Welcome to our Extreme Ethiopia expedition. Guiness World Record holder for fastest human powered crossing of Africa, Scotty Robinson, will lead this incredible journey through Ethiopia. This expedition and documentary are here to break the myth that Ethiopia is a desert wasteland full of starving children and to show the world what an incredible place Ethiopia offers for tourism.
We are also here to be the first to ever ride in Lucy's footsteps (mans earliest link to evolution) and those that came after her in The Danakil Depression.
This is the worlds lowest and hottest spot much like Death Valley but with the wildest, toughest, most bizarre terrain on the planet mixed in with the worlds toughest people--the Afar who have lived here for centuries carrying salt on massive camel caravans.
The temperatures will reach between 50-55 degrees C.
Ethiopia’s history predates Egyptian times. It is the home to Lalibela, the hidden 8th wonder of the world, is the home of coffee and one of our original fertile crescents. It houses ancient obelisks and hundreds of small ancient Coptic Christian churches carved up in the precipices and cliff edges of the Gheralta Mountains. It is the mysterious starting place of the Nile and the source of Egypt’s rich soil deposited on its shores. The Ethiopian highlands are rich in farming, lush and green with deep river valleys and the rare cliff dwelling Baboons. The scenery is stunning.
The Simian Mountains hold one of Africa’s greatest hikes yet totally unknown. Home to the southern tribes (think neck rings and plates in lips) and some great parks to witness Africa’s wildlife. It is home to Africa’s friendliest people whose tribes are rich with incredible music and colorful traditional dances that will blow your socks off.
It is the only country in the world where Christians and Muslims walk hand in hand, go to school together, marry each other and where each other’s religion is accepted. This comes from ancient history where the Ethiopians took in the Muslim people when they where being persecuted elsewhere.
Its capital, Addis Ababa is home to Africa’s second largest market, which is a wild experience in itself.
The question is who wants to join us for this documentary and expedition, contact us and tell us why.
THE EXPEDITION
ROAD TO LALIBELA
Starting in April in the capital city of Addis Ababa, one of the worlds highest capital cities, we will explore on foot and bike its massive market as well as the inner workings of the city and experience traditional tribal dances, music and chew chat with the locals.
From there it is an 8 day, 700 km ride through the spectacular Ethiopian highlands to Lalibela, which means ‘honey eater’, and which houses twelve rock-hewn Coptic Christian churches carved by King Lalibela in the 11th century to end the five year walk to Jerusalem and back. These churches are full of incredible symbolism to recreate Jerusalem. Lalibela also claims to hold the Arc of the Covenant.
This road has been recently paved but the extreme descents and climbs remain, peaking at over 10,000 feet at a spectacular plateau and crevice. We camp in village/remote schools along the way, experience coffee ceremonies, local culture, markets, ride through herds of camel, goat and cattle on the road, listen to local church goers as they sing out their ancient wisdoms through songs and chants. Experience all this while riding through stunning highland scenery.
The highlands are mainly a farming area but these plots of land are all through deep cut river valleys. We camp on its highest peak where the rare cliff dwelling baboons graze in the early morning. The morning greets us with a 30 km downhill through tunnels and spectacular scenery. Above all of this, perhaps greatest part of this part of the trip is the children and the people we meet along the way.
Despite the fact that most of the children are parentless they approach you full of laughter, joy and pure curiosity. We will experience this fully in the schools we stay at. For them we are like the circus coming to town. Impromptu soccer games are there for the more curious and engaging traveler.
You will also experience how tough these people are and why they are the worlds greatest long distance runners.
You will see that Ethiopia has cut down 98% of its trees and understand why it needs help because of massive soil erosion.
Lalibela is in an extremely remote part of Ethiopia and as we ride you will experience this remoteness and the varying tribes, colours and music along the way.
We stay here for two days to experience these churches, which claim to hold the Arc of the Covenant. We have set up a traditional priest/drumming ceremony in one of the churches. This will be a haunting and timeless experience. You will also see books, scepters and the regalia still in use from the 11th century.
We take a half-day hike to the peak, up to the oldest of the Lalibela churches. Lalibelas famous Saturday market is also not to be missed, where people walk for up to two days to sell their wares: from herbs to camels, and of course Lalibels famous smoked honey.
From here we fly into Mekele, which is the closest city to the Danakil Depression
THE DANAKIL DEPRESSION
8-10 days - We leave a few extra days to allow for the unexpected and unexplored.
Once part of the Red Sea, the Danakil sunk due to heavy volcanic activity millions of years ago. As a result it is now the worlds lowest and hottest spot, the worlds largest lava lake, volcanoes, volcanic lakes and huge pools of colorful sulphur. We navigate around twisted and gnarly rock formations, salt lakes and salt flats. It is terrain that can make one feel as if they are on another planet. Recently bones were found even older than Lucy's, a discovery that links man even further back in evolutionary time.
That the Afar tribe has "thrived" back here for centuries, in this climate and terrain, they must be the worlds toughest people. We have arranged to meet local chiefs and camp with one of the massive camel caravans and experience local culture first hand, an experience rarely had by any tourist. You cannot just waltz into this area; you have to have permission from the tribe and an Afar guide. We have arranged for our group to be the first to film a rare tribal Afar game. This alone makes this journey something special to experience. Taking part is something ancient and never seen before is a rare event in today’s world.
The route we have planned and worked out with our Afar guide will be nothing short of wild and often very rugged and difficult, on top of the demands of 50-55 degree days. Throw in a day where we ride then strap our bikes on camels that will take us to the world’s largest lava lake where we will set camp at its edge, and you have one hell of an adventure and one hell of a thirst to quench.
We will also be doing a small scientific study with Dr Greg Wells whom you may have seen on the recent Winter Olympic coverage on national television in Canada, to see what our bodies go through under these extreme conditions.
GHERALTA MOUNTAINS
3 days
This stunning mountain range lies just outside the Danakil Depression and close to Mekele. We will drive/ride from Mekele to the Gheralta Lodge, which is a remote lodge located at the base of the range. The hundreds of churches located here range date as far back as the 7th century. We will use this lodge as our final base camp. From here we will ride and hike to Abune Yemata; a spectacular cliff edged church hand carved by unknown hands. The hike in is definitely not for the weak hearted but absolutely worth it as it is found on a spectacular mountain precipice. Here we will have a breathtaking view and experience an ancient traditional drum ceremony. This is a rare moment in a place where time feels like it has stood still. The film and tour ends here and a final party at the Gheralta lodge with music and traditional dancing.
SIDE PROJECTS
Trees:
Ethiopia has cut 98% of its trees down, which has lead to massive soil erosion. Ethiopia has some of Africa’s best soil and was one of Earths original fertile crescents where food was cultivated and civilization arose. With Ethiopia's heavy rains Ethiopia's farmlands will eventually be washed away, leading to massive hunger and whatever devastation follows that.
Ethiopia is almost like a crystal ball showing us what will happen to the world as more trees are cut down.
We would like to create awareness through this film and fund some tree planting with donations. Ethiopia is already the #1 place for tree planting in the world but this effort is still like a drop in the bucket. We want to help make that drop much bigger.
