TRUCK WRECK IN DJIBOUTI

HUMMMMMMM! On the main highway between Djibouti City and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia there are many truck/trailer accidents. Most are one vehicle crashes, probably caused by excessive sleepiness (36-48 hours on the road without sleeping), alcohol or khat.

Many of these are roll overs caused by excessive speed around the corners or wheels leaving the road and flipping the trailers. Some are head on collisions between two trucks/trailers or truck/trailer and minibus. Most of these collisions occur on blind curves, where no one bothers to have a clear line of sight before attempting to pass.

The picture above shows a truck with its trailer that left the road, front tires hitting the ditch just right and flipping the truck up on its end. One of the strangest accidents we have come upon was a trailer off the road with its truck chasse flipped upright perched on top of the container on the truck's trailer. It looked as if the truck was riding atop the container.

We drive defensively in Djibouti. Between the animals on and alongside the road (goats, sheep, camels, donkeys and a few baboons), pedestrians who walk down the middle of the road or cross without looking and the wayward trucks with their trailers, a lone driver in a Toyota Hylux truck needs to be observant, quick and agile just to survive. However, our Hylux trucks do have an advantage. Because these trucks are small and have 4 WD, we can go offroad to go around alot of the pileups and weave our way through the long lines of trucks/trailers whose engines are too small to carry their heavy loads.

SUNRISE AT THE GHOUBBET KAROB

Sunrise at the Ghoubbet Karob, Djibouti (11 degrees north of the equator, about the same latitude as the coast of Venezuela, South Vietnam or southern India) comes and goes in a heartbeat. This spectacular sunrise happened ten days ago and lasted an entire 15 minutes from start to finish. It was the most gorgeous sunrise I have yet to see here and it happened just over the back wall of our little house.

POURING CONCRETE IN DJIBOUTI

In Djibouti, many building projects are completed totally by hand. This is happening currently right next to our offices in Djibouti City. Because there is a real scarcity of any wood or wood products in Djibouti, all of the buildings are made from concrete block and the floors are poured concrete. The owners of a property to the right and behind us purchased the lot right next to us. They first built a concrete block wall around the outside of the property and then proceeded to knock large holes in the original house and are adding on a huge addition. They have left some room on the lot for secure interior parking.

Everyday beginning at 6 am there are 50-75 day laborers pounding and banging, singing as they work. They sing especially rhythmically and loudly when they form a bucket brigade to pour the concrete for the building's floors. These pictures were taken from the second floor of our office and show the buckets, empty and full, flying thru the air as the bucket brigade works and sings together.