Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud...

Tanzania has been the most fun place to ride. We were a bit nervous about this extended off road section after our experiences in Sudan, but riding on the dark red hard packed earth surrounded by dense green forests has been wonderful. The route we have taken has certainly been a road less travelled as we saw very few vehicles over the last 6 days, and those that we did see tended to be stuck in the mud, going nowhere fast.

MUD.. and more mud.  We took time to visit Ypres!

As fate would have it, as soon as we turned off the tarmac the rain began. Loosened by the downpours, our wheels kicked up the gritty red sand which would flick into our faces, on our backs and to all parts of our bikes. Quickly the dots of spray would become solid patches of grime, caking our clothes. Finally the heavy mud guards which Thijis has been carrying half the length of Africa came into their own as his shirt remained perfectly Daz white - we can’t say the same for ours!

After two days with bouts of torrential rain the road was completely destroyed in parts. At times the mud was so deep that our wheels would become clumped with it, doubling in size - we’d lift them up to carry them through. Not knowing how long these sections would go on for we shuddered at the prospect of walking 119 km carrying our bikes. But quickly we’d be on the move again, flying along the hard packed dirt, loving the terrain and hurling ourselves through the smaller puddles.

The mud quickly solidified on our bikes, causing all sorts of creaking and groaning, destroying our chains and wearing out our brake pads. We’d wince as we changed gears and our bikes screamed at us to stop the pain we were putting them through.

Jockey wheels and brake pads - the effect of the grit wore our brakes to the nub and sharpened our jockey wheels into deadly ninja stars








Arriving in camp, with the spray of mud thick on us we’d begin the futile exercise of cleaning our clothes, our bikes and ourselves. Each of these tasks required purchasing a bucket of water from an enterprising local (of varying prices from one village to the next depending on the strength of our negotiation skills). It also required some careful analysis of the clouds and bold uninformed conclusions about weather patterns to estimate the window of opportunity for drying (particularly clothes which would otherwise sit in our lockers and become increasingly smelly) before everything would be soaking again. Even if the whole task was achieved (a rarity) within 5 minutes on the road the next day any pretence at cleanliness would be lost as we would become gloriously dirty once again.

Ali claims it's a tanline!

All of this reminded us of riding in England – we are not strangers to the constant drizzle, and enjoyed the freshness in the air that meant we were no longer racing to camp to beat the heat. The less popular road meant that for the majority of the time the surface was relatively smooth (free from the corrugation we experienced in Sudan) and took us through some tiny towns and villages, which we otherwise would have missed, even if they did laugh at our mud splattered faces, whilst they pedalled past in their impossibly clean, white dresses. The challenge of riding off-road was so much fun, bending and weaving, trying to find the smoothest and driest line – perhaps we’ll try mountain biking when we get home…

St. Paddy's Day

Wherever you go in the world, there’s always an Irishman…

As we have settled into the trip and got fitter, we have slowly been staying up later, needing that bit less sleep to recover each night, and having the odd beer. Since Kenya, the group has started looking for excuses to have some celebrations (crossing the equator led to one particularly heavy evening…), and so for St.Patrick’s day, a group of us became honorary Irishmen (under the wing of two genuine paddies on the trip, Phil and Darragh) and decided to spend the day doing challenges as we rode along. The evening before, we came up with a list of dares, with associated points, ranging from getting on a local’s bike (easy) to getting a local to buy you a beer (impossible).

The challenges are set

The list of challenges

The following morning, we begged, borrowed and stole anything we could find that was green, white or orange to try and look the part (this included sticking pieces of green crop in our helmets) and set off on the road.

A leprechaun hides from the camera

If you squint, it looks like an Irish flag...  hmm?

The day was spend cajoling locals to lend us their donkey, swapping clothes, sampling as many varieties of beer as possible, which doesn’t make cycling up hills much fun, and trying to get locals’ phone numbers (Lizzie was worryingly good at this). We even managed to form the base of a 10-man human pyramid. However, the highlight occurred whilst we were in negotiations to borrow a local’s clapped out bicycle, when we heard the roar of a motorbike engine and saw Freek, a Dutch rider on the trip, tear down the road with 500cc of power behind him – his power of persuasion are clearly much better than ours.

