Lake Shala is surrounded by hot springs filled with boiling water, and the earth surrounding the lake is filled with cracks due to erosion and earthquakes
Abijatta-Shalla National Park, Rift Valley (Ethiopia)
Farm Africa are also working with the Abijatta-Shalla National Park (200km south of Addis) on a project to help protect the 887 square kilometres (482 of this being water) from the expanding communities nearby. The park has two lakes Abijatta (right of picture) & Shalla (left of picture) which attract large numbers of flamingos. Shalla is a huge 266 m (873 feet) deep, the deepest of the Rift Valley lakes. The most amazing view I have seen in Africa !!
Visiting Farm Africa Projects in the rift valley (Ethiopia)
One of my nominated charities for the trip was Farm Africa, so whilst in Ethiopia I took the opportunity to visit some of their projects. A big thankyou to all at Farm Africa a very memorable few days, keep up the great work !
(Link below photograph)
Engine stopped as I touched down at Addis Ababa (HAAB) Ethiopia
This was always going to be an interesting airport to arrive at, it’s very busy, perched at 7625 feet above sea level and surrounded by mountains. The weather forecast when I left that morning from Khartoum (Sudan) was for thunderstorms moving up from the south in the afternoon so I needed to get a move on. Apart from a few weather patches I had to go around I was lucky and made it to Addis via Ad Damazin in good time.
Unfortunately I didn’t make a great impression on arrival, I hadn’t appreciated I had gone though a time zone and my GPS was set to local time rather than Zulu so although I was talking to ATC and they could see me on radar I arrived sooner than expected. They cleared me to land runway 07 which was all good until the engine stopped on touch down. I rolled to a holt in the middle of the 3.7 km runway with ATC requesting me to “expedite my taxi”. The engine was flooded and there I sat for 5 minutes trying to restart ! There were two Ethiopian airliners at the hold waiting to depart and one in the air waiting to land. I realised I had probably pissed a few people off so did go to the tower to apologise. I had discussed when planning the trip about leaning on take off when at altitude but not when landing. Live and learn !
Garmin GPS helping to navigate round the mountains (Ethiopia)
The Garmin GPS units on board were a great help navigating round the high ground when the visibility was reduced due to passing weather.
Crossing the Sudan border into Ethiopia
Ethiopia was one of the countries I most wanted to visit on my trip, It didn’t disappoint. The area I entered was very mountainous with some of the peaks over 15,000 feet. Large rivers winding their way down the mountains to the flat valley floors below.
Departing Ad Damazin (HSDZ) next stop Addis Ababa (HAAB) Ethiopia
The local Sudanese people were some of the most friendly I have met since I started the trip. It was 36 degrees when I landed and after fuelling I was welcomed in for a local tea and ice cold water before departing to Addis Ababa ! Thank you
Ad Damazin Airport (HSDZ) Sudan
This was to be my final stop in Sudan where I needed to refuel before crossing the border into Ethiopia. It was a very remote but friendly airfield. Fuel again is not readily available but Sam Rutherford and his team at Prepare2Go managed to get it there ! Luckily there was a trolley spare so we could elevate the drum to siphon the avgas into the tanks.
Huge Agricultural area South of Khartoum (Sudan)
Alshekh and his team in Khartoum International Airport (HSSS)
Many thanks guys for you help !
