Travelling is one of the greatest pleasures life can throw at you. I love and enjoy travelling.
I have travelled substantially within South Africa and outside. But there are a few places that the memories are as fresh as if I’ve only just returned yesterday. One such place is Ethiopia. I have promised myself that I will go back and take my son with. He needs to be exposed to what I have been exposed to those many years ago. I was lucky enough to have made the cut to join the MINI SA odyssey. The team of rally drivers, drove from Johannesburg to Oxford in MINI Coopers. A few selected publications were also invited to join the team at different stages of the odyssey. My luck was that I happen to be on the Ethiopian leg. That was how I got to meet and fall in love with Ethiopia. The country is vast and very religious.
We landed in the capital, Addis Ababa at midnight to be on time to meet up with MINI Odyssey team for our journey through Ethiopia. The day was March 8, 2006 and the South African team consisting of professional rally drivers, senior medics and adventurers, set off on what for many people seemed like mission impossible.
We saw the team off on March 8 in Johannesburg. The MINI Odyssey was set to be completed within 40 days but took 49, not bad considering the challenges they have encountered along the way.
When the team arrived in Ethiopia they had already cris-crossed a few African countries such as Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. They looked tired but upbeat as failure was not an option for this team led by Roger Pearce, then chairman of Motorsport South Africa and an adventurer.
The MINIs had undergone major surgery to prepare them for the journey. The interiors were stripped to the shell, leaving only the driver’s seat. Each MINI was self-sufficient with all the goodies that one might need on such a journey, including sleeping bags, spare wheels, food supplies etc. The medical and technical support as well as guest cars were BMW X5s.
One does not forget such events, ever. This will be etched in my mind for as long as I live.
Ethiopia was for me a huge wake up call, it was a journey of discovery for the younger me. Apart from the fact that it had been my first ever trip to any east African country, Ethiopia was a gift.
There is so much that one can do in and around the Addis Ababa let alone the country in itself. We had a day to explore the city and what we discovered was overwhelming. A city with a rich heritage not only political but religious. The only country in Africa that was never colonized, well so to speak because the Italians were there for brief period but Ethiopians never stopped fighting. I loved the ancient castles that still stand today. Some were built as early as 11th century, the castles are a reminder that Africa had been flourishing before it was invaded by Europeans. The markets are hives of activity, we were up and about buying beat works and stones.
The following day we flew out to Lalibela, north of the country in the Amhara region, where the famous rock hewn churches of Lalibela are situated. Lalibela is a place that changes one’s perspective about this continent of Africa. The churches date back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
My Africa, a continent of life and mystery. We were there for a full day, walking the land and going inside the churches. The famous St George’s is something of a mystical feature. I stood there deep in thought, how could he have thought of this, the man was ahead of his time. Anyone who could think of carving out not one but fifteen churches out of massive solid rocks must have been a genius or at least close to that. Such was king Lalibela. There is just so much to see in Ethiopia, we visited Blue Nile falls, Lake Tana in Bahir-Dar city.
I will definitely return to Ethiopia, this time with my family.
A five hour flight from Johannesburg, Ethiopia should be one in your bucket list.