A Maasai clothes swap

The centre of the pyramid looking nervous

The coup de grace – Freek swapped his
bike for a motorbike

Ngorongoro Crater

Last week we had a few days off from riding in Arusha, Tanzania (a planned break this time). We took the opportunity to head to Ngorongoro Crater. Not only is Ngorongoro the inspiration for The Lion King, which is in its own right a good enough reason to visit (on the off chance of seeing a cloud shaped like Mufasa) but it is also an incredible game park.

 

The Crater's edge

Due to all the volcanic ash the crater is incredibly lush, enabling it to support a huge number of animals. It has very steep sides which keeps a lot of the animals penned in (although some of them do move in and out using some of the less steep routes). The combined impact of these is that the crater in effect becomes a glorified 35 square mile zoo, where it is relatively easy to spot animals.

A lion couple's domestic

We were lucky enough to see four separate lion prides, rhinos, hippos, elephants, hyenas and all the slightly more common stuff, like zebras, that are really exciting the first time you see one, and far less so after the 7,000th. The crater ground consists of ash rather than soil, meaning that in the main it cannot support tree roots so there are no impala and no giraffes there as they are tree feeders. 

 

A wildebeest domestic

 

Simba and his mates

Whilst staying at a very nice hotel on the rim of the crater, Ali decided to pop the big question to Lizzie, to which she very sensibly said yes. Luckily, having been washing some lycra earlier in the day, her fingernails were clean for the occasion and the ring didn’t look too out of place! This will hopefully give us more conversational material for the long riding days ahead.

Halfway Down

It’s hard to believe that we have now done half the distance of this trip; pedalled through 5 countries and been on our bikes for two months.  Several bouts of diarrhoea and some nasty saddle sores in, we remember days at home when we couldn’t really believe that we were going to start this adventure, let alone contemplate being half way.

So many lessons have been learnt – Lizzie has learnt not to tighten all the screws on her bike (for example those that set the limits for the gear cable) and Ali has fine tuned his tyre changing with 15 punctures.  We know that duct tape can solve nearly everything and that if you don’t have any sensation in your left hand for a few weeks – eventually it will come back; that a tent can often be better than a hotel and that peeing outdoors is often better than in; that Ethiopians have great aim;  that the race to the front of the breakfast queue is the most important race in the day;  that skinny cyclists can eat A LOT; that Saint George beer tastes better than Dashen; that beetroot and diarrhoea don’t mix well; that chocolate can make anything seem better (and that M&M’s keep better in the heat than Snickers); that  it is possible to go from dirty to (averagely) clean in 3 wet wipes and that you don’t need to shower nearly as often as you think you should.

We are looking forward to the second half and know that there are many more lessons to come!

Halfway through the miles, we are also just over halfway towards our fundraising target.  We are so grateful to those who have been supporting us, and helped us raise nearly £6,000 for the three charities that we are fundraising for.  For those of you who are planning on sponsoring us, but have yet to find the time – get on it!  (thanks)

The Sun and the Moon

There is no doubt that our lives have become pretty basic, centred around food, sleep and cycling. This has been matched by the simplicity of our daily routine becoming based around the comings and goings of the sun. This necessity is compounded by the fact that we often camp in the middle of nowhere with no electricity.

A rider sets out at dawn

Whilst the hours of daylight change slightly as we head south, generally it has been getting light at around 6.30am and dark at around 7pm. This means that we eat breakfast at around 6.45am and set off riding straight after. Depending on the quality of the road and the length of the days riding, we tend to get to lunch between 9.30am and 11.30am, arriving at camp between 12.30pm and 3.30pm with dinner at 5.15pm. Whilst at first these times sounded shocking, we have adjusted to this new routine and generally find ourselves looking at our watches less and less, knowing the times of day by the urgency of our hunger! We don’t miss the call to prayer which woke us up throughout Egypt and Sudan, but it seems to be being steadily replaced by cockerels and other contributors to the dawn chorus.

We only cycle during the hours of daylight, so we are always keen to get moving early in the morning, enjoying the ride while the air is cooler and the sun is getting into its stride. On long days, the lowering of the sun in the sky acts as an incentive to pedal faster, lest it fall dark, we get picked up by the crew and our day’s ride is curtailed.

