Prepping for an African Adventure

From the speedy bullet trains and uber-modern landscape of Japan, to the decidedly challenging third-world conditions of Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia…

Curiously, I actually find traveling in developing countries much easier than the more developed countries like Australia, Germany and the like. For starters, the logistics of exploring developing countries tends to be more relaxed, and most everything is generally far cheaper than the pricey destinations like Japan, western Europe, etc. (though quick to add, even Japan needn’t necessarily break the piggy-bank). In short, exploring more off-the-beaten path corners of the globe better suits my penchant for traveling from-the-hip, and allows me more flexibility in stretching my cache of (finite – isn’t everyone’s?) travel dollars.

But still…

For more than 6 months now I’ve been researching my BRAINS OUT, and planning just how to pull-off this epic adventure in eastern Africa. Turns out, it will be among my most expensive trips. I’ve already shelled out more than $3,000 – and I’ve not even left Cuenca yet!

Why East Africa?

More than 50 different countries make up the huge continent of Africa. And though I’ve visited a handful of them (South Africa, Swaziland, Lesoto, Mozambique, Morocco and Egypt) I’ve hardly made a dent in “The Mother Continent” (the oldest inhabited continent on Earth).

So my initial focus for this trip was on expanding that dent, starting with exploring Ethiopia. Ethiopia had long been on my “wannado-someday” radar, and an all-Ethiopian food menu for my Cuenca Dinner Club proved the tipping point. Munching on delicious eats from eastern Africa – I suddenly decided that Ethiopia could wait no more.

Thereafter, I swiftly lost no time donning my travel research hat, and – as is my usual process – my first Google was for 1. “Ethiopia climate” (i.e. clearly I’d not want to visit during the African monsoon season) and 2. “Ethiopian festivals”. It wasn’t long before I discovered the famous 3 day-long “Timket” festival that’s held annually in January. Thus my next task was to check airfares from Ecuador to Ethiopia in January 2020.

In a word: um, PRICEY!

Still… Surprisingly, the spendy (near $2k) fares that I was finding to get me from Ecuador to Ethiopia didn’t deter me. But what they did do was – make me wonder: “Hmmm… as a penny-pinching retiree I’ve got more time than money here, so where ELSE can I explore as long as I’m going to have to cough up so many rubles to get to that side of the globe?”

And that’s when it occurred to me that – maybe, just maaaybe – I might actually realize a barely dreamed-of travel goal: The opportunity to lay my own two baby-blues on those legendary ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. I knew such a once-in-a-lifetime experience wouldn’t come cheap, but hey – at this point in my (blissfully) dodderin’ life – it’s only money, yes?

Priority #1 – The Gorilla Permit

Fewer than 800 wild mountain gorillas exist today, and all of them hang out in a single verdant corner of the Planet where three Eastern Africa countries intersect: Rwanda, Uganda and The Democratic Republic of Congo. Furthermore, the tab for a required gorilla permit varies significantly depending on which country you do your gorilla trek. The Congo is the cheapest at $400, but of course scrambling around the jungles of the DRC also invites the risk of kidnapping, ebola, or worse.

Scratch Congo.

The priciest permit of the three is in Rwanda – gorilla trekking there will run you a chill $1,500 just for the permit! Ah but with just a bit more research, turns out that by flying into Kigali in Rwanda, and then traveling a few hours over the border into Uganda – there the price of a gorilla permit is “just” $600. Still a tad breathtaking, but fully *$900* cheaper than in Rwanda!

Still…

Did I mention – that precious permit only allows you the privilege of gazing at those rare and elusive mountain gorillas for but a SINGLE HOUR? Goodness – that’s $10 per MINUTE!!!

But still. The good news is – that money helps ensure the continued protection of the gorillas so that one day my grand-kids and their grand-kids might likewise be able to witness these magnificent creatures thriving in the wild. 

Furthermore, as there’s less than 200 gorilla permits issued per day in Uganda – securing my permit well in advance was paramount. Indeed, Before I even booked my international air to Africa, I bought my permit (the LAST one for my preferred window of dates). Only then, with my 6 January permit secured, did I finalize the int’l air for my trip, and I necessarily built my itinerary around that date.

Visas (plural)

Visas too, can add up. And in this case, I need three of them: Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

While individual tourist visas for each of the three nations I intend to visit run $50 each, it turns out that there’s a handy “East Africa” visa that covers you for three countries (Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda) for just $100. But Kenya is primarily famous for game-viewing (and I’ve already enjoyed an amazing wildlife safari at Kruger N.P. in 2004) so visiting Kenya wasn’t a high priority on this trip. Thus the East Africa visa didn’t provide me with any savings. Nonetheless, for those of you who might want to explore all three of these east Africa countries in one go, just know that the $100 East Africa visa will save you a few visa bucks.

But Ethiopia isn’t included in the East Africa visa, so for me – that left a separate $50 visa for Ethiopia – bringing my total tab for visas on this trip to 150 buckaroos. Happily – all such visas (for U.S. citizens – other nationalities may well vary of course) are easily grabbed online. 

