Tsiribihina River, Madagascar | 17 May, 2007 | $63.47 (hotel, guides, transport, & food on river trip) Our second full day on the river meant more wildlife spotting (including lemurs!) and lunch and swimming at a waterfall. I was traveling in the shoulder season so none of these spots were crowded and we didn’t see…
Tsiribihina River, Madagascar | 16 May, 2007 | $63.47 (hotel, guides, transport, & food on river trip) Two nights of our trip were spent camping on the banks of the Tsiribihina River. We cut it close and set up our tents at dusk both night, eating fish from the river by candlelight. Each morning we…
Miandrivazo, Madagascar | 15 May, 2007 | $63.47 (hotel, guides, transport, & food on river trip) Traveling alone ensures a bit of uncertainty when trying to book trips that you can’t afford to do alone. My hostel had a few French tourists looking to round out their group trip on the Ttsiribihina River. I was…
Aantananarivo, Madagascar | 14 May, 2007 | $8.16 Tana is a lovely town but I never intended to spend five days there. After my debit card was swiped in Jordan and flagged while I was in Ethiopia my bank finally cancelled it and sent me a new one… to my mom’s house in the U.S.…
Aantananarivo, Madagascar | 11 May, 2007 | $14.15 After my crazy overnight ride from Moyale to Nairobi, Kenya I was totally exhausted. I did not take a photo of the cage I slept in overnight for fear that the other, somewhat hostile, passengers would realize why I wouldn’t put my daypack (holding my laptop, hard…
Moyale, Kenya | 4 May, 2007 | $2.26 (my share of a 2-bed room) While in Addis I met someone who wanted to travel together along the long, rough overland route to Ethiopia. Folks, don’t do it! It is not worth the hassle and discomfort unless you have your own car. If I could go…
Dila, Ethiopia | 3 May, 2007 | $3.40 One day on the bus from Addis brought me to the unremarkable town of Dila, for an overnight stop on the way to the Kenyan border. It was so unremarkable that the photo above is the only one I have from the trip. Enjoy!
Before I went to Japan in 2004 I thought riding the magical Shinkansen train would be just like it seems in this video (I wish!):
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 2 May, 2007 | $7.95 Arriving back in Addis, I did a little souvenir shopping, visited the restaurant with Mexican food and made arrangements for my flight to Madagascar. Sometime while I was up North my bank canceled my ATM card, leaving me unable to pay for my hotel bill or…
Dessie, Ethiopia | 26 April, 2007 | $2.84 It took two days to get to get to Lalibela and another two days to get back to Addis Ababa. Although I would have liked to head as far North as Aksum it was long, lonely trip and I decided to head back South. Traveling in a…
Lalibella, Ethiopia | 25 April, 2007 | $7.95 There was no direct bus from Nefas Mewcha to Lalibela and the local buses heading East were filled to standing capacity. Despite getting to the bus before dawn all were already full. Before I could think about my next move an official came by and kicked people…
Nefas Mewcha, Ethiopia | 22 April, 2007 | $2.27 The two Americans I traveled with in Southern Ethiopia flew to Lalibela from Addis and came back before I’d left town again. Good thing they came back, because they forgot to pay their hotel bill and stored all of their luggage in my room. I took…
Gonder, Ethiopia | 20 April, 2007 | $7.39 The cobblestone streets of Gonder were more fun to explore than Bahir Dar and the downtown area had a lively group of teenagers hanging out, eating pizza and drinking expresso. There wasn’t many places in Ethiopia where I could find Western food but this was one of…
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia | 18 April, 2007 | $8.52 The hotel grounds were lovely, with flowers and a lakeside location, but it was run by indifferent staff and had few travelers to talk to. My first room had no hot water and I spent hours trying to change rooms. Looking back, I don’t know why…
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia | 17 April, 2007 | $8.52 Driving after dark in Ethiopia wasn’t allowed since the war. I’m not sure how the private minibus companies got around the restrictions or if public buses were being extra careful. The minibus I arranged to take me to Bahir Dar, in Northwest Ethiopia, arrived at my…
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 13 April, 2007 | $7.95 After eleven days driving around it was nice to start exploring by foot again. I hadn’t had any time to look around when I first arrived so I visited the museum when Lucy is kept, walked through the market and came down with a horrible case…
J’en veux un!
Awasa, Ethiopia | 10 April, 2007 | $7.60 Finally back to a descent-sized city! We arrived late in the day and walked down to the shores of Lake Awasa where local sweethearts walked hand-in-hand along the shore, sharing snacks and watching the sunset. There are a few photos of the trip to Awasa and Awasa…
Yabello, Ethiopia | 9 April, 2007 | $5.68 Due to our extra day in Turmi driving around dirt tracks for five hours in search of a bull jumpers we had to make up time. We quickly made our way back East toward the main road at the town of Yabello—a nine hour journey. Along the…
Turmi, Ethiopia | 8 April, 2007 | $3.41 Our original plan didn’t include a three night stay in Turmi, we had only stopped in order to catch the traditional market day in Dimeka. Most towns have one day a week where the market sets up and people from different tribes in the surrounding area come…