Sunset

Once the sun sets, people tend to slink off to their tents as without electricity there is little to do but talk, and the day’s exertion leaves our capacity to do this severely dented! Although if you’re feeling up to it there is often an amicable debate involving an American going on somewhere around camp. It is noticeable how on rest days, when we have power, we can quickly revert to the ingrained routines and timings of our normal lives (not least because the wi-fi works better late at night when everyone else has gone to bed).

One of the highlights of camping in the middle of nowhere is the night sky. The moon, especially when full, has been fantastically bright - we’ve had the pleasure of seeing it rise, big and yellow on the horizon on a couple of occasions. We often leave the flysheet off our tent and it can appear as if someone is standing above us with a head-torch looking in it is so bright (Tessa did actually ask the moon one night who it was and what it wanted!). And the number of stars we can see is breath-taking. Often by the time we get up in the morning, the moon has set and the first few minutes of our routine, taking down the tent etc., are done in the pitch black, before the light from the sun starts to filter through and another day begins. 

A bright night under the stars

Section 3 Video Up for Palme D'Or

We have had some good feedback on our videos so far - it seems people are enjoying them. If there is anything you'd be keen for us to include in subsequent videos, please let us know i.e. more of our grubby faces, less of our posteriors etc...

This video shows a lot of us not cycling, as due to the election we did quite a lot of not cycling. It's become a bit more of a holiday (although the second half of Ethiopia was still very tough!), but hopefully from Nairobi onwards we will be back on our bikes and bringing you more footage from the road.

Click here to watch it.

Kenya has a new President

We’ve had mixed emotions about being in Kenya at the time of the election.  Caution around security has unfortunately meant that we haven’t ridden our bikes as much as we would have liked (losing 6 riding days in total) and missed out on experiencing much of the country from the saddle.  However the timing has given us a different insight into Kenya, seeing the people at their most politically active and experiencing African democracy first hand.

The voter turn-out was huge, finally tallied at 85%.  In a country of 40million people, many living in very rural communities, that is some achievement.  By way of contrast, the last time we got anywhere close to that in the UK was 84% in 1950; turn-out for the 2010 general election was a resurgent 65%.  Focused on electing their local governor rather than the president, the level of engagement that we witnessed in the remote communities in the north was clearly emblazed across their chests with t-shirts.  We were also interested to see candidates faces plastered on material that women would wrap around as skirts, or headscarves in the more Muslim areas.

It seems that whilst there are a smattering of class issues and political ideologies at play, tribal politics is a key component of Kenyan politics.  To overcome this and form a majority in parliament, two leading coalitions had been formed, each with their own presidential candidate - the Jubilee Alliance supporting Uhuru Kenyatta and CORD backing the present Prime Minister Raila Odinga.  Looking at the results for parliamentarians elected by each province there are very clear strongholds – along party (and more clearly tribal) rather than coalition lines.

We arrived in Nairobi (by bus – boo) as the presidential results were being announced.  To avoid a runoff between the top two candidates, a clear winner required 50% of the vote (accumulating at least 25% in 50% of the provinces, a new election requirement in order to ensure an element of cross tribal support).  After much counting and recounting Kenyatta achieved this with a minute margin; coming in with 50.07%.  His main rival Odinga has made claims of foul play.  With the cloud of the violence that followed the 2007 election still looming large (not least as Kenyatta faces charges before the ICC for inciting this violence) Odinga was clear that he would challenge this result through the courts rather than with violence.

The claims of foul play are an interesting one.  A number of gripes were listed, in our opinion the number of these somewhat dilutes the argument.  However one major concern was that the machines purchased (at significant expense) from Canada to count the votes had failed, allegedly through tampering, requiring much of the counting to take place by hand.  This is a rather odd assertion, and it isn’t immediately clear how this results in being cheated out of victory.  It is interesting to wonder whether there is something in Kenyan (dare we say African?) politics about blame, the inability to admit defeat which leads to pointing the finger (however tenuously) elsewhere.  Or is it actually that the level of corruption and manipulation rife in African politics is beyond a degree we can conceive, and that there is a real chance that this doctoring did take place for the exact purpose of blurring the crispness of results?  We are in no position to judge which (or to what extent both) might be accurate, but the fact that we are unable to distinguish between these two behaviours makes me disappointed for the 85% who voted.

