Cycling south through Ethiopia, we were intrigued that in many of the towns everyone would specialize in one, single type of business. There was the garlic town, the cowhide town, the charcoal town, the wood post producing town, the moonshine town, the chili pepper town, the bamboo furniture town, etc, etc. We wondered if this was because someone in a town figured out a good way to make money, and everybody else soon got in on the act. Over the next few days, as we rode from town to town, we enjoyed seeing how each community had carved out its own niche, and contributed to Ethiopia’s rich heritage.

After a 10-day rest in the mountaintop city of Gonder, we were eager to get back on the road. Accompanied by our new cycling companions, a couple from France, we headed south through Ethiopia’s teff heartland. Fertile plains were punctuated by occasional mountain ridges, providing a variety of interesting scenery - including the giant stone hoodoos, with names like Devil’s Nose and the Finger of God.