12th November 08

Date: 12th November 08
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Weather: Clear blue skies and sunshine…this is the rainy season in africa, what’s happening! 33°c
Status: Still on the visa mission….

Up early again, packed away the tent and cooked Bre and I a full English breakfast, yum indeed.

Hit the roads of the capital to the Sudanese embassy to hand in the forms required to start our applications. The same unfriendly guy met us at the gate; I’d make it my job today to get him to smile whatever happened!

We queued to hand in the forms and have them checked, were then told to wait for our turn to be called back to the window, this took half an hour until we got them back with a load of red scribble on them to say they’d been accepted, first job done. Mr Oh-So-Unfriendly then ushered us around to the accounts window where we’d have to pay the admin fee of $61 each except the US visa which is $150! This completed the next stage was to return to the first window to hand them back in where we were told to come back tomorrow at 3pm to collect them!! What a palaver!

So ack to the camp again to start the next line of enquiry which will enable me to get home as planned…the ferry across the Aswan from Wadi Halfa. There are many different stories on quite how difficult it is to book a place for the vehicles here and with Kees’s huge truck in tow its essential that we get the particulars right early on. I take a few numbers in Egypt and Sudan, try to call them and get nowhere….typical Africa again. Will try tomorrow.

Kees, Savannah, Bre and I headed off to the pool to cool down and use the internet, there’s only one place to go in the city and that’s the opulent luxury of the Sheraton Hotel again, full of businessmen and official looking people we traipse in straight off the street with our towels under our arms in shorts…the reaction of the doorman wa brilliant, and I think he actually had a great time joking with us as we out our towels and laptops through the security scanner!

Had a bite to eat in the town and went to bed.

End of day location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Distance covered: 10kms