WEATHER: Cool 21C in the morning – Hot 34C at lunch – Cool 19C in the evening
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Breaking down in dodgy no.2 car
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Breaking down in dodgy no.2 car
BUYS OF THE DAY: Didn’t spend a dime today
WORD OF THE DAY: Ishy – its okay
We leave Turmi today to start our journey back north so we had to have all our bags packed and out of the tents this morning. We didn’t have to pack down the tents; this was going to be done while we were out and would all be finished when we came back from our trip to the Dasanech Tribe. So the Dasanech Tribe is located on the Omo River only 40km from the Kenyan border, so we had to get an early start. Breakfast was at 7am and then a departure as soon as we had finished had us on the road at 7.30am. Today we had Abe as our awesome driver and we were back in car number 2!
The scenery is a lot flatter as we head the furthest south we go on the whole trip. There are security check points along the way as we pass through different tribal areas and our final destination today at Omorate was the strictest by far, as we had to park at the office and hand in our passports, which they held onto until we left again to go back to camp. Minaloo re-assured us that they were in safe hands for the 2 hours we were going to spend in their region.
Omorate was a mud pool. The sun was out this morning, but it had rained overnight here and he whole ground was mud. Not just a little bit, a massive mud bath. The cars parked at the Tourist Hotel ( told you there was one in each village ) and we walked to the Omo River where there was going to be traditional dug out canoes to cross the river waiting for us to see the Dasanech people. As you may be aware I am not a small boat person, I hate them and the thought of falling in and not being able to get back into the small boat is embarrassing enough for me to scare the wits out of me. BUT then I did do the mokoros in the Delta and I survived that, so how bad could these canoes be? Well the size of the canoe was a secondary issue once I saw how we had to get done to the damn canoes. They were parked at the base of a massive, no exaggeration MASSIVE, muddy incline, on a normal day would have been a challenge to get down let alone adding mud and slipping and sliding to that equation. I only had to take a glance at what was required before I even saw anyone attempt the decent to know there was no way I was going to see the Dasanech people today. As the group went down in groups of 4, and watched them slip and slide it furthered my resolve to not go. I had David, Massimo and also Minaloo re-assuring me that they would be there to help me every step of the way down, but with a large crowd of local people gathering to watch us get down this mudslide, there was no way in hell. Thanks for the offers guys but there is just no way I’m going down there. So I watched the last of the group getting into the dugout canoes and they are basically made out of a local tree (can’t remember the name) and depending on the size of the tree differentiated the size of the canoe. They were all similar size in length but the width of them varied and I know some of the crew had an issue initially trying to get their tushy into the canoe. Yeah if they had a problem what chance would I have had. All round I am glad I didn’t go and I still don’t regret my decision.
The Daasanach are traditionally a pastoral people by tradition, but in recent years have become primarily agropastoral. Having lost the majority of their lands over the past fifty years or so, primarily as a result from being excluded from their traditional Kenyan lands they have suffered a massive decrease in the numbers of cattle, goats and sheep. As a result, large numbers of them have moved to areas closer to the Omo River, where they attempt to grow enough crops to survive. Women are circumcised by removing the clitoris so the form of circumcision is less extreme than some as it leaves room for babies to be born. Women who are not circumcised are called animals or boys and cannot get married or wear clothes. Women wear a pleated cow skin skirt and necklaces and bracelets, they are usually are married off at 17 while men are at 20. Boys are circumcised. Men wear only a checkered cloth around their waist.
So I was walked back to the Tourist Hotel where the drivers were resting up and I sat there with my book till the group returned at 11.20am. They all looked hot and bothered, but had a good time over there, even though a few comments to me was that I didn’t miss much. Not sure if they were telling the truth or they were just trying to make me feel better, but either way it was sweet. So after they had a few drinks we were back into the cars to head back to camp for lunch and then the rest of the afternoon was going to be getting us back to Konso for the night, which makes for a big afternoon of driving. This tribe was pretty much the last one for the trip. I believe we have one more market to visit tomorrow of the Oromo people, but otherwise the next few days has the objective of getting us back to Addis Ababa. I checked the temperature outside as we left Omorate and it was 34C!!!!! No wonder why the group had red faces and looked hot and bothered. I felt bad I had been resting, reading and sipping my Sprite while they were out and about on 34C temperatures in the mud. I am still happy I didn’t go and I look like a BIG woose but I don’t care!
