I suffered through the graduation of the summer programme students this morning. The students were very happy, but sitting through 1200 students graduating in a ceremony of more than three hours severely tested my endurance.

We are now packed and ready to head of trekking in Bale Mountains tomorrow. We have to travel by bus to the town of Dodola where we hire a guide and a horse to carry our kit, and also for carrying us if the altitude of more than 3000 m clobbers us. We return to Awassa on Saturday.