Reunion in the bush

This one may well qualify as my most remote blog entry of the trip. It comes from an archaeological research station on the shores of Lake Turkana, right on the Kenya / Ethiopia border, and is about as "out there" as it gets. Astoundingly, though, they have internet access!

Our camp at a Hamer village in South Omo.

We've had the most incredible week passing through the Omo Valley in south-western Ethiopia. This is a piece of Africa that really hasn't changed much in 2,000 years and was always promising to be one of the highlights of the trip. It delivered in all respects, and we've had an amazing experience.

Hamer women in front of Mahali.

It culminated yesterday with a meeting that has been planned for months, but which none of us ever really expected to happen. At 2.50 pm on Wednesday 25th March, ten minutes earlier than expected, the Jangano team met up with Matthew and Alice Owen, under a tree on the Kenyan border. We were told the tree marked the border point and was the main thoroughfare between the two countries, but appropriately enough it appeared to have no vehicle tracks leading to or from it in any direction!

Alice and Amanda, reuniting in the bush!

For the next ten days we'll be travelling down through Turkana and the Chalbi desert with Matthew and Alice. The opportunity of having three strong vehicles and plenty of children to push if we get stuck is too good to pass up, so we'll be doing our utmost to get as lost as we can by avoiding anything that remotely resembles a road. Hopefully we will get to Nairobi by 4th April, but if we fail to make it at the appointed time, you can rest assured that it's not because we're having a miserable time!