This uncertainty and accusations is not unique to the candidates.  Just to add another layer of complexity, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission have also faced some criticism in how the election was conducted; for the colours of the ballot papers (cream and white being too similar) and importantly dramatic changes in the number of spoiled ballots logged.  Initial estimates were that as much as 6% of ballots were spoiled, which in an election where the winner has a 0.07% margin is significant. This was later reduced to 1%, but was enough to cause consternation amongst both candidates. The ‘spoiling’ has largely been attributed to the complexity of voting for six different sets of candidates at the same time, from presidential down to local governor.  The outcome of these accusations being the undermining of trust in both people and process.

So what of that 85% of Kenyans who fought through the complications and voted?  Taking a taxi out for supper last night we saw hordes of Kenyatta supporters on the street.  Our driver explained that these people had come to collect some money from the winner for voting for him.  We explored this further.  We do not think that this was bribery – that came prior to the election when campaign teams visit the towns and villages with t-shirts, caps, possibly beer, possibly food.  Well, arguably not bribery so much as making voters aware of the candidate and some sense of their kindness and goodwill towards their community.  This gathering was in the expectation of some reward, and sharing in the celebration that their man had gained office.  The expectation was that they would be given maybe 100 shillings each, or some other small denomination, equating to less than a pound.   Whatever it was, whether they had in fact voted for Kenyatta or not, it was enough that hundreds of people felt it was worth gathering for and these are the masses in the population needed to turn 49% into 50.07%.     

M-Pesa

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Since arriving in Kenya we have noticed an enormous number of mobile phone kiosks with locals showing their phones to the vendor and receiving cash in return. It turns out that Kenyans are making use of the prevalent mobile networks (they have pretty much bypassed the infrastructure for landlines and skipped straight to mobiles), to carry out basic banking transactions.

Instead of a Kenyan needing a bank account, or having to use the very expensive Western Union or similar, they can use their mobile phones to deposit, withdraw and transfer money. It can even be used to pay for goods, much like a debit card, in shops that are registered for use. The system, called M-Pesa (pesa is Swahili for money) has been going since 2007 and there are over 17 million accounts in the country enabling the majority of Kenyans access to a much more efficient method of money transfer than the more traditional banking system allows.

The system was initially launched to enable Microfinance Institutions to offer more competitive loan rates to their users as there is a reduced cost relative to dealing in cash. But when the service was trialled, it offered such an effective way for Kenyans to transfer money to one another, pay bills etc that they adopted it for a variety of alternative uses. It is a really great innovation to see.  

Matters of the mind...

This is not only a journey for the body, it is also one of the mind. Days are long on the bike. We thought we would have a lot of time for thinking, but the majority of our thoughts do not extend much beyond our physical state and our immediate surroundings. However, as energy levels ebb and flow, as the lift of a good view or a friendly wave wears thin or the thought of hills ahead makes the legs pre-emptively heavy, the perspective which we have on them yo-yo’s all over the place in an unruly fashion.

It is very noticeable how much the mindset can affect the body – for instance, knowing when you start a big climb that lunch awaits at the top is relatively easy and feels quick. However, the same hill soon after lunch with 60km remaining makes the legs heavy and the distance crawl. Distraction is another gem – a good conversation can easily make 20 or 30km roll by without being noticed, although as fatigue kicks in good conversations can be hard to come by!

Anyone who has taken on a daunting challenge will be familiar with the regular swinging that takes place between macro and micro targets -this is our bread and butter. One minute, we are shooting through Sudan, a few days from Ethiopia and basically sailing our way towards Cape Town, the next, the very notion of Cape Town is incomprehensible, the task of every pedal revolution of the next 12 km’s to a coke stop seems unbearable and remind me again, how many k’s till lunch? As we have progressed along the road we have instinctively built in mechanisms to limit the buffeting between these two extremes, not least by recalibrating the macro target – Cape Town has been reeled in to achieving just the next three or four days and the immediate target is always in some way associated with our next feeding!

Setting the right expectations are crucial in managing our emotions for the day – knowing that lunch is at 60km makes that the focus for most of the morning. As the odometer ticks into the 50s, the countdown really begins, although depending on the terrain this final 10 can last for as long as a gruelling hour. If 60km passes and there is no sign of the lunch truck, then the legs start to feel very leaden, it is amazing how quickly we begin to question ourselves: ‘Are we on the right road? Did we miss it?’ The other day, our campsite was 3km further than we had been told, and uphill. Constantly scanning the road for signs of a marking those 3km were very hard indeed, especially for someone who missed the turn and carried on for another 5km! We play games with ourselves too, switching the settings on our bike computers to show time rather than distance, then underestimating how far we might have travelled when we flick them over, to avoid disappointment.

