Right after Lalibela came the first mechanical break down of the trip : one bearing of the rear wheel, which has been noisy for a few days, was now used to death.

broken bearing

Very fortunately for me, Hans (met in Sudan) was visiting Lalibela that day and offered me to load the motorbike and the luggage in its 4x4 and drive it back to his place in Addis ababa.

4x4 loading

As there were no room for us in addition with the bike + lugguages, we had to use local bus to reach Addis ababa, with a stop in Bahir dar, along the biggest lake of Ethiopia.

lake Tana

I had then to wait in Addis, for the spare parts to arrive from France. Fortunately again, I could stay at Hans'parents house, and this made the waiting time enjoyable.

my 2nd home in ethiopia

During these 2 weeks in Addis, took place the orthodox epiphany, with orthodox clergy walking in processions and crowds celebrating in the streets.

epiphany

After a short wait and a comparatively long fight with the ethiopian customs i got my parcels containing the parts

back from the post office

The big part now : the first time ever i had to relace a motorbike wheel.

disassembly of the damaged hub

relacing the wheel part 1

checking the alignment of the wheel

I was ready to hit the road again. After that long time in Ethiopia, I decided not to visit the south of the country and head straight to Kenya. The 2 days ride to the border was on a quite good tarmac, passing through changing landscapes, ranging from green forests and jungle to dry savana.

south ethio 1

south ethio 2

south ethio 3

south ethio 4

south ethio 5