After a few days in Addis I had decided to rent a 4x4 car to travel around northern Ethiopia. I had very much underestimated the size of the country. On the map it looked like it had a similar surface as Germany. In reality however it was 3 times as large, all travel was by bus or car and most roads were unpaved. So just to do a round trip from Addis through the North East it would take me 12 day while driving 6-7 hours each day. My inexperience and hesitation left me little choice but to take this offer in order to see as much as possible in the remaining 3 weeks.
It is 8 April 2015 and I just got a small group together to share the ride costs. It is the first time I have actually met other tourists. No wonder, I had just moved to a slightly more touristic part - the Piazza Area. I stayed 2 days in run down hotel for $ 20 per night. Bugs crawling around when I showered. The floor collapsed when I made my first step into the room and everything which I didn’t move at least twice a day was full of mould on its downside. My cubic TV kept me company whenever the wifi would be slower than 5 minutes per text message. I thought that this is how this had to be - this is the how travelling is. I was even happy I got such a cheap deal at $ 20 a night. The next day I moved next door, payed $ 12, had a much larger room, functioning wifi and everything was clean - who knew, I got scammed again.
But back to my journey. Chappy, my driver pulled over at my hotel and we, 2 French guys, a German and myself, boarded and left for the adventure. Off to Bahir Dar.
Chappy my driver and best entertainer possible