Well, I got back a couple of days ago, so time for the updates. This may be a long one, but I have no one to blame but myself (and a few others who for reasons that escape me, tend to urge me on).
I wrote this hunt report pretty much in real time, but because of the inability to communicate, it's only being posted now.
So here goes.
I noted that checking in my guns was an easy and straightforward process. I had no issues in Frankfurt, and enjoyed a brief ten-hour layover in the Air Canada lounge, hot shower, surprisingly good food, and all. The flight on Ethiopian Airlines was a pleasant surprise. The plane was a relatively new 777, and the flight attendants were both extremely attentive and extremely pleasant (both in manner and, er, in other ways). Business class does not have pods, but the seats are lay-flat, and while they are not as wide as some others (the configuration is 2-3-2, instead of the more usual 2-2-2), they are wide enough to let you get a good nights' sleep.
I landed at Bole Airport (Addis Ababa) early at 6 am. A short walk took me to immigration, where I answered a few questions (address - unknown because will be moving around; not an issue). I received my bags - all of them - on the priority carousel, in minutes, and unlike South Africa, this included the rifle as well as the ammo. You then go through the "red lane" at Customs, take your things through a quick scanner, and then are met by your "meet and greet" person. Mesfin had my gun permit (in Amharic), and showed it to a pleasant Customs inspector. She was unfamiliar with guns and thought .300 Win Mag was a serial number, but that was quickly sorted out (she was pleased to see it on the barrel!) and I was on my way. Next to Namibia, this has been the easiest gun clearance in Africa to date. Zimbabwe is as easy.
Once outside, I met my PH, Jacques Meyer, and Dean Stobbs, my outfitter who booked this hunt and who is joining me to film it (after a fashion). They met me outside because Ethiopia does not allow anyone to drive up to the terminal, nor do they allow anyone except specially licensed people to enter the terminal, apart from those holding tickets. Not sure if this is a state of emergency thing or the usual procedure, but regardless, it presented no problems.
We loaded up the luggage and began the hair-raising 6-hour drive to camp. I say hair-raising because the drivers here are lunatics, even by African standards, and while the first three hours was on as good an expressway as you will find anywhere in North America, the last three hours were on dirt roads, or perhaps I should say rock roads. These are intermittently one and two lane, and passing is a game of chicken. Best not to look.
There are lots of people in Ethiopia - about 86 million in a small country - so there are people everywhere. Shacks and huts dot the roadside pretty much everywhere, and you are dodging cattle, goats, camels and sheep pretty much all the time. Good thing Ficker, our driver and Ethiopian PH, was calm. No one got the finger, even though it would have been well deserved many times.
To give you an idea how many people there are in Ethiopia, it’s about half the size of Alaska, or a bit more than twice the size of Texas, and there are 86 million people, more than 80% of which live outside of cities (one of the most rural populations in Africa).
We arrived at our mountain camp at about 2.30 pm, having stopped for some food and gas along the way. The camp is at the end of a very long and tortured road - which dignifies it greatly - which in its last stretch rose unendingly until we arrived at about 2,700 meters altitude - about 9,000 feet. We are in the Sororo Mountains, in south-eastern Ethiopia, in the Oromia region.
The camp is made up of tents and outdoor toilets, although the toilets have running water (you may have to add some to the tank to make it flush!). Everything looks quite comfortable, although very basic. When you want a shower you give the guys about 20 minutes notice, and they heat water for a bag shower. Outdoors. And it's windy and chilly at this altitude! Apparently there is a government regulation for everything, and any permanent structures need government approval. The camp owner did try to set up some permanent structures some years ago, without advance approval, and the government got wind of it. As a result some cinderblocks are still in place, but none of them enclose anything. It can take years to get anything approved, and even longer if the government thinks you were not playing by the rules. But that's fine. I'm not looking for the Hilton, and in fact I'm enjoying roughing it. A big change from South Africa though
