Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
that have been mined for a very long time. And the oldest of all these ancient mines are thought to be the open
quarries close to the small town of Nejo, northwest of Nekemte, where locals still sometimes dig up ancient
shards of pottery.
For a rollicking adventure story on this fascinating topic get hold of a copy of Tahir Shah's book
In Search of
King Solomon's Mines
.
Nekemte to Bedele
The road from Nekemte to Bedele is as smooth as silk - well at least for the first 3km; the
other 102km are well-graded gravel, but work was being done on it when we last passed
by. Roughly halfway between Nekemte and Bedele is the 1300-sq-km
Didesa Wildlife
Sanctuary
. Although there's currently no access, you'll have a glimpse of its beauty when
crossing the Didesa River Bridge. Animals do live here, but the only larger mammals you
are really likely to see are baboons on the side of the road.
Bedele
POP 19,517 / ELEV 2162M
Scrappy Bedele lies 105km south of Nekemte and sits at an important crossroads linking
Metu, Jimma and Nekemte. Besides a tour of the celebrated
Bedele beer factory
(
0474-450134; admission free;
8am-4pm Mon-Fri)
or a tasting session, there's little
reason to stop.
If you're stuck here, try
Peensiyoonii Weqinesh
(d with cold/hot shower Birr80/90)
,
which has very cramped rooms that are basically as messy as the town itself. It's above
the Oromia International Bank in a pink and green building near the main roundabout.
Between 6am and noon several buses pass heading for Jimma (bus/minibus Birr45/50,
three hours). Going in the other direction buses head to Metu (Birr44, three hours).
There's a couple of buses to Nekemte (Birr40, four hours) and, at 6am, a single bus each
to Addis Ababa (Birr147, 10 hours) via Jimma and to Gambela (Birr100, eight hours).