Lunch was ready when we got back at 12.30. Cook has done so well to date and has made some marvelous food. I know David remembers his name, all I can remember is that it means ‘rain’ translated but he was a little cutie and he came for a ‘bakery’ run in Turmi on the 2nd night – sweet guy. The last of our bags and the camping gear was getting packed on the cars and we were back on the road at 1.30pm. We have had an awesome group in regards to time keeping, this I LOVE. I hate tardiness, the upside of travelling with blue rinses (or equivalent) they are always on time.
As the afternoon passes we noticed that the car was starting to splutter a little bit. It didn’t stop, so we kept driving till 4pm where we had a pit stop and a drink before setting off again. The weather had changed again to rain and grey skies. The temperature now 19C, 15C cooler than this morning – now that is what I call a temperature change!!!! Number 2 got the look over and got the thumbs up. Car 1 had to have a tire change, but other than that we all looked good and set off again. Well an hour in and car number 2 aka US coming into Konso stopped, died, kaput. She just didn’t want to go another mile. So the upside is that the car is brand spanking new, she had 165km on the clock when we started the trip, so how serious could the problem be? As we were no.2, 3 and 4 were behind us so they all stopped as well to see what the problem was, car 1 was in its own world and powered on without noticing us missing! But we had the other 2, so with the manual and the drivers all clicking and discussing they came to the conclusion that the fuel was contaminated with water, more than likely from Jinka and was now in the system. Don’t ask me to explain any of it as I can’t even change a flat tire (I know but that is what RACQ is for) but whatever it was involved water, dodgy fuel and it was bad. We were probably about 25 minutes from our final destination, so Johnny got on the phone to Minaloo and they attempted to try and fix the problem, if not temporarily to get us to the accommodation for the night. As it happened a truck full of local people passed us heading in the other direction and they gave a toot and drove past. Well 3 minutes later they were backing up the road and 3 guys jumped out for the back, had a look and all of a sudden the middle guy had put a pipe to his mouth, sucked out fuel or water or air, and then they put it all back together and what did you know the car started. It was blowing a hell a lot of smoke, but it started and it was at this point Zeme / no.1 turned up, but he was empty in the case that no.2 was going to be left there if required. So with us all working, number 3 was now also puffing some smoke we headed for camp. I rode with Zeme to keep him company and we were literally only 20 minutes from base. It could have been a lot worse and been in Mayo National Park or the middle of nowhere, but anyway after 1.5 hours broken down we made it safely. Nothing like the wheels falling off towards the end of the trip!
We were staying back at Strawberry Fields, the eco-lodge that we stayed at on the way down, so we knew what to expect when we arrived. The only difference last time it was dry as a bone, this time with all the rain the place had turned into a muddy quagmire!!! They are pretty smart though and all the main pathways were laid with grass clippings on top of the mud, so if you were careful you could walk the path and not collet too much mud on the bottom of your shoes. Like the Mursi mud, this stuff just sticks to the soles of your shoes and your size 9 foot turns into a size 29!!!! Due to the high cost of the food, we were going to go into town to eat tonight, but after we had arrived and unloaded our bags, Minaloo said there are problems with 2 of the cars and they had to be worked on, so we were going to stay in and eat at the lodge. No big deal, the food was actually quite good, it was just the time it takes to get it and the over pricing. I am back in the same room I had previously and I was hoping that the spider that I killed last time didn’t have any angry relatives or friends that were going to come tonight and wreak some revenge for his death. So I am back in a room with no electricity which was okay. After dinner we were all pretty wrecked, so we set off for bed, AFTER 8.01pm, and as I was walking up to my room with my head torch on, I was accosted by these flying little bugs around my light. They just descended on me out of nowhere and before I knew it I had swallowed like 5 of them and they were stuck in my throat, which I started to cough and cough and cough and cough to try and dislodge the suckers to which more were, I am sure, trying to also get in my mouth. I couldn’t turn my light off as there was no light at all up in my section of the grounds and I would have fallen over (with my track record) and broken something. So as soon as I got to my door and unlocked the padlock, I switched off my light for the bugs to disappear and then I went inside, closed the door and then switched on my headlamp again to have the pesky blighters right there again. So with lightning speed, I changed into my jim jams, got my book, switched off the headlamp, climbed into bed under the mosquito net thinking that will stop them, switched on my headlamp to be swarmed by them again. How did they get under that net so quick? I could only read for about 15 minutes and then they just got too much for me and I had to switch off the headlamp. I did manage to play a couple games of Brickbreaker on my phone before I decided to just cut my losses and get some sleep.
So in my mud hut, with rain falling on the thatched roof, I was onto my 4th last night in Ethiopia and we were heading back towards civilization. I’m going to miss this place and David, Josephine, Massimo and I have made a pact to come back together next year and we are going to do the north tour together. That is an amazing idea!!!
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