There is also trickery out there on the road. Long straight roads with hills are great optical illusions. Where the road dips down, often to a bridge over a dry riverbed and up the other side, it creates the appearance of a near vertical climb awaiting us. At these moments the heart races and you scrape everything you can from the downhill (even though Lizzie’s natural instinct is to squeeze the life out of her brakes) in preparation for pounding your way up the other side, which sometimes turns out to be really not so very bad at all. Especially in Ethiopia, due to the scenery, there are a lot of ‘false flats’ – these appear to be flat, as the gradient of the surrounding terrain matches the road, but are in fact up or downhill (more up than down it feels like!). When it looks flat but feels tough, it is hard on the mindset as you think your legs must be weak so we constantly tell ourselves ‘Oh, it must be a false flat’. However, when it’s a false flat going down and we are flying along, it is definitely because we are just strong that day!

But amongst all this there are some moments, maybe associated with an entertaining interaction with a passer-by, the impact of a superb view, or more frequently a meaty stretch of downhill, which you have to capture for they are the reason we are here. For me they often come in the mornings, when it is cooler, the sun is still low in the sky creating a softer light, the legs are fresh and the limited quota of enthusiasm for the day is still accessible. These are the moments when you look around at beautiful surroundings and revel in the wonder of how on earth it came to be that you are in the middle of Africa on a bicycle!

A Day In The Life

We wanted to give you some insight into life on the road so have put together a video which shows a day in the life of TDA. Click here to watch it. Don't be fooled - it makes it look far more fun and easy than it actually is!

Kenya update

Entering Kenya on the 1st of March was a treat for so many reasons, not least the sheer good humour of the man in the immigration office in comparison with his counterpart on the Ethiopian side. The Ethiopian official rolled his eyes at Alex’s foolishness, unable to use the finger print machines efficiently – hadn’t he ever used one before? The Kenyan was full of interest and enthusiasm for our journey. Perhaps we were a nice break from ‘The Ministerial Guide to Reducing Corruption – 2006’ which sat on his desk.

Finally cycling on the left side of the road was also a welcome change (and entertainment of the potential chaos of swapping over). But Kenya is a country that we have visited before and thoroughly enjoy the feel of. The Kenyan election took place on the 4th March which has had quite an impact on our journey. Aware of the troubles that occurred in 2007, TDA have been liaising with numerous people over the previous weeks and decided that in the interest of safety, we should travel south by bus and wait out the election in Nanyuki, seeing how the nation responds. Nanyuki is a pleasant town with an airport and a British Military Base, (which we smugly hope will prioritise evacuating us first, should the need occur). It seems this concern over potential violence is one which the country is incredibly aware of and is openly confronting - we see newspaper and television adverts urging the population to participate peacefully in the election.

An engaged member of a democracy? Or just a free t-shirt?

So we loaded the bikes onto the trucks and hired a bus to travel through the desert which fills Northern Kenya. The contrast between our normal self-propelled transport and one which requires unique patience has been dramatic. For two months now, every revolution of the wheel has come from our own determination and exertion, swap this for two days in which you sit, immobile on a large bus with an undetermined journey time.

Inside our glamorous bus for two day's bumpy riding

The days we missed would have been tough ones on the bike, unpaved the road was strewn with lava rock with patches of deep sand and, as we commented from the shelter of the bus, quite a headwind. In the first 250km, other than the major town of Marsabit, we passed only two very small villages. But, again from the elevation of the bus, the views of the desert have been fantastic.

We have seen much excitement about the election. Posters cover the stores in towns (some were even plastered to rocks in the middle of the desert). Many people sport the t-shirts of those they will vote for, and we’ve seen mass rallies with singing and dancing – there is a sort of festival atmosphere. Politicians, never ones to overstate the momentousness of an occasion, claim that this is the biggest opportunity for choice that the people of Kenya have had since independence in 1963. Yesterday we saw people line up in their droves at the polling station in the centre of Nanyuki, voting on representation to 6 separate institutions, including the Presidency. There are 8 candidates standing for this post, an outright winner needs 50% of the vote. If no-one achieves this, the top two candidates will go head to head in a month’s time.

