lots of fun (my first balloon flight ever). We touched down somewhere in the desert, and were served a champagne breakfast rigtht there! Absolutely beautiful!
As I said, now I am in Swakopmund. This is the first place where we are not camping, but staying in little chalets. How nice to sleep in a real bed again, not wake up with sand in my eyes. I wanted to go sandboarding here, but it was booked full. Instead, I will go quad-biking this afternoon (riding a four-wheel motorbike through the sand dunes). Other than that, today is a day for shopping, laundry (there’s a laundromat here…) and emailing.
The people in the group are turning out to be very nice. It took a few days to get used to each other in the beginning, but we now seem to get along fine. We had a little impromptu party the other night, when the barman (everybody has a certain responsibility, mine is water) had bought some wine. The cooking is going pretty well – people are trying to outdo each other. When it was my turn (actually Jay and me – you cook in pairs), we made barbeque chicken with baked potatoes, and some canned vegetables. Yesterday the team actually made chocolate cake and apple crumbles. We’ll have 8-course gourmet meals before this trip is over!
That’s pretty much it for now. Thanks to all of you for your New Year’s wishes – it was really fun to read my 38 new messages!
Look forward to my next internet cafe…
Wim
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Vic Falls, 28 January 1999
Dear friends,
Greetings from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe!
Thank you all of you for your messages (there were about 40) – it’s nice to hear from all over the world while traveling. My aplogies for not being able to respond to all of you personally. I’m sure you understand.
So, what’s happened since Swakopmund? The quad-biking was a lot of fun. The dunes are absolutely stunning. Of course got sand in every part of clothes and body…
From Swakopmund we went to see the seal colony at Cape Cross. Very interesting: about 100 000 seals breed at this place on the Namibian coast. From there we went to Etosha, which is the largest wildlife park in Namibia. I finally saw the two animals of the “big five” that I hadn’t seen before: rhino (neushoorn) and leopard. Besides those we saw elephant, lion, hyena, zebra, various antilopes (kudu, impala, gemsbok, springbok, etc.), wildebeest, iguana… We spent about three days in Etosha, in two different campsites. Because it is so dry there, the animals have to come to waterholes to drink. The campsites are built next to the waterholes, so all you have to do is sit and watch (and drink a beer if you like).
From Etosha we made our way to Botswana. Our first stop there was the Tsodilo Hills – a site with ancient rock paintings. The road to the site was about 4 hours on a very sandy track, and indeed this was the first part of the trip where we had to dig out the truck. It’s not as bad as it sounds…
From there it was on to the Okavanga Delta. This is an interesting place: the Okavanga is the only river in the world which does not end up in a lake, sea or ocean. Instead, it flows towards the Kalahari desert, but sort of runs itself dry on the way there. It forms a delta which is very fertile and filled with wildlife. We visited the delta on dug-out canoos, called Mokoros, and camped out there for two nights. Unfortunately, because the rains have started, the animals are dispersed, and we didn’t see much. However, we did catch a group of hippos (nijlpaarden) having sex – very impressive! Of course we all got very wet ourselves too.
From there we would have driven through the Chobe national park, but we found out the roads were in very bad condition. So instead we drove around it to Kasane (took us two days), and did a half-day game drive into the park from the north. This was ok – again didn’t see too much. But then we took a trip on the Chobe river, and saw the largest herds of elephants I’ve ever seen – about 100, including many babies.
Finally, from there we came to Vic Falls, where we arrived yesterday. Our driver made us do a thorough truck cleaning, and then we went out to dinner: a real treat. Ate kudu, warthog, and some other animal I can’t remember. Vic Falls is very touristy. There are lots of activities you can do here, like white water rafting, ultra-lighting, bungi jumping, horse-back riding. So, yes, in about 2 hours I will do the highest bungi-jump in the world (111 meters). Mom, when you read this it will be too late already to stop me! Tomorrow white water rafting.
That’s about it folks. I’m still healthy, and so is everybody else. Look forward to my next internet cafe.
Wim
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Vic Falls, 30 January 1999
Dear friends,
Thank you again for the emails of the last two days. Since some of you seemed to be concerned about this: Yes, I am still alive. The Bungi jump was **FANTASTIC**, and very safe – no reason for anyone to worry. It was a little disconcerting to throw myself of a 111 m high bridge, but the sensation of free fall, especially in the beautiful surroundings of the Zambezi river gorge, was overwhelming (some people say it’s better than sex, but maybe I wouldn’t go quite so far). I’ve got a great video tape and pictures of it, which you’ll get to see in due time. (Given your concern, may be I shouldn’t tell you I am going “Microlighting” this afternoon, i.e. fly in a sort of moped/deltawing, over the falls and the nearby gamepark. Oops, I guess I just did.)
