Today did not start well - by breakfast, the glass had come out of my watch, and the plastic buckle on my bumbag/wallet had broken. Great. Things come in threes? However, thinking positively, today we started our journey up to the Simian National Park, but relatively slowly as some of the roads are not good (but seem to be in the process of being rebuilt by the Chinese. There were quite a number of road laying gangs along the way, often with a Chinese "gang master"). The scenery is both beautiful and agricultural, although looking almost medieval by our standards - ploughing using oxen, reaping with a sickle, threshing by hand etc. Far more cattle than I expected to see - some with very impressive horns! Tom and I saw an eagle on a low pole - at least we are both sure it was one of the many types here, as surely too big for the other birds of prey. The countryside everywhere is dominated by eucalyptus, whose long thin trunks are widely used for housing.
We arrived in Debark in early afternoon, in order to arrange our guides and permits for the next few days, and shop for our camping expedition as we move further into the national park (which is another world heritage site). There are both long and short walks offered tomorrow - I have decided to attempt the long, although weather does not look good.
Debark itself is currently having its long and wide main street completely rebuilt by the Chinese - it looks an unbelievable mess, with mud and rubble everywhere.
I am definitely beginning to feel my age when compared to all the younger members and their talk of visits to Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Benin, Togo etc, until I discovered that Susan, the Filipino lady (who lives on Long Island, NYC, with a "condo" back in Manila) has recently done another of these trips overland from Istanbul to Beijing, and has just completed a 500km walk from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela. She is 69!
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