ETHIOPIA: Northern Operations Africa 2016

You just made me like my safe a whole lot better. It uses a key.
Sounds like an old Security Products safe, I've had mine for over 30 years and still love it.

Stay safe Hank and have a great trip!
 
Tell me you've never lost a key?! Always keep a spare in a safe place, like the safe.

Hell no, never lose keys. That safe key hangs in a special place. Only way not to lose it is by being OCD about putting it back on that hook every last time.
If I ever lose it, I'll ask for that locksmiths number. Keep it handy Hank.
 
@Hank2211 ,man you in for an amazing adventure!!!! Digitial has to be the worst safe, the locksmith eventually taught me how to pick mine. Key lock is the safest, like @BRICKBURN says keep key in same spot and be disciplined,
 
Hank, I am not so sure a sat phone isn't still the best emergency comms when things go south, even when you have the internet. (Making me have second thoughts for my trip next summer now). I used one almost every day during one of the years that I was in Iraq. It is much much easier to take out the internet, at least temporarily, than it is to take out a satellite! And if satellites are being taken out by missiles, we probably need to stay home anyway!!!

Good luck on the hunt! Can't wait to hear all of the wild stories you are likely to have on return!!!
 
Hell no, never lose keys. That safe key hangs in a special place. Only way not to lose it is by being OCD about putting it back on that hook every last time.
If I ever lose it, I'll ask for that locksmiths number. Keep it handy Hank.
Wayne, I try to put things in the same place every time too. Only time that works is when I'm alone in the summers when the family has gone away.

Hank, I am not so sure a sat phone isn't still the best emergency comms when things go south, even when you have the internet. (Making me have second thoughts for my trip next summer now). I used one almost every day during one of the years that I was in Iraq. It is much much easier to take out the internet, at least temporarily, than it is to take out a satellite! And if satellites are being taken out by missiles, we probably need to stay home anyway!!!

Good luck on the hunt! Can't wait to hear all of the wild stories you are likely to have on return!!!
Sierraone, I tend to agree with you. I picked up the phone this morning, and decided when I go to places like Ethiopia or Cameroon, I'll get one in future - it's pretty cheap insurance. I wouldn't get one for South Africa though. I suppose best case is I never have to use it!
 
Wayne, I try to put things in the same place every time too. Only time that works is when I'm alone in the summers when the family has gone away.
................

There is one advantage to being my height is where I can put stuff and NO ONE can reach it. That key is one of those special item.

Maybe you get to use the new terminal when you leave??

New $2B international terminal at Calgary airport takes off today.

 
There is one advantage to being my height is where I can put stuff and NO ONE can reach it. That key is one of those special item.

Maybe you get to use the new terminal when you leave??

New $2B international terminal at Calgary airport takes off today.
I fly. A lot. And I can tell you that Calgary didn't need a new terminal, let alone a $2B one. But I since I have to use it, I hope they spent a whole bunch of that money on baggage handling and tracking services.
 
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I fly. A lot. And I can tell you that Calgary didn't need a new terminal, let alone a $2B one. But I since I have to use it, I hope they spent a whole bunch of that money on baggage handling and tracking services.

I agree. It looks like there will Be some passport scanners that may help speed things up. I'll await and see the results.
 
Nov. 2, 2016

Calgary has just opened a new terminal for international flights, so I decided to get there a bit earlier than usual, if only to find my way around.

Two hours before flight time found me looking for the Air Canada departures in a cavernous new building. It was actually quite easy to find, if only because the place didn't seem terribly busy. I went to the priority check in, gave my name and advised the young woman that I was travelling with a firearm and ammunition. She was completely unfazed, and asked if I was going bird shooting. I said no, something bigger. I was checked in within seconds, and the forms for the gun and ammo were quickly located and filled out.

Once I was checked in, and the luggage was tagged, the main bag went down the conveyer belt, and the ticket agent asked me to follow her, with the gun and ammo. As we walked to the "special handling" area, she filled me in on the teething pains of a new terminal - now open three days. Once we arrived at out destination - completely at the other end of the terminal (past the escalator to nowhere), we were told by a couple of baggage handlers that they would call security, and that the ticket agent would have to stay with me until security arrived.

Ten minutes later a nice young woman arrived and asked me to open each case. She went through the foam in each, swabbed and generally looked to make sure I had only what I said I had. I asked her if this was in addition to or in lieu of the past x-ray, which they used to do. She said in lieu. Once she was finished, my two baggage handlers took my bags and my cart, and went somewhere with them. I hope it was to put them on the airplane - I'll find out in Addis!

The process is different from that which we used to follow. Not necessarily worse, but certainly a bit longer, and certainly wasteful of the time of the ticket agent, who was away from her real job for about 15-20 minutes all of this took.

But I have to say the process was easy enough, and everyone was very polite and, again, unfazed by firearms. Thanks to Air Canada for the help and for not treating me like a lunatic, the way some treat hunters.

After that it was off to the plane. A new 787 Dreamliner, and my own pod. I declined dinner, took an Ambien, and went straight to sleep at about 8 pm.

I'm now in Frankfurt, waiting for the flight to ADD tonight. In the nice Air Canada lounge, waiting for my turn for a hot shower. I could get comfortable, but Africa awaits!
 