The white water rafting yesterday was great as well, though not as spectacular as three years ago when I was here last because the water was higher than then. Anyway, survived that one too without accidents.
Since I have not much more activity reporting to do, I’ll spend a few lines answering some of the questions I have received from some of you. No, I have not picked up a girl friend yet. It won’t happen with any of the people on the truck, since I am not interested in any one of them. Of course there’s always other people on the road I might meet.
Speaking about the people on the truck – it’s an odd but interesting group. I am among the oldest: we have three people in the 35-36 range. My tent mate is Jay, a law teacher at George Washington University in Washington DC (lived just 10 minutes from my home). He’s taking a sabbatical year, and traveling all over – this Africa trip is just one of four or five he is doing this year. Very nice guy. The other guy my age is Pat from Australia. Very nice guy too, with one big passion: drinking beer (of course this is the running joke, since he is from Australia). Some of the other more interesting personalities: Sue, an investment banker, originally from Canada but used to work in Hong Kong. She worked for Salomon Smith Barney out of college, and is going back to Business School coming fall. She is what you would expect from an investment banker: very loud and at times very obnoxious (oops, are there any I-bankers on this distribution list?).
OK, folks, that’s all. Count on me being alive after the microlighting, and the next update will probably be from Harare or Lusaka.
Wim
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Zanzibar, 25 February 1999
Dear friends,
Just want to let you know I am alive and well. The internet here is so slow and so expensive that I cannot really read all your messages – hopefully in Nairobi. Then I’ll also write more about what I’ve been up to. In a nutshell, since Vic Falls: Bulawayo (white rhinos), Harare, Lake Kariba (stayed on a houseboat), zipped through Zambia, Malawi (some days on the beach at the lake, including some scuba diving, and a trip to Nyika national park), Tanzania (basically straight to Zanzibar, where I scuba dived today).
>Kilimanjaro climbers: the hotel to come to is Key’s Hotel (I think earlier I said Keyes). I won’t arrive until late in the day, hopefully in time for dinner. I’d plan for payment in cash or traveler checks, they don’t seem to like credit cards much in Tanzania (altough at the mountain the situation might be better). See you there next week!
Sorry for the short message – more from Nairobi.
Wim
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Dar Es Salaam, 27 February 1999
Dear friends,
I am sure you got my very short email from Zanzibar where the connection was very slow. Today I found a better place in Dar Es Salaam, so now I have read all your incoming messages (thank you all), and have time to write something more elaborate.
So let’s go back to Vic Falls. You remember the bungi jump, and my announcement of the micro-lighting. Actually, that didn’t happen because it rained that afternoon. Really a shame.
From Vic Falls we drove to Bulawayo, which is a very pleasant town more or less in Southeastern Zimbabwe. There we spent a day visiting the Matopos National Park, which is famous for its white rhinos. Indeed we saw a group of white rhinos, about five of them. Very impressive animals. Because we had official guides with us, we could actually get out of the car and walk up to them – to within about 20 meters!
From Bulawayo we drove to Great Zimbabwe. This is a place of ancient ruins from before the colonial period. Actually, the country took its name from this place. It was very impressive to see the ruins: the buildings were originally constructed from stones, without using any mortar. For those of you who have been to Peru: I have to say the Inca buildings are more impressive in that they have no cracks between the stones. Nevertheless, it was fun to walk around – there was also a little model village including a witch doctor/fortune teller. Two people had their fortune told and Guess what? both of them will become very happy and have as many children as they desire!
From Great Zimbabwe we drove to Harare, in pouring rain most of the day. Actually we have been very lucky with the weather – most of the rain has happened while we were driving, not while setting up tents or cooking. In Harare we didn’t camp, but stayed in a backpackers hostel. A real bed! (although no bedlinen – still put your sleeping bag on top of the bed). Harare was OK – we spent a few days there, hanging out, buying souvenirs, going to a museum, going out to dinner, doing laundry, etc. Nothing too exciting.
Then it was on to Lake Kariba. This is an artificial lake created by the Kariba dam, which provides most of Zimbabwe and Zambia with electricity. The lake is beautiful, with the coasts of the lake turned into national parks. We spent two nights on a houseboat on the lake (real beds again, such luxury!) This was great fun: sitting out on the deck in the jacuzzi, going fishing in little boats, taking little boats out to the coast to see elephants, crocodiles, hippos, buffalos, storks, eagles, and lots of other birds. And of course we ate the fish we caught!
