Ethiopia Things to Do

The National Museum of Ethiopia is a rather small, three story building that houses a wide variety of artifacts from some of the earliest pre-human bones right through to some very recent art pieces by important Ethiopian artists. At the time of writing, the most famous inhabitant "Lucy". a pre-human homind is not on display there, but casts of...

Had an excellent time in the Omo valley with ETT tour company. Meeting the tribes was very interesting just make sure you have a good tour company to experience it better. I can highly recommend ETT tour company. I am sure anyone that has used them can back me up on this. ETT are an excellent tour company I did my tour in May 2015 which covered...

The Mercato (from the Italian for "market"), is huge covering several square kilometers (and square miles) of space near downtown Addis Ababa. It is crowded and total mayhem and not nearly as picturesque as the Souks in North Africa. It is the largest outdoor market in Africa. There is a bit of organization here as vendors of similar goods tend to...

The centrally located Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa is the most important Orthodox church in the city and is located near the parliament buildings. For the photographers visiting, this is a great place for street photography / people shots. Emperor Hailie Selassie I's tomb is located inside the building.

Bole road, or Africa road which is the official name, is a long road crossing through the south-east part of Addis Ababa from the airport to Meskel Square in the city center. The upper and middle part of the street is an area for the wealthiest people in Addis Ababa. The street has a lot of restaurants and bars. Friendship Supermarket is located...

The Lion of Judah is the personal symbol of Emperor Haile Selassie I. This monument was one of several unveiled for the Emperor’s coronation in 1930 in Addis Ababa. In May 1936 the invading Italian army occupied Addis Ababa and began to make plans to seize the monuments they liked to send back as spoils of war to Rome. They demolished several...

Piazza is the backpacker area. The hotels are cheaper and the area is pitoresque and very crowded. The name is a legacy of the Italian invasion era, and you will find some Italian cafe's and restaurants here. There are also many bars and clubs in Piazza area. The area is a "must see" when you are in Addis Ababa. See GPS coordinate below the...

The octagonal St. George's Cathedral is a traditional Ethiopian shaped church that was built in 1896. It commemorates the relic of St. George which was carried into the Battle of Adwa where the Italian Army was soundly defeated. In 1930 the church hosted the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I. There is an excellent museum within the grounds and...

This is the parade ground of Ethiopia. There are always displays, festivals or at least some kids playing football (soccer) here. It’s worth a look to see what’s going on in Addis. The Addis Ababa museum is up on the hill to the left. Also along the square are banks, the Post Office, Tourist Information, restaurants and a grocery store.

Teff is a mighty little grain. It’s actually a kind of grass and the small grain is very very small in size. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in nutrition. It is very high in fibre, iron, protein and calcium. What it lacks is lots of carbohydrates found in wheat. The grain is dried, then soaked and later made into a dough for cooking into...

If you have the money, Abyssinian Tours are for you. They maintain their own small fleet of planes at the International Airport in Addis and can tailor any tour you want. They will take care of hotels, car hire, tour guides, the lot. They will happily take you to:* The Northern Historical Circuit (Bahr Dar, Gonder, Axum, Lalibela)* Southern Route...

What the National Museum lacks in size, it makes up with great displays. Relics from Stone Age man all the way through modern day are on display. Some of the more interesting exhibits are coronation thrones of the Emperors, tribal exhibits with clothes & weapons, art, musical instruments and hand made animal-skin Bibles written in Geez. They are...

There are many possible itineraries for you to plan in order to see the famous rock-hewn churches of Tigray, this beautiful part of the country. It depends on your desire to see as many as possible, or on how much you want to walk in the wonderful countryside, or even on how fit you are as some of them demand climbing or struggling up difficult...

If you contact a travel agency things will be well organized and the price will be about $US110 per day. In case you are a group of up to four people yourselves you can share the expenses. There are also unofficial guides who can arrange the tour for you and the price is a little less, about 80-100US$ per day depending on whether you are a good...

