Ethiopia: conclusions and tips

• 21 days;

• lowest elevation 1.885m at Harar; highest elevation 3.250 at Sankaber, Simien Mountains;

• 1 domestic flight (Aksum – Addis Ababa);

• endless hours of bus;

• 1 trek;

• many baboons pictures;

• 0 chat and 0 turista 🙂 ;

What I liked MOST

• One of my most exotic countries ever visited;

• 13 months of sun 🙂

• Mountains in Ethiopia;

• Ethiopia is the only African country never colonized by Europeans so everything is different, from alphabet to food or calendar;

• So rich and interesting history and traditions;

• Life (accommodation, food, transportation) is cheap;

• Its unique,  world heritage sites;

• Every location was different from the previous ones, Ethiopia is a country with much to offer;

• Good coffee and good beer.

What I liked LEAST

• One of my most tiring trips. Public transportation leave at 5am so I had to be at bus station at least at 4.30am and buses were always very crowded;

• 21 days of injera was too much. Still, now I like to go to an Ethiopian restaurant from time to time in Paris;

• Prostitution, especially in big cities;

• In the South,  did not like to see all these people spending their time and money on chat ;

Useful Information :

• Public transportation start very early in the morning. Long journey buses leave by 5am;

• Buses leave when are full so sometimes there is a little bit of waiting time. A good book on board can be very useful;

• Most visitors land at Addis Ababa (2.355 m) so maybe some rest time for acclimatization is needed;

• For accommodation, always negotiate the price. And later if you want to stretch on your stay in the same hotel you need to negotiate again the price for these extra nights (if you don’t do it they will charge you the initial price for them). This is an annoying practice but that’s how the country works!

• In 2010 if people booked the international flight with Ethiopian Airlines they had 50% discount on domestic flights.

My Ethiopia Pictures :

2010 08 ETHIOPIA