From Kariba we crossed into Zambia. We didn’t do much in Zambia except drive straight through: one night just outside of Lusaka and one night not too far before the Malawi border. Our first night in Malawi was spent in Lilongwe, where the campsite was run by a very friendly Dutch couple. Then it was ontwards to the great treasure of Lake Malawi.
Lake Malawi must be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world (I can hear you thinking Tania, and you are right: it is not as beautiful as Lake Baikal). The water is clear, the beaches are wonderful, the temperature is perfect. We spent a total of 6 nights on the lake, spread over three places: Senga Bay, Kande Beach, and Chitimba Beach. At Kande Beach we went on a village tour of the local village. This was very interesting – we saw the people’s houses (huts), the hospital, the school (we actually taught a class of 60 7-year-olds an english song). Also, one night we had dinner in the local village, prepared by the local population. After dinner they sang some songs and convinced us to join them in some local dances! I also went scuba diving in the lake: my first fresh water dive. It was good but not great: no reefs, just small fish.
The other thing we did in Malawi was visit Niyka national park. It took a while to get there – it’s very high: 2800 meters above sea level. We actually didn’t make it the day we thought we would, and as a result had to camp by the side of the road when darkness fell in: our first “rough camp”. Since then we’ve had a few more, and probably will have a lot more once we’re in Ethiopia. In Niyka we wanted to go horseback riding, but unfortunately, it rained so hard that we couldn’t. (so we sat in the bar and drank some beers…)
We’ve been in Tanzania now for 6 days. Basically we had three very long driving days from Chitimba Beach to Dar Es Salaam (i.e. get up at 4:30, leave at 6, drive until dark). After arriving in Dar most of us immediately took the ferry to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a very nice place – a historic town (called Stone Town) and nice beaches around the island. It used to be the center of the slave trade and spice trade in East Africa, and was run by Arabs (actually at one point Zanzibar was the capital of Oman). The Stone Town reminded me of Varanasi and Jasailmer in India: the same density of buildings, really close together, with the streets being too narrow for cars. Very easy to get lost, but since it’s not too big, you’ll always get out of the maze after a while. The only disappointing thing about Zanzibar is the enormous amount of people approaching you all the time trying to take you to their hotel or book their sightseeing trip or their ferry, or whatever. I thought I had seen it all between India, Southeast Asia and South America, but this place really beat them all.
I went Scuba diving again (Oh, Harry H., I know you were very interested to hear: no problems with my eyes whatsoever in diving, and I’ve been to 66 feet), and I also went on a “Spice Tour”, where they show you all the spices and fruits that are grown on the island, as well as some historic sights. I now carry a bag of cloves with me for stomach upsets: supposedly clove tea will cure just about anything within two hours – we’ll see…
Today came back from Zanzibar to the mainland, and tomorrow we’re heading north towards Moshi/Arusha/Ngorongoro crater. Then, next Wednesday I’ll meet some of you in Moshi to climb Mount Kilimanjaro! It sounds like the group has ballooned to almost 20 people – it’s going to be great fun!!!!
That’s it for now folks. Next update will tell you whether I reached the top or not…
Wim
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Nairobi, 12 March 1999
Dear friends,
WE MADE IT! WE ALL MADE IT TO THE TOP!
Hello from Nairobi, and thanks again for your messages. The big news of course is that we made it to the top of Kilimanjaro. Let’s start at the beginning.
All my invitations to come climb Kili with me resulted in 9 people coming. Add to that one person from the Cape-Cairo trip, one person traveling alone who joined our group, and myself, and we had twelve people in total. For those of you who know these people: From Holland my brother Pieter and my high-school friend Eli; from the US my business-school friend Gerry and four of his friends; two ex-WKIers, Andy and Fernando; and then Jay from the Africa trip and Maria, the solo traveler (from the US but living in Mali).
We started the climb last Thursday (March 4). The first day is an easy 3 hour hike through woods. We climbed from 1800 m (starting point) to 2700 m where the Mandara Hut is (sorry, US people, this is all going to be in meters, not feet), and walked about 9 km. The weather at this point is still warm enough for shorts and t-shirt. “Mandara Hut” suggests one hut, but in fact it is a collection of A-frame huts with 4-6 beds in each, plus a couple of large huts where food can be served and where you can socialize a bit in the evening. We had booked a full-service trip, meaning we only had to carry day-packs: there were porters for the rest of the luggage, and the food, as well as cooks, and of course a guide: Elias. Food was pretty good.
The second day is a 5-hour hike to Horombo Hut, at 3700 m. Still not too exhausting. The important thing if you want to make it to the top is to go “Pole-pole” (Swahili for slow), and our guide made sure that we did. Besides, what is there to do in the next hut that would make you want to get there fast anyway?
