I could drone on about beggars and their games and tactics but one comment would be that no one appeared to be short of food. A comment from a teacher we met seemed to sum things up when he commented that the Government did very well from begging so why not everyone else!

Virtually every bill we were given was significantly inflated, 4 times was the record for sending the bill back before we got one that was somewhere near the costs shown on the menu – which as you pointed out – were several times more than the menu written in Amharic.

Bus stations were typically hazardous and many times we had to wrestle our bags back from people who had picked them up or, made off with them and demanded money for their return. This typically occurred when police or security chose not to stop them entering bus stations or interfere when they were present.

As to the environment poaching and tree felling go on non stop. We did tell some park rangers of people felling trees but by the time they, their kalashnikovs and we got back to the area they had left with the firewood. Though the rangers did confiscate a machete. The rangers have a thankless and impossible task. Given the current rate of deforestation I doubt little will be left in perhaps 10 years.

Buses from Gonder to Lalibela. We were fortunate we bought tickets easily for the Woldia bus (number 1181) and got to Gashena in 6 hours to catch the Lalibela bus. Others we met were not so lucky and were sold tickets to Gashena but their buses terminated earlier leaving them to buy tickets on connecting buses. However at Gashena there is a scam run where local people ‘tell’ the ticket seller to charge vastly inflated prices to westerners, they then collect the additional cost from the ticket seller. We argued and the ticket seller accepted our offer. We then discovered the scam whilst talking to fellow passengers (who would say nothing whilst in Gashena). In Lalibela I complained to the Police who forced the ticket collecter to return the additional ‘charge’. The fare is 20 birr per person. Initially the ticket seller wanted 100 per person, my wife would only pay 100, the ticket seller then gave 60 birr to the gang. The police were not happy with returning our money but they were supported by fellow passengers.

It would seem that as the centre of UN activity and other charities people can acquire goods, services and cash easily (and we saw corruptly) and so people use this approach with visiting white people to get more.

I realise that our views will not be popular but I feel that you need to make the abrasive, tiring and threatening nature of travelling independantly in Ethiopia. For those travelling in groups in 4×4 convoys they are kept away from local people and local conditions and presumably have a much smoother time of it.

Will not be going back to Ethiopia and will not actively encourage others to visit the country.

GeoffB from Shrewsbury

We started in Addis, flew to Harar, spend two nights there, then drove to the south, with overnight stops in Nazareth, Dinsho, Goba, Awassa, Konso, Jinka, Mago NP campsite, Turmi three nights, Arba Minch two nights, then back to Addis.

Security = Ethiopia feels very safe. Never felt threatened. No thefts. Only town where I thought someone was following us in the street, and where I met an American man whose passport and money were stolen, was in Awassa.

Economy = Ethiopia looks booming! Everywhere you see new buildings being built. Road works to improve the infrastructure in many different places. There is more and more asphalt.

Harar = Lovely city to spent two days. Special atmosphere in those little alleys. Visited Rimbaud house and Harari cultural house. Good lunch at the popular restaurant “Cozy – pizzeria and coffee”, about 50 meters away from the equally good and popular Fresh Touch restaurant (same side of the street), mentioned in your book on page 418. We went to see the “new hyena man”. Weird to see, but still worth it. We stayed in the Heritage Hotel, was good. From the terrace of our hotel, at the end of an afternoon we saw a hyena walking between the gardens below. We payed 20 birr for a tuktuk ride from the city centre to our hotel.

Between Harar and Nazareth we visited the big khat market in Aweday.
Awash NP = saw crocodiles down in the river from the lodge near the Falls. In the park we saw kudu, wart hog, gazelle and many beautiful oryxes.
Nazareth Rift valley hotel = hotel looked nice, good restaurant, but the room we had at the second floor was shabby, dark and dusty and there was no water in the bathrooms during the whole evening.

Shashemene = lunch in restaurant Lily of the valley was good, they had special juices i had never seen before, maybe Caribbean/rasta.

Dinsho = spent a night in the Dinsho lodge. Made a log fire in the lounge, but after a while the whole lounge was full of smoke! At night temperature dropped to about minus 2 celsius. Next morning made a lovely walk with a very knowledgeable ranger. Saw wart hog and many endemic mountain nyalas, as well as francolins, white tailed ibis, bushbuck, yellow fronted parrot.
In the afternoon we drove to the very summit of Tullu Deemtu, 4377 meters, highest road in Africa. As far as I know, this is the only place in Africa where you can go above 4000 meters by car. (In my younger days, I used to hike African 4000+mountains: Kili, Mt Kenya, Ruwenzori, Meru, mt Cameroon, Toubkal Atlas, Karisimbi, …). Sanetti plateau is of great beauty. Ethiopia has such a huge diversity in landscapes, incredible.
We saw the Abyssinian wolf, mole rats, lammergeier, shelduck.