A sample ballot paper

Considering the Western stance on Democracy, it seems a shame that we should view elections as a moment of concern – the right to vote is one which the West has promoted and pushed globally, we should not become queasy at its actual operation. While the fact that the act of voting should be considered a potential flash point for violence is clearly grounded in history, admittedly with no real basis to feel this way other than hope, I feel strongly compelled to be optimistic about its handling. There is no doubt complexity in the politics here (the fact that the incumbent isn’t standing and that a leading candidate is on trial in the International Criminal Court is testament to that) and the impressive analysis in the media is encouraging. But, in particular in the rural areas we have passed, it is also possible to observe what appears to be an element of ‘t-shirt’ democracy in play – for the illiterate parts of the population arriving at the ballot box, simply match the face on the free t-shirt they have been given with that on the ballot paper. However, with expected voter turnout at 60%, there is definite engagement here which makes this democracy exciting.

Ethiopia summary

Ethiopia is a vast country and is the one which will take us the longest time to traverse.  Within the African continent it is particularly unique, with its own script and language – Amharic.  The

Ethiopians, whilst sharing their aptitude for long distance running with their neighbouring Kenyans are quite different in appearance and culture from their Swahili speaking neighbours.  They are predominantly Coptic Christians (although we have also passed through some Muslim areas) proudly sporting their own calendar, which is about 7 years behind ours.

 Ethiopia is a much more populous country than Sudan and Egypt, and as we have travelled through we have seen the change in people as we go.  This has been evident is many different ways, the type of houses which they build, the shift from herdsmen to farmers, the change in face shape, language and dress and most noticeably, the way that they interact with us.

A Southern Ethiopian house

Above all, Ethiopia has been beautiful, perhaps more noticeably given the aridness of Egypt and Sudan.  Here we have discovered as we propelled ourselves along, round corners and up and down mountains, Ethiopia has kept us interested by revealing one new landscape after another.  In recent days the soil has begun to contain swathes of deep rich red colour, which enhances the appearance of our tans significantly and makes for stunning views. The climbing has been tough, but it is (nearly) always rewarding. Somewhere before Addis we reached the highest point of the trip at 3,104 metres, marked, perhaps unsurprisingly, by a huge blue Chinese factory.

Were we to be bird watchers, Ethiopia would have been a dream.  Many fanatics do come here just for the birds.  Our untrained eyes have no idea what we are looking at, but on a daily basis we see birds that look pretty and aren’t pigeons.

Our campsites have also become more varied; there were a couple of atmospheric forest camps by the Blue Nile Gorge and further south we were in the grounds of a deaf school.  The only specialist school for deaf children in Ethiopia it was a boarding school.  Free for the children and funded by foreigners it provided a standard education following the national curriculum and offered vocational skills too. A wonderful treat not to be shouted at as we cycled in, many of the riders had the best conversations they had had with Ethiopian children by exchanging hand written notes in English.

 

A beautiful forest camp

Unfortunately our time in Ethiopia will necessarily be tainted with the experience of having rocks thrown at us.  When we sit and chat with adults they continue to insist that the children are just playing and mean no harm by it, but as we said before, having hoards of children at the roadside shout and throw things at you is incredibly intimidating.  We will also remember it for the begging, by children and adults alike.  This has been a key feature of our time here. Although interestingly as we move further south this has diminished, although not disappeared.

As with Sudan, the presence of the Chinese looms large.  These road building folk are certainly our friends, (the smoother the better) but having never before been mistake for Chinese it is remarkable that in some areas the shouts of faranji  (foreigner) are replaced by China. A small price to pay for having beautifully smooth tarmac to ride along. On our last night in Ethiopia, we were actually joined by a Chinese round-the-world cyclist, who happened to pass our campsite, who had ridden here from Beijing over 18 months and will take another 12 months to ride down to Cape Town. He was even more grateful for the Chinese construction companies as they provided him each night with showers, a place to sleep and Chinese food – a home from home!

We would certainly recommend anyone a visit to Ethiopia due to its enormous beauty – however, unless you have the skin of an armadillo, don’t tour it on a bicycle.

Due to Italian influence, even in the most rural parts of
Ethiopia you will find a very posh coffee machine in a wooden shack, and can order wonderful Macchiatos