The third day was an acclimatization day. This means we did a hike up to 4300 m and then back to the same hut (up and down about 4 hours). Got caught by heavy rain on the way back. The place we hiked to was a point where you had a great view of the mountain and the path that we would be taking to the top. Very daunting!
The fourth day we hiked about five hours to the next hut: Kibo Hut, at 4700 m. This actually is only one building, divided into rooms with twelve beds. After dinner at five, we went to sleep, because the walk to the summit would be during the coming night. Interestingly, the thing I had always heard about it being hard to sleep at high altitude seemed to be proven wrong by about five heavy snorers in our room.
So, then, the big moment came. Up at 11 pm, get the warm clothes on, eat something, and ready to go the top. Elias lined us all up in single file (up to now we had kind of walked in a loose group, with some people getting ahead or behind), and put the assistant guides within the line after every three of us. Then we started walking – step by step. The side of the mountain is very steep at this point, and we had to zig-zag our way up. You take about one step per second, and each step is about the size of a foot. Anything faster or larger, and you’ll be out of breath immediately (it seems hard to imagine, even for my while writing this down, but that’s really the way it is).
From 0:30 until 6:00 we walked with very few breaks at this slow step-by-step pace (only stopped when somebody would be out of breath), and then reached Gillman’s point. By this time, most of us have a headache, or dizzyness, although nobody has thrown up. Some of us have gotten some help from the guides in terms of being pushed up, or having their backpacks carried. Gillman’s Point is at around 5650 m, and a lot of climbers are satisfied here and return. Some of us were ready to do just that, but our guide would have nothing of it: “We are all going to the top”. So at 6:15 we continued – now while watching the sunrise coming over the mountains in the east. A stunning sight (though I’m sure some of us don’t remember too much of this stage of the climb). Slowly, very slowly, we made our way up the last 300 m ascent. We need to stop a few times because some of us come close to exhaustion. Finally, at 8:00 the first of us (including me) reach Uhuru Peak, 5895 m, the highest point in Africa. The feeling was indescribable – a sense of accomplishment, mixed with tiredness and awe. I am lucky enough to actually feel very good – the only thing being a slight headache. The views were stunning, the weather beautiful. It was around -10 degrees celcius (which was very, very lucky – it can get down to -25 easily). We took pictures for about thirty minutes, and then started to go back.
The descent seemed much longer then I expected. Back at Gillman’s Point in about an hour, I guess, and then back to Kibo Hut down this interminably long slope of gravel and loose rocks. You walk down, sink into the pebbles to your ankles, walk and walk, and the bottom doesn’t seem to come closer. It’s hard to imagine we just walked up this slope. Now it becomes very clear why they make you do the ascent at night: if you were to see this slope ahead of you in daytime, you would probably give up before you’d start.
Back at Kibo Hut around noon, two hours of sleep, and then another 3 hour walk down to Horombo Hut, where we spent Monday night. The next day all the way down past Mandara Hut back to the starting point, and back to the hotel – for the first shower in 6 days.
I’m not sure I can do justice to the whole experience in this email. I’m also not sure that I can tell anybody they should do this climb: most of us agreed this was the hardest thing they’d ever done. But I personally enjoyed it tremendously!
The next day Jay and I took a bus to Nairobi where we met the other people of the Cape-Cairo trip. We’ll be leaving Nairobi tomorrow and make our way to Ethiopia.
Some words about the rest of the trip. I’m sure you’ve heard about the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea – unfortunately, this means we’ll have to skip going to Eritrea. The tour operator is looking at alternative plans (e.g. flying to Khartoum, and taking a bus from there to Egypt), but nothing will be set in stone until the last possible moment. Please all rest assured that we won’t do anything foolish!
I am hoping for a cybercafe in Addis Abeba, but I have no idea whether I’ll find one. So don’t count on anything, it may be 6 weeks until you hear from me.
Wim
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Addis Ababa, 31 March 1999
Dear friends,
Greetings from Addis Ababa – and thank you for your messages again. It is great to get news from around the world when in Africa.
There is relatively little to report since Nairobi, since the past few weeks have not been all that exciting. Mainly a lot of driving… Anyway, the highlights:
From Nairobi we went north to Lake Naivasha – visited Hell’s Gate National Park, as well as Joy Adamson’s home. Then went to Samburu National Park, where the wildlife was disappointing, but the truck getting stuck in the mud a few times provided some entertainment…
From there began the long drive north to Addis Ababa. On various stretches in North Kenya we had an armed guard on board, to protect us against bandits. Needless to say, they were sleeping most of the day. The second day in Ethiopia we arrived at Shashemene Hot Springs – a very nice place with hot water coming out of the mountain. Very nice showers and baths.