Spent the night in Webe Shebele hotel in Goba, very comfortable room. Condoms provided in the room!

On the right side of the road between Robe and Dodola, I visited the house of cave people in a place called Sebsebe Washa. You can see the rock from the road. The house is built against the rock, and once you are inside the house, you notice the house is connected to tunnels in the rock. I paid the owner a couple of birr to visit his house. Bring a torch light, cause it is very dark.

Awassa = spent the night in the very comfortable new Pinna hotel. Made a motor boat trip on the lake to the place where the hippos live, pretty expensive faranji prices.

Dilla = delicious mango and avocado juice in Rendez Vous restaurant.

From Dilla to Konso = I showed our driver the new road from Fisiha Genet to Konso, mentioned in your book and on our good Hungarian Gizi map, but he said the road was not good, he prefered to drive via Yabello.

Konso = Edget Hotel was pretty basic, no running water and no electricity when we were there, but the place is popular with locals, for a beer in the evening.

Omo valley = we visited villages and markets of ethnic groups like Hamar, Karo, Mursi, Konso, Ari, Dassanetch and Arbore. Price of a picture was mostly 2, 3 or 4 birr. Communication was difficult. I found a very basis Hamar word list on the internet, the people liked it when i spoke some of their words. That was always good to break the ice and make the people smile.
On page 533 you write that Arbore is ”far more rustic and unaffected than many similarly sized towns in south Omo”. Probably times have changed, because the Arbore people standing along the road, waiting to be photographed, were the most pushy. They surrounded me, kept on pulling my arms, etc, nothing bad, but far from unaffected. Lots of jeeps with tourists when we were there. We were one of them.

Turmi Evangadi camp site = showers were always working. Not a bad place to camp. Lots of bees though in the open air restaurant.

Mago NP = on the road to the camp site we saw baboons, dikdiks, guinea fowls. At the camp site lovely black and white colobuses. End of afternoon we made a game drive, starting behind the Colobus camp site, crossing the river by car, and then through high grass. So high that soon our main concern was not finding animals, but finding the track. I think we were the first car there since long. The armed scout walked ahead of our car, to look for the track. During two hours of game drive, we saw 1 dikdik, thousands of tse tse like flies and one sad lonely turtle, that was all. So dont go to Ethiopia for the animals, but for the people! And when we found that turtle or tortoise, our local guide who had been to the Mursi village with us, lift the poor animal from the ground, hold it above his head, put it back on the ground and then put his feet on it. I think Ethiopia has still quite a lot to learn as far as nature conservation policy is concerned!

Omorate = had to go to an office where an official checked our passports and wrote our names in a notebook. Local guide asked us 100 birr to cross the Omo river, two ways. Your guide book says “a few birr”. Probably faranji price, we did not bargain. No police escort necessary.

Way back in Konso = had lunch in new Kanta Lodge, looks very beautiful, nice tokuls, nice garden. Extremely crowded, all the landrovers with faranji stopped there for lunch.

Arba Minch = lovely boat trip to see the huge crocodiles, very exciting, many fish eagles, goliath heron. Swaynes Hotel definitely misses character, isolated place, no locals, a small bottle of water costs one euro, and there was no running water for a big part of the day. Very nice atmosphere however in Tourist hotel in lower town, popular with both locals and foreigners.
Nechisar NP = saw baboon, dikdik, yellow necked francolin, Grant gazelle, ground hornbill, ground squirrel, kudu, Burchells zebra, and all five remaining Swaynes hartebeest, hundred procent score.

Humbo = visited the thursday big cattle market, not many tourists, people dont ask money for pictures

Tiya stelae field = worth a visit if you are interested in history. Very knowledgeable guide who opened the doors for us.

Regards,

Wil

Some updates:

1.) Prices- prices have increased quite significantly since the last edition of your guide-sometimes up to 100%. The monasteries on the islands of lake Tana now charge between 50-100 Birr per monastery as apposed to the 20-40 Birr quoted in the guide book.

2.) Harar- had fantastic stay at Ras Hotel wonderful staff, also enjoyed a guided tour of the old city and insights into contemporary ethiopia with a guide organised by the Ras Hotel. Very disappointed in Fresh Touch Restaurant- bad food and service, several disappointed and upset customers. However there is a new Juice Bar called Tesh Juice- best juice in the whole of ethiopia:). Mmmm banana with a squeeze of lime…

3.) Addis- Outside of the main building the rooms at the Taitu are awful. Definitely worth extra to stay in the main building. The Jazz bar Jazzamba, on the Taitu property is pricey- 80 Birr entrance, but so wonderful; try it!

