Worst possible mountain road!
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2012
1
52
77
Trip End
Jan 04, 2013
Aksum, Ethiopia
Sunday, June 17, 2012
We had no idea just how tough the 150km of dirt would be!! The road is under construction with lots of sections at walking speed. The other factor that you don't factor in is that you're travelling in the Roof of Africa with more than 25 mountain peaks above 4000m.
That means that you drive down a mountain pass, cross a short flat section or a small river and then climb up the other side of the mountain again! This process is repeated over and over again... Absolutely exhausting for driver and car! Jabula did brilliantly without a murmur or grumble.... Happy to have a Landcruiser!!
Aksum is a town filled with history. Some of the interesting sights are the Queen of Sheba's Palace, a church which is said to house the Ark of the Covenent and a 33m long obelisk which was broke into three pieces when they tried to erect it.
We managed to find a good camp for the time in Aksum in the courtyard of the Africa Hotel. We came down to the little restaurant, had a couple of beers, a bottle of wine and each had a shish-kebab meal for about $US10! Great for our budget considering the "camping" is costing us about $2 a night :-)
Next stop Mekele, then Lalibela and on to Addis Ababa.....