The more interesting things lie ahead of us. For those of you following the news (and being able to get any news besides the Kosovo situation), you’ll know that the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has flared up again in February. Unfortunately, that means we cannot go to all the places we had intended to (in particular Axum, where the Arch of the Covenant is supposed to be), and we can also forget about driving Ethiopia-Eritrea-Sudan. The current plan is to take a plane to Khartoum (we’ll leave the truck behind), then a train to Wadi Halfa, and then a ferry to Aswan. Subject of course to getting a visa for Sudan…
Before that however, we’ll make a loop of northern Ethiopia, visiting Gondar, Bahar Dir, and Lalibela. If the email works I should give you an update on that in about two weeks, right before we go to Sudan. If you don’t hear from me, it might take until Cairo for my next email access…
Talk to you all soon.
Wim
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Addis Ababa, 16 April 1999 (or 8 August 1991 on the Ethiopian calendar)
Dear friends,
Thank you again for your emails.
I promised I’d get back to you before I fly to Sudan, so here is another message from Addis Ababa (by the way, my last message was typed from the Hilton, but that didn’t mean I was staying at the Hilton as some of you inferred – it’s not that kind of trip!)
Ethiopia is an amazing country. The impressions are so many it’s hard to begin. It has both impressed me and disappointed me thoroughly. So let’s start with a little history lesson.
Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never to have been colonized. It was occupied by Mussolini’s fascists for a few years (1936-1942 or so), but that was hardly colonization. It is also the country with probably the second richest (recorded) history on the continent (yes, Maha, you’re right, that would be after Egypt), which may be a surprise for those of you who don’t know anything about this (like me before this trip). The history goes back to Queen Sheba, who ruled over Ethiopia (then called Sheba) during the reign of King Salomon of the Israelites. In fact, she visited him once in Jerusalem. I’ll spare you the details of the legend of that particular night, but suffice it to say that she went home pregnant. She bore a son, Menelik, later King Menelik I. While in his late teens, she sent him to Jerusalem to meet his father. He stayed in Jerusalem for a while, and when he went back, Salomon sent all the first-born sons of his close circle with him (this is the source of the Felasha Jews, or Ethiopian Jews, if I understand correctly). Menelik was the first king of a dynasty that lasted until 1974 (yes, 1974 AD). Apparently, Emperor Haile Selassie, who ruled Ethiopia from 1930 until he was deposed in 1974, was a direct-line descendant of King Salomon. This dynasty has not ruled continuously, but after a time of other rulers, the line has always been restored.
When Menelik left Jerusalem with all those people, supposedly secretly some people took the Ark of the Covenant with them (not spelled Arch like in my last email – thank you for the correction Chrzysztof). Apparently it was somewhere in Southern Egypt for 600 years, until it made its way to the church in Axum where it still is today. The problem with this story is that it is hard to verify, since there is only one man alive – the guardian of the Ark – who ever can go into the room where the Ark is kept. Only when he dies is a new guardian appointed. Oh, well, perhaps it is better that there is uncertainty…
This story is important to understand the brand of Christianity practised in Ethiopia, though. Ethiopia has its own church: the Ethiopian Ortodox Church (at some point it used to report to the Coptic Church of Egypt, but it is in fact very different, and is now recognized as independent). The focal point of their religious experience is the Ark. Every church in Ethiopia has an inner sanctum, where only the priest can enter, where a replica of the Ark is kept. Religious festivities focus around the Ark. Etc., etc.
Enough of a history lesson. Let me describe our time in Ethiopia. As you know we entered from the south, at a border town called Moyale. After a couple of days driving we arrived at the hot springs near Shasmene. A very pleasant place – hot water flowing out of a mountain, and captured in showers and swimming pools. From there we went to Lake Langano, where we just spent a lazy afternoon on the lake shore. From there to more hot springs at Sodere. From there to Addis Ababa. As I mentioned briefly before, we spent a week in Addis Ababa because our truck broke down. More about that later. Addis Ababa is mixture of the modern and the third world. It’s a pleasant enough city, but I found there isn’t that much to do. I did see Lucy, the 3.5 million year old skeleton that made science rethink the evolution of mankind. Other than that, we just walked around, shopped, went to restaurants, etc.