4.) Gonder- stayed at the Belegez Pension- small, cheap (115 Birr d shared bathroom) friendly and clean- recommended!

5.) Bahir Dar- Culture Club about 100m passed Ghion, just passed Wudie Coffee the ambience and dancing absolutely fantastic. Also ate delicious fish goulash (30 Birr) at bar on the lake front to the right of the Ghion.

We fell in love with music, dancing and food and learnt a lot about ourselves and our continent.
Thanks for your guide it was a much enjoyed companion.

Nic and Nikki

This last visit to Gonder was a bit of a disappointment: Prices have gone up so much while there is not really a clear reason for it (besides everybody telling you that ‘inflation’ is the main cause) and even more worrying is that will it is sometimes ok to pay a higher price for a certain service, that service has to be of good quality then as well, which was hardly ever the case……

Harm

Harm

Paul

1. Pension taitu in bahir dar – this is one of the most awfull hotel in whole Eth !! it’s quite cheap but very, very unpleasant
2. Hotel lalibela in lalibela – last time only with cold water, but the main problem is quantity of flees – its terrible!! In each mattress are tens of flees
3. In churches in lalibela is the same – a lot of flees ofkrz on the floor
4. From addis to harar, arba, dire dawa, bahir dar, Gondar and back once a day are direct connections  by selam bus and sky bus – selam is definitely much better – it’s lasts 7-10 hours. Departure from meskel sq. 5.30 am or 6.00 am
5. It is allowed to drive a car during the night – there is no fee or sth for that
6. Hotel pikok in dire dawa – terrible! Awfull! I’ve found a lot of flees, cockroaches and bedbugs !!
7. I want to recommend you pension wudie in bahir dar – 150 per night – mosquito net is in each room, very clean, after renovation – wudie is in front of pension tana
8. Hotel taitu in addis – quite expensive, meals are very weak, sometimes you can find cockroaches in your room,
9. Now currency is about 17,2 etb for 1 usd
10. Difference between prices in your guidebook  and contemporary prices is about 30-50 percent
11. I bought trek in semien – 5 days – average, fair price should be between 250 – 350 usd – it’s depend on quality of service
12. Hotel queen taitu in gonder – very good, fair prices
13. Very good local club and restaurant in Addis – habesha on bole rd. quite cheap but I ate the best /but most expensive/ injera ever there!

John from Poland

Babgoya Viewpoint Lodge at Bishoftu/Debre Zeit

Stayed here two nights Oct 30 31. I have been to all such lodges in Ethiopia and this is possibly THE best place to relax.More like a Guest House with owners Yan/Sara in residence. They and their staff will look after you. Continental Breakfast included; tea n coffee always available, as are beer n soft drinks. Main meals on request at reasonable prices 60-120 br(3 course dinner). Everything is small scale – less than 10 rooms so book…Yan=0911465693.
Fantastic view- see website. Site is in four terraces from entrance area tolakeside (120 steps) Camping possible.
Bishoftu/ Debre Zeit possibly is a very nice town – visit the other lakes, swim in Babagoya itself or the Air Force Officers Club pool. Shop at farm shop at Genesis Farm. Go to Family Restaurant if you like Tex/Mex. Lots to do.

Frank Rispin

We have visited Ethiopia twice. The detailed account of our trip to the Lower Omo Valley and the Danakil Depression over the Christmas holidays 2010 – 2011 has been published on our website, on the website of the Lonely Planet & of the Bradt Guide and received a lot of attention.

But we felt our Ethiopia experience was incomplete without exploring the great history of this country. So over Easter 2011, we followed what has become known as the “Northern Historical Circuit”. This term subsumes unparalleled highlights: Bahir Dar and the Monasteries of Lake Tana, the Royal Palaces of Gonder, the Stelae in Axum & the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela.

Organisation

With only 12 days in the country, we decided to fly between all major cities except Bahir Dar & Gonder, which takes only 4 hours by minibus on a good road. Having said this, all roads in Ethiopia are under construction thanks to Chinese money and engineers. Most only lack the final surfacing. As a consequence, overland transport in Ethiopia is due to change soon!

We arrived with only one hotel reservation, for Lalibela over the Easter weekend and four plane tickets. The rest we organized ourselves in the country. This is very different to how the vast majority of tourists travel through Ethiopia. It is mainly groups large and small, in busses or jeeps that congregate at the best hotels in town and leave only with their guides to some tourist highlights.

