Travel in Ethiopia - Macena the Cobra - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post no - 67

Rugged mountainous Ethiopia posed very unique challenges for travel. The most convenient way of travelling is obviously by air and Ethiopian airlines is the travel partner of choice. Ethiopian airlines had mostly bombardier aircraft that could carry 52 passengers at a time for domestic travel.

Ethiopian airlines had very practical ways of operating. They were always on time and took off when all the passengers boarded the flight. In days gone by, we were told that air travel was quite informal and entailed taking goats and even hens on the planes along with the passengers!

The cost of an air ticket from Addis Ababa to Bahirdar was 650 birr (Rs 3,250 rupees) for foreigners and 250 birr (Rs 1,250) for Ethiopians and for expatriates with work permits. Back in 2002, 250 birr was lot of money and most Ethiopians could not afford to pay, so much.

Long distance bus service was available but was it was quite an adventure in itself. The bus would start at Piazza in Addis Ababa at 06:00 a.m. The buses were quite rickety and had hard seats without cushions. Ethiopian habit of closing all windows meant stifling heat inside the buses. The buses would travel at their own pace and would reach Debre Markos by the evening.

Roads in Ethiopia were mostly gravel at that time and driving on them was tough in the day and impossible at night. There was no concept of national highways and it was quite risky to travel at nights. Travellers could be mauled by wild animals or attacked by desperate bandits who could be wielding deadly firearms. 

Wielding firearms was quite common in Ethiopia and most tribal men carry AK -47’s around quite nonchalantly. It was quite a sight to see skinny men wearing shorts, heft a Ak-47 as if it was stick.

Night halt at Debre Markos was mandatory and travellers had to shell out 10-20 birrs for a rudimentary lodging facility or shiver their way through-out the night in the cold bus. The bus would start the next day morning and reach Bahirdar by afternoon. The travel time from Addis Ababa was 36 hours for a distance of 650 kilometres!

The via media form of travel was taking a Cobra (Cobra is the Ethiopian name for a Toyota Land Cruiser). Ethiopians are quite enamoured by the Cobras and they are slavish in their devotion to the rugged vehicle. Cars are called Macena in Ethiopia and a single journey from Addis to Bahirdar costed 100 birr, back in 2002.

The beauty of traveling by the Cobra is that, travel time from Addis to Bahirdar could be cut by half. The Cobra would start from Addis in the morning and reach Bahirdar by night fall.

The first time I travelled by a Cobra was in February 2003. We were asked to come to a specified location in Kable 7 by 04:00 a.m. in the morning. Kable 7 was pitch dark and it was quite spooky to walk to the location. The location was a huge banyan tree from which many branches were swaying ominously and they seemed to mutter something! They looked like floating people and at that time it was quite natural to imagine supernatural and ghostly things that would have delighted the horror team of Ramsay brothers or Ram Gopal Verma!

I stood there feeling the nippy early morning air. I was wearing a woollen pullover but was drenched in sweat. Suddenly I realized there was something or somebody NEXT to me. I DARE NOT LOOK, AND I DARE NOT MISS LOOKING!

Mustering all the courage, I sneaked a look! I almost died. There were two people (did not know if they are men or women) completely wrapped in white cloth. Come to think of it, I did not even know if they were human beings! I am sure they were dead scared of the firanj too, standing all alone wearing a blue pullover! After a close inspection, I realized that they were a husband and wife pair and we exchanged greetings and smiles.

The Cobra was filled with 10 passengers and off we went. Travelling by a Cobra was like participating in a wild car rally. The metal roads were full of small rocks and that meant a bumpy ride. We were thrown up and down our seats and had to hold onto the side supports! Otherwise we would be falling on each other. Quite scary thought for travellers all huddled together like sardines in a tin box.   

Our Macena driver was driving at 100-120 kilometres and there was a dust trail following us like an unruly dog. Even though all the doors and windows were closed, fine dust came in and entered our mouth, nose and even ears. We had to wrap ourselves just like girl drivers wrap themselves on Indian roads, otherwise we could suffer from high levels of infection.  

If getting driven at high speed on the dusty Ethiopian roads was not enough the behaviour of the rural Ethiopian folks was even more scarier. The usually calm and placid rural folks would behave quite differently the minute they saw the Macena.

For the rural Ethiopians, life moved at a slow pace and their life was tranquil and unhurried. The fast moving and dust churning Macena was seen as the manifestation of evil. According to the folklore the rural Ethiopians considered the Macena to be evil and would jump right in front of the speeding car.

The innocent and naive villagers believed that they are pure at heart if they are saved by the alert driver who can swerve and save them. If they get hit by a speeding car the villagers felt that they are evil and deserved the punishment meted out by the speeding Macena. 

So often it was a cat and mouse game with the Macena drivers continuously on the lookout to avoid the villagers jumping in front of their cars and the villagers looking at every chance to jump in front of the car. Luckily for us we did not have any one jumping in front of our Cobra!

The next point of excitement was when we were crossing the Nile gorge. Nile gorge is a scene out of Makenna’s Gold movie. Our Macena cut through the mountain side and in front of us was the magnificent Nile gorge bridge. The car slowly crawled across the Nile gorge bridge. Watching us were hawk eyed military personnel. It was as if we were a part of a second world war movie.

Just like any other country, bridges could be sabotaged and if the Nile gorge bridge was sabotaged the only road link between north Ethiopia and the rest of the country would be gone. The military personnel carefully scanned through the car. No one was allowed to get off the car and woe beside anyone trying to take snaps.

The camera would be confiscated and in many cases the military personnel even refuse to give back the concerned camera. We were all tense but we passed the inspection and crossed the bridge. After that the journey was uneventful and soon we climbed down the mountain side and were met with the welcome sight of the twinkling lights of the New Flower – Addis Ababa. She was welcoming us into her warm bosom and we were elated that we made it to Addis Ababa safely and in one piece.