Getting There and Around…

As I said earlier, the tab for getting myself to the other side of the globe from my perch here on this 8,400+ ft. mountain-top in Ecuador, wasn’t exactly loose change. I mean, it’s not like we’re still in cheapo AirAsia territory here (where my flight to Borneo from Kuala Lumpur set me back a whole $30). Still, I was delighted to grab a round-trip DIRECT flight from Ecuador to Madrid for little more than $600.

But of course that was only to Madrid – barely halfway to my final destination(s), Kigali, Rwanda and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. For those, I shelled out another $$1,100+ to get me there and back to Madrid. So round trip international airfare alone for this little adventure was nearly $1,800.

Oh but wait! That was just for INTERNATIONAL airfare.

Turns out that Ethiopia is a BIG county, and getting around it isn’t all that easy. Overland, I was looking at 10, 12, 14+ hours between locales. Um, no thank you. Now generally I muchly favor using local buses in my travels in order to best experience the countryside and meet the locals (and have endured my fair share of achingly uncomfortable overnight buses in places like Myanmar, etc.) But anymore, I draw the line at about 5 hours on a bus – TOPS! – to get me from point A to point B on the Planet.

Ah but happily, Ethiopia has a great domestic air system that can whiz me hither ‘n yon in but an hour or so. And even more happily…

My Ethiopia research taught me a very sweet secret: if you fly into (or out of) Ethiopia on Ethiopia Airlines – ALL your domestic Ethiopia airfares are discounted. And not by a few birr (the Ethiopian currency) but by up to *70%* discount! (e.g. round trip domestic air from Addis to the Omo Valley is just $134 rt. if you can show an Ethiopian Airlines int’l boarding pass vs. $318 without one.)

In short, needless to say I made sure my flight into Addis Ababa from Rwanda was on Ethiopia Airlines, and I saved HUNDREDS of dollars on my domestic flights around Ethiopia.

Still… those many (five!) domestic flights (from Addis to Mek’ele in the far north, to Labibela, to Gondar, to Arba Minch, and Jinka in the far south back to Addis) brought the tab for ALL my air on this little caper to nearly $2,200.

New Year’s Eve in Madrid – Why Not?

Right from the get-go I knew that there was no way I wanted to endure a near dozen hours in the air (from Ecuador to Europe) PLUS another 11 hours from Europe to east Africa – all in one cramped-dull-dazed-mind-numbing journey Nope, nope. NOPE. 22+ hours in transit is NOT my idea of a good time, nor a pleasant way to start off a major adventure.

So I considered the various ways that I could insert a little rest-stop in between continents, and… given my 6 January gorilla permit, I figured – why not ring in 2020 in Madrid, yes?

The New Year’s Eve festivities in Madrid are said to be quite remarkable, and they even observe some of the same NYE customs that I’ve enjoyed here in Cuenca. Indeed, apparently ringing in the New Year in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol combines the customs of both my native land (i.e. the “ball drop” in NYC) and my adopted home here on this mountain-top in the Andes (i.e. eating 12 grapes in the final 12 seconds to midnight).

So I set my departure from Ecuador for 30 December eve – and will land in Madrid with just enough time to grab a handful of grapes and a cuppa sparkling “cava” to welcome in “Twenty-Twenty”!

The Yellow Fever Dilemma…

Among the myriad of chores when one is planning an adventure amid the World’s jungles is… ensuring protection against those pesky little buzzy creatures that carry exotic diseases like Malaria and Yellow Fever.

Indeed, for weeks here in Ecuador, I struggled with a “Catch 22” dilemma for my Africa trip – towit:

All 3 African countries I plan to visit REQUIRE (“no exceptions”) proof that you’ve had the Yellow Fever vaccine, but… The WHO (World Health Organization) does NOT recommend the vaccine for folks older than 59 years (something about… the potential side-effects of the vaccine for we dodderin’s are riskier than the possibility of actually contracting the disease – yikes!)

And worse… At first – when I tried to get the shot at the Military Hospital here in Cuenca) – they REFUSED to give it to me at my dodderin’ age. ;(

Ah but this TravelnLass is nothing if not PER.SIS.TENT (especially when it comes to the very real possibility of being denied entry into Rwanda, etc.), so…

A few days later I tried waltzing into a different national “Ministerio de Salud Pública” mumbling “fiebre amarilla, por favor?” (“yellow fever, please”) and…

WOO-HOO! They didn’t even ask my age – just stuck a needle in my arm!

Furthermore – when I asked “Cuánto?” (How much?) – they didn’t ask for one.red.cent! Gratis, nada, zip! (I’ve since heard that the same Yellow Fever shot costs $200+ in the U.S.!

New Friends From Far Away…

One of my favorite things about my travels, is meeting new folks – not only in my destination, but fellow travelers from all over the globe. These lovely peeps are unarguably my “tribe” (and why much of my Facebook stream looks like a gobbledygook transcript from a U.N. meeting!) 😉 Folks who likewise thrive on hopping ’round the entire globe like it was their own backyard, their own private playground. And for this trip, I’ve not even yet left Cuenca and already I’ve got not one, not two, but THREE new friends that I’ll be meeting up with for parts of the adventure.