From this behavior Africans must conclude that white people do not walk! Tourists venturing out into town are treated like a true curiosity, like people who have lost their way. Not even the markets in Bahir Dar, Lalibela and especially Axum attracted visitors. Despite the staring, we enjoyed our extensive strolls and also met a few independent travelers on and off.

The unique history of this once great empire and its many other attractions has led to a boom of high-priced tourism in one of the poorest countries in Africa. No wonder that a vast number of tour companies offer their services, hotels pop up like mushrooms and road construction is well under way. Ethiopian Airline, a highly modern airline, flies pretty much everywhere in the country. Most important, since April 2011 domestic flights for tourists have become a lot cheaper!

Perceptions proven wrong…

Of course, there are still people who ask why you travel to a country at war and in the midst of a famine, when you talk about your plans of travelling to Ethiopia. At this we usually roll our eyes, but we equally proved vulnerable to wrong perceptions…

Most travel blogs we read before our first trip dwelled on wild descriptions of “Faranji Fever”. This actually made us travel first to the Omo Valley and the Danakil Depression, hoping we would be less “exposed” there. Well, those a bit familiar with tourism in the Omo Valley know that nothing beats that place in terms of “Faranji Fever”.

Actually, on the Northern Historic Circuit, locals and even children have become accustomed to tourists. School children in Lalibela even seem to have been trained to greeting them with “Welcome to Lalibela” and rattling off the name of every single capital city in Europe. Once, we played a nasty trick on a youngster claiming we were from Albania. The kid looked at us and answered “Tirana” without blinking!

Talking about beliefs… Nowhere else did we encounter such an unbent national passion for legends, myths and martyrs. The Arch of Convent in Axum; the gory images of chopped off heads and tortured martyrs in the monasteries on the shores of Lake Tana; the deep religiousness, to name a few!

Budget

Only beginning of April 2011 did Ethiopian Airlines stop charging overinflated “Faranji – Prices” on domestic flights. Having booked before April, we dished out a hefty 450 Euros for four domestic plane tickets per person.

The mid-range to upper mid-range accommodation we chose cost on average 29 Euros per night for a double room. The more upper mid-range, the more large groups you have, if this is what you want to avoid.

We never saved on food and more often than not chose nicer restaurants, which came to 7.5 Euros p.p. per day. To be honest, you can only eat so many Injeras…

Everywhere, we hired a local guide at the local sights, which added 8.5 Euros p.p. per day to our budget.

All in all? Except for flights, we spent 43 Euros on the Northern Historical Circuit p.p. per day. Considering our choices of hotels, eateries and activities, it was actually quite cheap…

The highlights of this trip?

• Each of the four places we visited is a highlight of its own, so it is really difficult to make any kind of ranking.
• We truly enjoyed Bahir Dar, its small town feeling, and the monasteries on Lake Tana.
• The Royal Enclosure in Gonder is a must see, otherwise the city has little to offer. The excursion to Koseye was a nice and short alternative to the Simean Mountains.
• Axum was amazing. We considered skipping it, but luckily we did not. It is not just about the Stelae, but the rich history of the once mighty Axumite Empire.
• Lalibela with its rock-hewn churches is the definite must, especially on religious holidays.

Places we did not go

Giving our limited time budget of 12 days, this was a tough decision! Of course we wanted to see Harar, so different from everything else, but it is a whole day’s drive from Addis. Yes, the rock-hewn churches of Tigray and a cozy night at the Gheralta Lodge were also on our wish list.

But none of this would have fit into our 12 day itinerary. We briefly considered shortening our stays in Axum, Gonder and Lalibela by one day and trek the Simian Mountains. Eventually we decided against rushing through the historical towns and to be honest, we dreaded the cold nights.

Were there things we disliked or we would do differently?

• Taxis at the airport try to brutally overcharge you (70 to 100 Birr is the normal price).
• Travelling to Lalibela during a religious festival has its price. Financially, most rooms go for over 100 USD, but also emotionally… We watched members of larger tour groups walk into off limit parts in churches, bang the drums or throw money around to have their picture taken with the priest holding a priceless cross. The archetype of rudeness was a senora who pushed a priest aside and sat down on a bench with 20 priests reading mess.
• If you can, travel right after the rainy season to enjoy the green landscape. The dry and sunburned highland at the end of the dry season was not the best to take photos and the roads were nothing but dust.

Conclusion?

The Northern Historical Circuit is a “Must-Do” when you are in Ethiopia and actually a succession of highlights. 12 days were actually too short, even when flying. So we sadly had to miss some of the more remote gems of this country.

For more information, check our website: http://www.oneyearoff.net/countries-visited/africa/ethiopia/

Gilles