Reaching the Southeastern Frontier :: Dollo Ado

Part I

Part II

In the evening I got together with my new travel companions to search for transportation opportunities to Dollo Ado. I found out right away that there is no minibus transportation and only Izuzu trucks loaded with food and equipment mainly for the refugee camps leave to Dollo Ado. The road is really bumpy from Negele to Dollo and stretches about 360km long - only a sturdy 4x4 SUV or a big truck will survive the road. We are several people who needed to get to Dollo in the next few days and decided to continue our search for transportation the next day. It was getting late and everyone was tired from a long journey to Negele Borena.

After I got some good sleep I woke up early in the morning. I couldn’t overhear the call for Allah from the nearby Mosque. I enjoyed hearing the prayers and it reminded me again of the worlds apart from home. The sun was rising and I got up as most people in Africa rise early with the sun. After breakfast we searched for transportation again and with some help we were able to find a truck taking along three people. From here I continued my journey with a young Ethiopian Chemistry teacher, who is about to start his new job assignment in Dollo Ado and a business man. We got on the truck in the late afternoon as the trucks only drive through the night to Dollo. The hot temperatures during the day will quickly wear down the tires and the daytime heat does not make for a pleasant travel condition. Finally the truck was loaded and ready to go. I got into the cabin with two drivers and my two travel mates. The cabin was also filled with khat and the drivers cheeks were already stuffed with the green plant. In the eastern parts of the country it is tradition to chew khat in the afternoon and it keeps the drivers at night awake and alert. They didn’t want me to go to sleep either for the long road ahead, so I had to chew with them. The plant has a bitter taste and is best to enjoy it with sugar or drinking coke at the same time. We drove slowly through the night and stopped several times at small villages to unload and sell the khat the truck brings along the route for the local Somali tribes men. It can never be too early or too late in the day -  local tribes men are always ready and wait for the fresh delivery of their beloved khat.

Finally after 15 hours drive we reached at daylight the first refugee camp Bokolmanyo. We stopped at the local MSF Spain camp where the truck unloaded its heavy load of water and cement. I walked with my travel mates near the main road and we could see the Somali refugee camp with many white tents in the far distance. We got a snack and some tea at a local Somali house along the road. We were near Dollo Ado, but still about 100km away. It was hot, the land is flat and the desert clearly shows its face with only a  few visible shrubs in the landscape. We patiently waited for the truck to unload and after several hours we continued our trip to Melkadida, another refugee camp closer to Dollo Ado. Since the truck has finished his mission and needed to return to Negele Borena, the driver searched for a minibus to take us into Dollo Ado. At this point it was clearly visible that it had rained for at least a few days and the road was more or less flooded. Somehow we made it into the minibus stuffed with Somali women, children and large bags. The driver’s voice sounded like the devil in person. Somali culture is so different - people speak loudly, sometimes scream at each other and gesture with their hands. His laugh was so loud and scruffy and sounded like it came right out of hell. Initially I couldn’t tell whether he is angry, but I quickly understood that his speech is normally like this and his laugh with his smoky and rusty voice started to amuse me. His cheeks were stuffed with khat and his yellow and brown teeth showed his longterm khat abuse. 

The road to Dollo Ado was about another 70km ahead of us - heavily soaked and flooded from the rain. It continued to rain, but somehow we made it to Dollo, sitting all squeezed together with way too many people on board of the minibus. The roads in town were also flooded - the first rain in over two years - so they told me. The streets were muddy and the driver took me to the nearest hotel in town. My first impression was a town from the middle ages - busy with many SUV’s driving around from different NGO’s. A town seemingly stuck in the 16th century - without electricity (some people have generators) and running water (donkey carts bring water from nearby wells) - but almost everyone has a mobile phone. The future has arrived in Dollo Ado :: Ethiopia.

The Last Frontier :: Addis Ababa to Negele Borena

Part I

A two-day bus ride took me through the Great Rift Valley to Negele Borena. Moving fast on the paved road from Addis Ababa we passed many lakes and fertile grounds along the road to Awasa. Stopping at those lakes and towns is still on my travel list, but at this time my destination is Negele Borena, a frontier town in southeastern Ethiopia. After we passed Awasa through a rain storm, our road turns up the hill and the bumpy road rises into the forest. We stay overnight in the small, but busy mountain town of Aleta Wondo. Thankfully the lady in the bus next to me took me along to a little hotel. We have time for a quick dinner and chai and we go to bed early as the night is short and we continue our journey to Negele Borena at 5am the next morning. The bumpy road leads us to higher mountain terrain and I can still see the full moon over Aleta Wondo down in the valley. As the daylight increases I can see the magical forest, sprinkled with lilac and yellow flowers. People are still sleeping in their huts along the road, but I can see the smoke rising from some roofs. The firewood is stacked orderly in front of the huts and I can only imagine that they just started the morning fire to warm up their little houses. The road goes up and down and the landscape is lush and green since it’s the end of the raining season. It is chilly outside and the sun has not come out. Fog lingers over the landscape and we pass along some seemingly thick rainforest. After many hours driving through the mountains the road starts to decent to the lowlands. The forest is less thick, but the trees are tall and the landscape started to remind me of Kenya or South Africa. The soil is red and the trees are green from the recent rain. Many termite mounts tower over the bushes and trees and give the landscape a whole new taste. Everyone on the bus knows we are near Negele Borena and we can see the town from far in the distance in the lowland. We have landed in southeast Ethiopia. This is the road to Mogadishu and the border to Somalia is not far - about 400km. Finally in the afternoon we arrive in Negele Borena and I find a hotel on the other side of town. I made new friends on the bus, people who are also on the way to Dollo Ado. We will continue on the same path for the next few days. This is just the beginning of the adventure to Dollo Ado - the last frontier or “the wild east”, as I call it. Stay tuned!

Part II