From Addis Ababa we finally left for Bahir Dar. It took us 3.5 days to get there because, you guessed it, the truck broke down. Bahir Dar is on Lake Tana, which is the source of the Blue Nile (for those of you who remember Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile: indeed that is the source of the White Nile. The White and the Blue come together in Khartoum). Nearby are the Blue Nile Falls, which are very spectacular. Around Bahir Dar are some monasteries, which I found, frankly, disappointing. Sure the churches were old, and had some nice paintings, but they were in a delapidated state, the roof being repaired with corrugated tin, and the inside dirty. From Bahir Dar we went to Gondar, which is one of the old Capital cities of Ethiopia. Its main attraction is the Royal Enclosure, which contains some 7 castles inside, built by successive kings. Impressive, but again, poorly maintained. From Gondar to Lalibela, another former capital. Lalibela probably has the most widely recognized tourist attraction in Ethiopia: the churches that completely hewn out of living rock. There are 11 of them, and they are worth seeing. According to legend, the only way they could complete them was with the help of Angels, who would work at night, and do 7 times as much work as man did during the day. From Lalibela we came back to Addis, arriving earlier today.
The great dissapointment about Ethiopia is the attitude of the people. Without exaggeration, I would say that over 90% of all the people that we met or waved at from the truck, immediately change into a beggar the moment they see a foreigner. As most of you know, I have been to many poor countries, and seen many beggars, but nowhere have I seen ordinary people so used to holding out their hand the moment I show up. It is sad, discomforting, and after 3 weeks, very irritating. Imagine everywhere you go you hear people screaming at you: “You, you, give me pen, give me money”. From the 5-year old to the 50-year old. I wonder why this is so prevalent here. One easy answer (which may be completely false) is that it is the result of years of charity. Whether or not that is the case, there is some real food for thought here…
Another thing about Ethiopia is that is probably the least hygienic country we visited so far. One of our guidebooks quoted a doctor who had lived in developing countries for 20 years and found Ethiopia to be the dirtiest. Indeed, we have had more health problems in the past 3 weeks than on the whole earlier part of the trip combined. Most people have had 1-2 days of intestinal problems, some more severe than others. One person was diagnosed with Typhus, although we think the doctor didn’t know what he was talking about. I myself had a cut get infected severely – I went to see a doctor about that today. This was actually an interesting experience: I arrive in this upscale clinic (with English-speaking staff), to request that a doctor look at my wound, and decide whether or not I need some anti-biotics. I have been cleaning the wound 3 times a day for the past week, and it already has improved a lot. The doctor orders about 7 different blood test, plus an X-ray, and finally advises me to wash it with soap every day and put a band-aid on. Go figure… (I have to be honest, he also gave me anti-biotics – but still the diagnostic procedure did seem way disproportionate to the problem and the eventual medical advice).
On the other hand, the part of Ethiopia that has really surprised and impressed me, is the scenery. Especially in the northern highlands, the scenery is spectacular. I’m not a poet, but words like “rugged beauty”, “sheer cliffs”, and the like come to mind. It’s unlike any mountainous region I’ve seen before. And we’ve probably missed the best part, because the war with Eritrea prevented us to go further north than Gondar (incidentally, I haven’t seen a single piece of military hardware, and probably a sum total of 20 soldiers in all the areas where I’ve been).
So now some more about the truck. I hadn’t mentioned this before, but we are currently on our third truck. Our first one started to belch black smoke somewhere in Botswana, and Richard wasn’t able to locate the problem. He had alerted London (the headquarters of Encounter Overland, the tour operator), which had sent another truck to Harare, as a precaution. Indeed, in Harare the problem couldn’t be fixed in the time we were there, so we took the other truck. All of Encounter’s truck are second-hand trucks which they themselves adapt for overland group travel. As a result, though the trucks are similar, no two trucks are exactly the same. We, the passengers weren’t happy with the second truck, since it was a lot less comfortable and had less and less accessible storage space. In Nairobi, there happened to be four Encounter trucks at the time, so when we left Nairobi, Richard had his choice. Apparently he didn’t pick a winner. Since Nairobi, we’ve had a spring break 3 times, the air compressor break, the timing fail (this cost us 24 hours on the way to Bahir Dar), and some other problems which I didn’t really get. Good thing that we’re leaving this truck here and fly to Khartoum! So, off to Khartoum tomorrow. Here is the reader’s quiz: Why is Sudan frequently referred to as “The Sudan”, just like “The Gambia”, and “The Lebanon”? Are there more examples (don’t come up with The Netherlands, because that’s just because it’s plural, and it isn’t plural in Dutch anyway)? This is not a joke, I really don’t know the answer to this and would like to find out.
I don’t expect to find an internet place in Khartoum, or in Aswan or Luxor, so the next message will probably be from Cairo in 3-4 weeks.
