In anticipation for Ethiopia, the 5 of us ( 2 Canadians, 1 Irishman and us 2 Americans) decided it would be safest to form a group. We’ve heard a number of horror stories about Ethiopian kids banding together and throwing rocks and pushing sticks into peoples bike spokes as they are riding. We’ve met a couple that avoided Ethiopia all together and heard of a man who broke down crying from all the abuse he had endured. Also there has been some recent instability within Northern Ethiopia. We hope to ride all of Ethiopia unless we decide it is too dangerous and not worth the risk. We anticipate arriving at the Sudanese\Ethiopian border in approximately 1 week. Although I’m apprehensive about riding through Ethiopia, I’m also looking forward to cooler temperatures and tree cover.
We got a late start today and encountered significant headwinds as we were making our way out of Khartoum. We decided to bike the East side of the Nile southward as we had heard that the West side has high traffic. It was brutally hot today and we stopped at a border checkpoint for cold soda. I don’t normally drink soda back home but it is really nice when riding through the heat. We later stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe and shared a plate of fried lamb, squash potato dish, lentils, and bread. We cut the day short at 46 miles and decided to stay at the cafe overnight as it was already swelteringly hot and we were all tired. I inflated my air mattress and slept outside with my sleeping bag on a metal frame bed with canvas strips tied across for suspension
Excited to see more trees.
Beds we slept on next to cafe.
Meal at cafe, lamb, bread and some other dishes.
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Birds on side of the road.