10:10 member
Emma's Ethiopian Trek Blog
I have returned from Ethiopia in one piece and completed my trek reaching an altitude of 4430m. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored and supported me. A special thank you has to go to Brand Fusion and Paligap for their support.
Money raised will go towards Transaid who are an international development charity that seeks to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life through providing better access to essential basic services such as health care, education and economic opportunities 
in Africa and the developing world.
I experienced first hand the overloading of vehicles; a man in the market had overfilled his open top truck so much we could walk onto the roof of his house, and the dangerous road conditions. I have never been in a vehicle before which is going so fast on a winding track with shear drops whilst the driver is texting on his mobile – SCARY.
Acclimatisation
The first couple of days were used to acclimatise to the altitude. We flew into the Capital, Addis Ababa, which is 2400m and spent the day exploring the city. We visited a market which we were told is the largest in Africa at 22 km2.
The next day we took a connecting flight to the city of Gondar. I am not a nervous flyer but being on a propeller plane with several stops was a little unnerving. To get our connecting flight we had to get up at 3:45am and there were no lights in the rooms. Getting changed and packed by head torch is not easy. At breakfast the generator died and we had our porridge by candle light – very romantic! Gondar is a beautiful city and has a much slower pace of life than Addis.