The luggage carousel stops. Looking back through the aperture the shutter out to the baggage handlers rolls down and comes down on our travel plans. We have been to Ethiopia twice and each time they have lost our luggage.
The week in Sudan went without a hitch.We stayed up all night for our 4:30am flight and endured the feral performance of the locals at the airport. Landing at Addis it turns out our 90 minute turn around time was a bit tight as we had to race to get through immigration and across to the domestic terminal. We eventually made it but our luggage didn’t.
An hour later our tour rep arrives to take us 4 days into the wilderness of Danakil, basically 4WD and camping and we basically have the clothes we are wearing and our cameras. I leave Anthony at the airport to hassle, harry and generally kick the arse of the lazy guy tasked to find our luggage. I figure he is good at that. I go with the guide and buy some basic toiletries so we can start on the trip.
I don’t know if it is the zero sleep, the feral flight or the loss of luggage but the rest of this first day is particularly tough. We are driven over the roughest roads imaginable all day to arrive at a desolate and seemingly hostile village in 40 degree heat for our first night. The scenery is so exciting that I have taken a sum total of 3 photos for the day! The omens are bad, this is going to be an arduous journey.
A ray of hope at the end of the day when we aretaken out to a massive salt lake,Lake Assal at sunset. Our 4WD cruises over massive salt flats where the dirty grey salt is split into massive dinner plate sized chunks resembling Antarctic sea ice. We reach waters edge and enjoy the surreal landscape of pristine white salt and crystal clear water. My shutter finger is reinvigorated and gets a work out. We sleep like babies al fresco under the milky way.
