ETHIOPIA! we made it!

so After being in Djibouti for 2 weeks as we waited for the car to clear customs....TIA This Is Africa, we finally loaded everything up- left the contradictions and rugged terrain of Djibouti behind us and headed to the Ethiopian border! There were a couple of Hiccups: the main one being we were told you can get a visa at the Ethiopian border, not the case, so had to drive the 3 hours back to Djibouti city to get one! But we finally crossed over- feeling like we'd finally broken the Groundhog day cycle of 14 days in one of the smallest countries in Africa.
Ethiopia...given what you see in the news it seems like it should be a dry barren drought ridden landscape. well the Ethiopia of today is lush green rolling hills, cattle, goas and donkeys grazing peacefully as brightly coloured tribes people walk down the tarred roads (with no regard for cars or lorries) as they herd their livestock.
We traveled all day to the second largest town in Ethiopia- Dire Dawa. It's a character filled town with plenty of markets whee you can buy anything from chinese sunglasses to knock off louis vitton handbags. Disappointingly i didn't find any of the traditional Ethiopian cotton shirts I'd seen everyone wearing. hopefully in Addis... after giving an Ethiopian version of a tuk tuk to drive us around the crazy busting streets, nearly being roben by street kids twice, martin and i harassedly (if this isn't a word then I claim it as my own) got into the Nissan Xterra and heading off to the thousand year old walled city of Harar.
it was built in the 16th century (that's Ethiopian 16th not roman..do you know by the Ethiopian calender we're only in 2002!) to protect the women while the men went out to war with the christian invaders. It's a stunning, stunning city enclosed by a 3000km wall.
outside the ancient city as night falls, a 300 year old tradition takes place. the Hyena men of Harar feed over 20 hyenas by hand and by mouth! they know each creature by name and for a small fee you can take part! we did! it's terrifying! The creatures are quite tame and are used to being fed but, they're still wild animals! so then off to Addis Ababa. at the moment i'm sitting in a fabulous fabulous Sheraton hotel room in the capital city, we're planing on having a great night sleep on a proper bed then back t camping and off North to Lalibela and Lake Tana! stay tuned for the next update
xxx