First up, in my beloved food photography Facebook group (10,000+ strong!) I noticed that one fellow photog was from Ethiopia. So I sent him a short pm that I planned to visit his native land come January, and could we possibly meet up? His response was enthusiastic and we plan to meet in Addis Ababa the day after I arrive so he can show me around his hometown (and um, very likely some good Ethiopian eats and a camera or two will be involved). 😉

Additionally, one of my choicest excursions in Ethiopia (visiting the myriad of exotic tribes scattered around the southern Omo Valley) tends to be quite pricey (mainly because the tribes live very remotely and getting to them requires a 4WD vehicle along with a private guide that speaks their many languages and can get permission from the tribes’ Elders for the visit). So finding other travelers to share the costs is always welcome.

So much like I did for my “Girls Do the Gobi” caper in Mongolia, I again headed into the ever reliable Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forums to see if there was anyone that might be visiting Ethiopia (and specifically the Omo Valley) in January.

In short? I soon found myself chatting live with a lass in The Netherlands and we’ll be sharing my (somewhat pricey) room in Gondar for the Timket festival. Plus, yet another solo “travelnlass” from Munich happened to likewise be seeking to share costs for the Omo. Indeed, we’ve just recently found a great guide that will take care of all the logistics at a shared price nearly half what it would cost either of us solo.

The Itinerary

Let me be clear: I ADORE cobbling together my own DIY itinerary wherever I roam. To me, it’s nearly as much fun as the trip itself. And while – ironically – I once was (for 20+ years!) a professional TOUR OPERATOR myself (guiding small groups for days and even weeks on end to the “…island, jungles, beaches and cloud forests of Belize and Costa Rica”), for my personal travels, I’m far too much of a free-spirit to endure an organized “tour” with most every moment precisely scheduled, and every movement choreographed with a tightly-knit group of my fellow tourists.

Indeed, I have long favored keeping my travel itinerary utterly open – prearranging but an initial night or two upon arrival – so as to travel nimbly, and enjoy the freedom of moving about as swiftly or slowly as I like. But given the preciousness of that gorilla permit (necessarily nailed down 7 months in advance), along with the fame of Ethiopia’s annual Timket festival (folks flock there from all over the globe to witness the 3 day festivities), for this trip, I necessarily had to grab accommodations in Gondar for Timket, as well as the several domestic flights to visit the locales around the country in advance.

But to allow for spontaneity and serendipity (the latter I seem to be blessed with at most every turn) in my travels. I’ve left the day-to-day details to the whim of the winds.

And though I would love to spend more time exploring Rwanda and Uganda, as well as at each of the locales in Ethiopia, I’ve learned that a full month of living out of a backpack is about all this veteran TravelnLass can handle. So 33 days it is, and here’s how it shakes out:

Packing

You’d think I’d have the whole business of packing for a trip like this down to a science by now, wouldn’t you? And you’d be pretty much right. I’d never dream of checking a bag when I’ve easily packed for more than a month in Mongolia with only my trusty carry-on sized rollie and a small rucksack. And even 6 weeks skipping solo through the Balkans and Turkey – same purple rollie and matching rucksack. Indeed, no matter a week or a month – there simply is no need to lug around more.

Still… there’s always the small dilemma of which carefully selected coordinates (for both practicalities and style) to toss into the bag. And for this 33 day adventure (through 4 countries including events ranging from ringing in the New Year in Puerta del Sol in Madrid, to tracking mountain gorillas in Uganda, to sleeping in a dirt-floor hut amid the indigenous tribes in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia), I’ve already narrowed it down to the following basics:

• 4 “bottoms” (jeans + safari pants + black loose capri pants + my beloved “Japan” travel skirt)

• 7 “tops” (incl. 1 cotton turtleneck, a few long and short-sleeved T-shirts + a couple of shell tops for the heat of the Danakil Depression and the Omo Valley)

• Thin wool long-underwear (much of Ethiopia is high – like my mountain-top here in Cuenca, at 8,000+ feet elevation, so nights can be decidedly brisk!)

• Teva sandals (wear on the plane) + Keen-wanna-be’s for gorilla trekking + shower floppies

That’s pretty much the basic package, plus of course underwear, a tiny rain poncho, a few toiletries, first-aide, plus various ‘n sundry small electronics (my Kindle, phone, battery charger, camera, etc.)

That’s it. All I need for a month+ on the lam. 😉

*3,000* Words!!!

Good.NESS! We just passed no fewer than 3k mots here! Shoot – that might even be a record for a TravelnLass post! And lol – I guess you could say it somewhat makes up for “The Great TravelnLass Hiatus” over this past year, when I rebelled against my near decade of reliably pecking weekly here, and went silent for weeks, nay several MONTHS on end.

What can I say? Though I surely enjoy sharing the details of my trip preparations and especially my many travel adventures here, I make no promises. This is my personal diary after all, so it’s impossible to say when the muse might coax me back in here to the TL keyboard again.

P. S. And while I’m on the trail in Spain and Africa, I’ll likely (as digital-juice permits) be posting pics and short updates on social media from my phone. So your best bet for keeping tabs on what I’m up to is by following my Travelnlass Facebook page, or my Instagram account.