Best wishes to all,
Wim
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Hurghada, 2 May 1999
Dear friends,
Yes, I’m in Egypt now, and have gotten through the Sudan without any problems. Thanks again for your emails of the past few weeks.
First some general stuff about Sudan since it’s a country that is not well known. Sudan is an Islamic Republic, and one of the strictest in the world. Alcohol is banned in the whole country, and if you are found with alcohol, public flogging is the punishment. Similarly, amputating hands of thiefs and other similar things are practiced. Sudan has been involved in a civil war between the Islamic government (which controls the north of the country) and the Christian rebels in the south. This is the reason why we couldn’t drive the truck from Ethiopia into Sudan: it would have meant entering Sudan in the south. We had gotten visas in Addis Ababa, in about a week’s time. This was good, as the guide books say that it can take two months to get a visa.
So, about two weeks ago we left the truck in Addis Ababa and flew to Khartoum. The one American in the group decided not to go, and meet us again in Egypt. He figured he would not be very popular in Sudan since the US bombed Khartoum last year after the bombings of the embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam. The airport was actually much nicer and the immigration and customs procedure much less hassle than we expected. We found a place to stay and walked around town for a while. The most striking thing that became immediately clear was how friendly the people were. Perhaps the friendliest we have met in all of Africa. What a relief after Ethiopia! Nobody hassled us, nobody asked for money or other things. Insofar as there were beggars (we saw only a few), usually when they approached us some local person would walk up, give the beggar some money, and tell him to not bother us.
Khartoum is located right where the Blue Nile and the White Nile come together, so it’s very nice to sit at one of the riverside restaurants, and look out over the water. The food was pretty good, and cheap. Altogether it was very, very enjoyable.
The next morning we had to go register ourselves at the “Alien’s Registration Office”. This requirement is put forward by the Sudanese government, in an effort to control foreigners and what they are doing in the country. In addition, we needed travel permits if we wanted to travel outside of Khartoum, and photo permits if we wanted to take any photograph anywhere in the country (even with the permit you cannot take pictures of bridges, railways, military installation, beggars, garbage dumps, and lots of other things). This whole procedure took up most of the morning, plus plenty of passport photos, photocopies of passports and visas, and lots of money. That’s what a paranoid government results in. Anyway, we got everything we needed, and spent the rest of the day wandering around Khartoum.
Our arrival was on Saturday and the once-a-week train to Wadi Halfa leaves on Mondays. This meant that we only spent a day and a half in Khartoum, which was a real shame. So Monday morning we went to the train station for our 30-hour train journey to Wadi Halfa (on the border with Egypt). First class tickets were sold out, we were told (although later we saw plenty of empty seats). The second class compartment had 8 seats, and we were 8 people. Actually it wasn’t that uncomfortable. The thing I will always remember about this train ride is the dust. All windows were open because of the heat (Sudan is on average 10C hotter than Egypt), and the train goes through nothing but desert. I have never been so dusty in my life. The guy sitting next to the window looked like a mime after a few hours.
As in Khartoum, the people on the train were very friendly, and quite a few actually spoke decent English. One gave me some presents, saying “Welcome to Sudan” and “it’s my duty to give you something”. Again, what a contrast with Ethiopia.
Tuesday afternoon we arrived in Wadi Halfa, which is a very small community whose only reason for existence is that that is where the train ends, and where the ferry for Egypt docks. The guidebooks will tell you this ferry is not running because of the problems between Egypt and Sudan, but actually it started service again about a year ago. The “hotel” in Wadi Halfa was very interesting. Since there will only be guests 1 night per week, it doesn’t make sense to build something large. On the other hand, it never rains, so it’s alright to sleep outside. As a result, the hotel is really no more than a corrugated tin fence, with 3 rooms in the enclosure, and a lot of beds in a storage room, which are pulled out when people check in. The whole courtyard ends up being filled with beds, with people sleeping outside. Again we met some very friendly people who insisted on buying us meals and drinks, etc.
The next day we left Sudan on the ferry to Aswan in Egypt. This ferry crosses Lake Nasser (created by the High Dam in the Nile, at Aswan) in about 18 hours. It’s an old German riverboat, not uncomfortable, but very basic. The boat ride was nice, with nice views of the lake and the desert beyond. The next day we arrived in Aswan.
As you are probably aware, most of the monuments of ancient Egypt are found along the Nile. Aswan has a few: the Temple of Philae, the unfinished Obelisk, the ruins on Elephantine Island, St. Simeon monastery. In addition to seeing monuments, we spent a couple of hours every day sailing on the Nile in a felucca, a traditional Nile sail boat. Very nice and very relaxing. The Nile is very clean this far south, and it’s no problem to swim.
