The Road to Shashemane

Bus journeys in Ethiopia are notoriously crap. Nonetheless my experiences in Mozambique were quality practise and although internal flights are cheapish, i’m doing this the hard way. P. forewarned me about windows. Despite often oppressive heat, opening windows is a big no-no. It is believed at best the wind brings sickness, and, at worse, lets in evil spirits. For a wind lover this kinda sucks

I’m told the journey from Addis to Shashemane is not long, so opt for a safer but slower bus rather than a mini-bus option, leaving from the Southern bus stand. There are four buses a day and arriving at the bus station at 8.15am i get a ticket for one which finally departs when full at 9.30. The ticket costs Birr58. I am told it should take between three to five hours. I am assisted by my Addis fixer – the honest but incredibly poor student, Derbo, who quickly gets me to the front of the right queue and the “Death Chair” at the front next to driver.

It is slow to get through the Addis suburbs with its heavy traffic congestion, but after an hour we clear the city. Whilst the road is completely sealed, it only takes an hour and a half to experience my first of what is likely to be many punctures. The scenery into the Rift valley is quite beautiful, but slow going, with invasions of donkeys, cows. Oxen and even camels at one point. This might be south of Addis but shows me i am really in North Africa!

There is also an unidentifiable road kills to swerve past, as well as dogs and goats.

We stop for almost 40 minutes on a “15 minute” lunch break at 1.30pm and don’t arrive into Shashemene until 3.30pm – six hours and averaging 40kph. For around Birr80 i’ll take a faster but more pricey minibus to return to Addis.