Ethiopia: Dire Dawa to Addis Ababa. What would I see?

Question

For a story I'm working on, a group of characters must drive/walk from Dire Dawa. For the sake of the story planes and trains are unavailable. What would be some sites they would see along the way? What would be the conditions they would face, and finally how long would the journey take?

Answer 1

Ok, it's been years since I've been to Dire Dawa. So just take these as pointers.

-By 4WD it would take about six hours.

-There's an old train of the Chemain De Fer - Ethio-Francaise, that runs from Djibouti to Addis Ababa via Dire Dawa. It takes a longer time.

-In the first leg of the journey you'd see savannaha lands, farms, the Awash river. It'd be hot or bone-numbing cold depending on the season. The whole road is asphalted (if travelling by car) so there would be almost no dust.

-As you got closer to Addis, the forests would be denser and the towns more modern and more populated.

-There would be merchants at the entrance of each town and almost the whole route would be have hotels and restaurants catering to the travellers.

I'll add more as I remember it.

One Love !!!

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