In order to keep us sweet and stop us carrying on the trip without a truck, it was suggested we spend a day in Harar, a walled city in the east of Ethiopia. It was agreed that as long as we are going places and seeing new stuff we didnt mind. So we set of Monday morning at 9am. Another 9 hour drive ahead of us seemed like a nightmare but it was actually really good. The scenery was really nice with mountains bushland and wetlands all along the way. We were driving in the mountains for a long time and it was rainy and we were driving on windy roads through the clouds which was a bit hairy. The animals have started to appear as well which is what we came to see, and most of them want to cross the road and get in the way so I'm starting a list of animals that block our path.
Got to Harar too late to do anything. It was a really dingy hotel and only our room and Brendan & Marie's room (who have hooked up on the trip by the way) had decnet toilets and showers so everyone piled in ours.
The next morning we hired a guide to take us around the walled part of the city, which is 1 square kilometre and in it it has 362 alleyways and over 80 mosques. It also is weird because Christians and Muslims all live within the walls without fighting. It's still really poor here and loads of kids follow us and find us "Farenjis" (foreigners) really odd.
In the evening we had the highlight of the trip so far and saw the Hyena men feeding the hyenas at the gates of the city. We had a go too! fed them meat with sticks on our mouth! Never realised how big hyenas are and how big their teeth are unless there bearing down on your face!! Paid 40 Birr (about 2.50 in english money) Got an encore in the hotel at night as well with hyena giggles out the back all night!! Had several close ups with vultures outside the window in the mornings.
On the way back to Addis saw some wild boar having a mud bath and a herd of about 50 camels drinking at the lake. Saw lots of trucks overturned as well one was still smoking from where it had crashed and caught fire while we were in Harar. Got back to Addis about 7 and what a surprise - Still no truck! Even Kim hasn't a clue now. Time for action! We've said taht if its not here by friday then we are going it alone until the truck catches up with us! We also wrote a letter to Ron (The Boss of overland club) and let him have it! Watch This Space!!!
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