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It sounds like a great start to an epic adventure! This may result in the hunting report of all hunting reports on AH!
 
It sounds like a great start to an epic adventure! This may result in the hunting report of all hunting reports on AH!
You may well be right! My wife says I go on far too long . . . We can take a vote of those who are still awake when it's all done!
 
Are you there yet????????? Just kidding, have a blast......
 
Over the pole and on your way. Good luck Hank.
 
Well, I got back a couple of days ago, so time for the updates. This may be a long one, but I have no one to blame but myself (and a few others who for reasons that escape me, tend to urge me on).

I wrote this hunt report pretty much in real time, but because of the inability to communicate, it's only being posted now.

So here goes.

I noted that checking in my guns was an easy and straightforward process. I had no issues in Frankfurt, and enjoyed a brief ten-hour layover in the Air Canada lounge, hot shower, surprisingly good food, and all. The flight on Ethiopian Airlines was a pleasant surprise. The plane was a relatively new 777, and the flight attendants were both extremely attentive and extremely pleasant (both in manner and, er, in other ways). Business class does not have pods, but the seats are lay-flat, and while they are not as wide as some others (the configuration is 2-3-2, instead of the more usual 2-2-2), they are wide enough to let you get a good nights' sleep.

I landed at Bole Airport (Addis Ababa) early at 6 am. A short walk took me to immigration, where I answered a few questions (address - unknown because will be moving around; not an issue). I received my bags - all of them - on the priority carousel, in minutes, and unlike South Africa, this included the rifle as well as the ammo. You then go through the "red lane" at Customs, take your things through a quick scanner, and then are met by your "meet and greet" person. Mesfin had my gun permit (in Amharic), and showed it to a pleasant Customs inspector. She was unfamiliar with guns and thought .300 Win Mag was a serial number, but that was quickly sorted out (she was pleased to see it on the barrel!) and I was on my way. Next to Namibia, this has been the easiest gun clearance in Africa to date. Zimbabwe is as easy.

Once outside, I met my PH, Jacques Meyer, and Dean Stobbs, my outfitter who booked this hunt and who is joining me to film it (after a fashion). They met me outside because Ethiopia does not allow anyone to drive up to the terminal, nor do they allow anyone except specially licensed people to enter the terminal, apart from those holding tickets. Not sure if this is a state of emergency thing or the usual procedure, but regardless, it presented no problems.

We loaded up the luggage and began the hair-raising 6-hour drive to camp. I say hair-raising because the drivers here are lunatics, even by African standards, and while the first three hours was on as good an expressway as you will find anywhere in North America, the last three hours were on dirt roads, or perhaps I should say rock roads. These are intermittently one and two lane, and passing is a game of chicken. Best not to look.

There are lots of people in Ethiopia - about 86 million in a small country - so there are people everywhere. Shacks and huts dot the roadside pretty much everywhere, and you are dodging cattle, goats, camels and sheep pretty much all the time. Good thing Ficker, our driver and Ethiopian PH, was calm. No one got the finger, even though it would have been well deserved many times.

To give you an idea how many people there are in Ethiopia, it’s about half the size of Alaska, or a bit more than twice the size of Texas, and there are 86 million people, more than 80% of which live outside of cities (one of the most rural populations in Africa).

We arrived at our mountain camp at about 2.30 pm, having stopped for some food and gas along the way. The camp is at the end of a very long and tortured road - which dignifies it greatly - which in its last stretch rose unendingly until we arrived at about 2,700 meters altitude - about 9,000 feet. We are in the Sororo Mountains, in south-eastern Ethiopia, in the Oromia region.

The camp is made up of tents and outdoor toilets, although the toilets have running water (you may have to add some to the tank to make it flush!). Everything looks quite comfortable, although very basic. When you want a shower you give the guys about 20 minutes notice, and they heat water for a bag shower. Outdoors. And it's windy and chilly at this altitude! Apparently there is a government regulation for everything, and any permanent structures need government approval. The camp owner did try to set up some permanent structures some years ago, without advance approval, and the government got wind of it. As a result some cinderblocks are still in place, but none of them enclose anything. It can take years to get anything approved, and even longer if the government thinks you were not playing by the rules. But that's fine. I'm not looking for the Hilton, and in fact I'm enjoying roughing it. A big change from South Africa though

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For some reason I can't get the pictures to "open" in the post itself. @BRICKBURN - have you changed something recently or have I forgotten how to do it?!
 
Finally! Welcome home, looking forward to a good long read with many pictures!
 
For some reason I can't get the pictures to "open" in the post itself. @BRICKBURN - have you changed something recently or have I forgotten how to do it?!
Welcome back Hank! The two pics opened for me on first try.
 
For some reason I can't get the pictures to "open" in the post itself. @BRICKBURN - have you changed something recently or have I forgotten how to do it?!
@Hank2211 Welcome back! Over a certain size images will not display within the post but will only show as attachments. If you reduce the size of your images a bit you will be able to insert the images within your post. I resized your images to half their original size and now they will display within the post. Feel free to let me know if you need any further help! looking forward to reading about your journey in Ethiopia!
 
That other Pixie got to it before me again.

Glad you are back safe Hank. Now it can get cold for your benefit.
 

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