One excursion from Aswan is to go to Abu Simbel where the great temples for Ramses II and Nefertari are. You have to fly to get there, because the road is closed (see below), but you can fly there and back on the same day. Abu Simbel was very impressive. You may be aware that the whole complex was moved to higher ground when the original location flooded after the High Dam was built. They took the whole temple apart stone by stone, and rebuilt it a few hundred meters down the desert…
About that closed road: You may recall that in the fall of 1997 some 50-60 tourists got shot dead near Luxor by Islamist extremists. Obviously, that hurt tourism a lot, and the Egyptian government has done everything it can to get the tourists back. One of those things is increased security: some roads are closed altogether,others tourists can only travel in convoys, and everywhere you can see heavily armed tourist police.
After a few days in Aswan we hired a felucca and went on a two-day boat ride downstream. Very nice… Party on the beach the first night, swimming, looking at the stars at night… From the point where we left the river, it was a 2-hour taxi ride to Luxor.
We spent four days in Luxor seeing the monuments. Luxor has many: Temple of Luxor, Temple of Karnak, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Tombs of the Nobles, Village of the Artisans, Temple of Ramses III, etc. Rather than me trying to describe all that, you can pick up any book about Egypt and read all about it. Suffice it to say I was very impressed.
We should have picked up a truck again in Luxor (Encounter has many trucks and had arranged for a driver to drive a truck down to Luxor to pick us up), but the driver had crashed the truck into a sand dune… So we’re continuing to use public transportation (though the repairs may be ready by tomorrow or so). This morning we came from Luxor to Hurghada on the Red Sea. From what I’ve seen so far, it might as well be Cancun, or Cozumel, but that’s alright: I’ll do some diving here.
Two weeks to go on the trip, which will be filled with Hurghada, Sinai desert, Dahab, and Cairo. I’ll email again from Cairo.
Best wishes to everybody,
Wim
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Cairo, 14 May 1999
Dear friends,
Hello from Cairo. Today is the last day of our trip, though I’m not going home quite yet (see below).
There is not that much to tell about the last two weeks, since I sent a message from Hurghada. After some diving there, we drove to St. Anthony’s Monastery (our next truck met up with us in Hurghada). We spent the night rough camping in the desert (a very beautiful night, totally desolate and full of stars), and visited the monastery the next morning. Supposedly this is the oldest monastery in the world, dating from 305 AD. Interesting. From there we drove to the Sinai, to St. Catharine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. We climbed Mt. Sinai that same evening, arriving at the top at around midnight. It’s only a 2 hour hike, and it is around 2900 m high, so nothing like Kilimanjaro. At the top there were a few other people around, but not too many. We went to sleep (we brought our sleeping bags), and unfortunately found upon waking at 5:30 (shortly before sunrise) that we now had around 700 people joining us for the sunrise. Most of them Italians, making us wonder who was left in Rome. I remember climbing Mt. Sinai in 1981, and being disappointed by the fact that there were 150 people or so watching the sunrise, but this was orders of magnitude worse! On top of that, the Eastern half of the sky was clouded, so there was no sunrise to watch. Another change from 18 years ago was the drinks and snacks stands along the route, and the hawkers trying to sell you camel rides. In the end that came in handy, because one in our group twisted and badly sprained her ankle. That morning we drove to Dahab, on the Gulf of Aqaba, where we stayed four night. I went diving every day we were there – the diving is very good there. Dan, I didn’t make it to Sharm El Sheikh, but I was told that the diving is as good, while the place is much less commercialized. Dahab used to be a hippy hangout, and it still has some of that atmosphere left. Most hotels are not called hotels but camps, and they all have shaded areas with rugs and pillows on the beach where you can relax, or sleep. It was very enjoyable.
From Dahab we drove in one day to Cairo, where we’ve been for the past four nights. We’re doing the obligatory tourist sights: Pyramids of Giza, Saqqara, Citadel, Khan El Khalili, Coptic Cairo, etc. Again, I don’t have to say much about these monuments that you can’t read much better in book about Egypt, except that most of them are pretty impressive. I am enoying Cairo immensely, more than I expected (sorry, Maha, my expectations weren’t that high…) It’s an intense but friendly city, with lots of beautiful things to see.
Most of the group’s people are leaving tomorrow for various destinations (Jordan, Israel, Syria, Turkey, England). I am staying here for another week, and will be hanging out with my parents. They are finishing up a tour of Egypt, and will join me in Cairo in two days time.
So that’s pretty much it, folks. Four and a half months of travel are coming to an end, and I’ll have to start facing the real world again (o, no!).
Wim
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