Another good reason to let Africa fester in the depths of hell.

Would I go to Africa to be thrown with stones, rocks and boulders?

Not on your life.

vette

Wow, that's an interesting opinion .

Let's indeed all go to Texas, I've heard it's great out there.

When we started our trip I carried under the roof rack of my Landy a big piece of polycarbonate cut to measure on the windshield just in case anything would happen in Ethiopia or elsewhere, well it is still there unused...
I absolutely agree with the others that waving and smiling is the best way.

We did experience other funny things though, like people pretending to jump in front of the car and then jumping right back laughing or, worst of all, pushing a sheep in the road as we were approaching.
I suppose that if you spend you life on the top of a mountain looking after sheeps day after day you may get a bit bored at times...
Cheers

Thank you for your balanced contribution. I suspect the Africans/ Ethiopians won't miss you either.

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TBS.com

Some deep and meaningful input from our friend from Texas. Excellent progress indeed because it would appear that word of the existence of a wider world has reached his little corner of our planet.

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...on the road to nowhere...

Biking roads by bikers for bikers www.bestbikingroads.com

Some of my friends just did a grand tour of Africa in three 4x4 , and they said that the -only- country they had a problem was in Ethiopia. They were surrounded in small villages and the situation went out of control, so they had to basically flee before property was lost and/or someone hurt.
I think perhaps an educational campaign may be a good idea? By the government, for the people. Ethiopia has a large potential for tourism.
There may also be recommendations for travellers behaviour on order.
That is something we could and should discuss here (to some extent we are).
I don't think pebbles in the pocket is the answer.

.
So I guess that party won't be returning to Africa in a hurry.

AK47's next ?
Grenades instead of stones, , , , , ,

It wont be long before the whole of Africa is like this.


vette

Oh it already is, mate. Here's the wife dealing with some grenade chuckers in Namibia. God, it was hell. Still, she got to be a pretty good shot with the Glock in the end....

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Our FB page:OneWorld2Up

Well, I am afraid it has been many a peasant's pastime for a long time... I rode my bicycle from Eritrea all the way down to Kenya back in 1995, the country had only been open for independant tourism for 2 years and there were very few travellers back then, but rock throwing and cursing ( F... you ! ) were already a huge problem. And I was slow, not protected by tainted windshields and windows, smiling and interacting as much as I could with the locals... I met quite a few fellow cyclists who gave up, flew or bussed their way out of the country.

Well actually they are going back all the time, as they know it and they love it.

But their next trip is to Caucasus - Pakistan - India....I am sure they will find rock throwers there, too.

In your country, I faced a shotgun last trip. In Conroe, TX.
And years ago I was very nearly shot by a large posse near Rochester, MN. Case of mistaken identity.
Conclusions? Nah.

So....

Is it the bikers or the land rovers who are getting attacked here ???

I was there over a month and never had a single rock thrown at me..... On a bike !!!

I did hear of the 4X4's getting a little flak though.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Having driven through Ethiopia recently I have a few thoughts. The slow down thing may have been true in the past, but we certainly didn't see it. For one, the roads weren't good enough (I wasn't willing to destroy my vehicle) to go very fast one...plus all the people, livestock, etc. milling about. Secondly, I didn't WANT to go fast. THe country is gorgeous and I didn't go to Africa to drive through as quickly as possible.

What we noticed about the rock throwing was that it was only around Gondar. Down south near Awassa...in the east near Harar, we just didn't experience it at all.

My personal opinion is that these kids KNOW that it is bad. No adults or teenagers threw stones, it was kids about 10 years old or so. They would wave as you approached, you'd wave back but once you'd pass they'd quickly pick up a rock and run into the road and throw it and then if you slowed or stopped they'd run away. From that I gather it is not a "you should slow down, thus I am justified in throwing a rock." It is clear that this is a fun game and they understand the damage and that it is not a good thing to do.

We had the rear window of one of our cars destroyed by a thrown rock and the kid ran off down a hill. I reversed quickly, gave chase, and threw a rock at the child as he climed and embankment on the other side of a stream. THe rock hit him and he fell into said stream getting covered in mud before running away.

In the midst of all of this, he had abonded the goats that he was tending and soon a couple of adults came. One spoke very broken English and was extremely saddened by what had happened and expressed disgust towards the now abscent child. Looking at the goats, they seemed to know exactly which kid it was that did this and expressed that they would tell the parent of the embarassment that this child had brought.

Now, whether or not that happened, I have no idea. It was clear though that the behavior is not tolerated or seen as appropriate and the reactions across the board from the misses and the hits our cars received seem to back this up.

THe truth of the matter is that the perception of tourists/travelers/foreigners that is fostered among these folks all comes from what they are told and what they experience. I am always keen to meet and talk and show people that 99% of us aren't super rich elitests that view Ethiopia as the armpit of the world. I chose to go there because I wanted to see it. Hell, we raised money for several charities there and raised enough to build a school at an orphanage.

I don't expect that I changed the world or anything, but I do hope that the child will give a second thought before hurling another rock at a vehicle.

In regards to bikers, I sort of feel that a cyclist or motorcyclist is seen as more human as there is no "protective shell" around them. It is easier to throw a rock at an object than at a person. A car is much more de-humanizing than a motorcycle and because in my personal opinion, these kids KNOW that it is wrong, they aren't going to be as blatant about it when they would have to physically throw a rock at a person.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Advice though, just be mindful. Be friendly to folks, and watch your mirrors as you go through town.

Sidenote : We also came across a fake roadblock manned by 4 kids (one without pants) and they tried to demand a toll. Of course we blew through their rope across the road with a couple of sticks beneath it....but still. The day before we came across a fake checkpoint manned by 7 men (3 with guns) that jammed sticks in our wheels and tried to rob us. I guess if these are the folks doing the parenting, the rock throwing doesn't seem as bad.