On the eighth day we roamed in the streets of Awasa, and then we went to the banks of the beautiful lake. This is the best place for a weary traveler … it offers nice scenery, fresh air and a place to relax and watch the local people. After lunch we started our way back to Addis Ababa, where we arrived late in the afternoon. We were really...

The seventh day was mostly spent on the way but it was no less interesting as we travelled along the road parallel to the beautiful Rift Valley. So we stopped a lot on the way to enjoy the amazing views of this famous valley which extends all the way to Kenya. We stopped a lot in the small villages where local people went on with their daily life....

Hamer people live in the Omo River Valley. They are not more than 50,000 people and they have their own culture and language. The most distinctive features are their hair which they cut in their unique way and dye with a kind of brown natural dye. Their clothes made of goat skin and decorated with anything they can find handy, even used pens or...

Debark is a very dusty and sleepy place and the only reason to stop there is for Simien mountains. However I found interesting photo options in the local market. You also have to book a seat in the morning bus the day before and insist that the Station Manager make a call to Gondar in front of you. If you don't do this, you will have to wake up...

Debre Libanos is a village with nothing special but the church of Debre Libanos which is visited by hundreds of locals. It is a big church built where the old monastery was found. It is near a gorge run by Abbay river. A few meters away there is a cave with a rock-hewn church where the pilgrimage go to prey. We paid 100b to visit it. If you ask...

Ethiopians are proud of this city and tourists like it because of the main street with the line of palm trees, the modern way of life and the lake Tana, which I have heard of since I was a child. Well, you may like it comparing to other Ethiopian cities, but don't expect too much. The lake is rarely blue, it usually has a brownish color. And the...

One of the most impressive churches is Ura Kidane Mihmet which actually sits on Zege peninsula and not on an island.It is built in a round shape with a corridor all around it. The paintings on the walls and the wooden doors are 100-250 years old and the church itself dates back to the 16th c. Some of the paintings are very elaborate and others are...

Chatting or not? Well, it is up to you. First of all chat is legal in Ethiopia. It is a kind of plant the leaves of which are chewed and are supposed to bring a relaxing feeling to the person, as they claim. But I think the effect is not the same for everybody. If you observe the locals that have been chewing for years they fall into a stupor, they...

The accommodation buildings are in perfect condition and very functional. The food is excellent, organic, very carefully prepared and highly nutritious. This complex of buildings is situated in an enormous site where 1500 children are fed and educated, treated with love and care, and there are facilities like sport grounds where they can spend...

It took us 7 hours to go from Debark to Shire. Shire is an open and airy town very near the borders with Eritrea. The distance from Addis Ababa is more than 1000klm. It is a very quiet city with nice and pleasant people but there is nothing to do but rest from the tiring journey. The beautiful mountains and the surrounding countryside was the site...

Adwa is a pleasant quiet town. It is the surrounding mountains and the views we had from the balcony of our hotel that made it worth visiting... The town was so quiet that looked abandoned. We couldn't even find a decent restaurant to have a meal or even juice. The few people we saw walking in the streets, however, were friendly and helpful.We also...

A very sleepy town, where there is nothing to do but relax. And you relax a lot! You can have wonderful juice watching people come and go, and visit the market for nice photography. Hohoma Hotel (100b a room) has a restaurant with acceptable local food; there is not a great choice in the city anyway. I liked their burger and their shiro with meat....

The historical Circuit includes: Debre Libanos, which you can skip with no regrets, in my opinion, unless you have a private or rented vehicle. Bahir Dhar and lake Tana, with the islands and their monasteries. Blue Nile is very near Bahir Dhar. Gondar with its famous ruins in the Royal Enclosure and more... Simien Mountains, for an unforgettable...

Getachew Gebrewihet is an excellent guide, a fine person, very professional but also pleasant and helpful! I recommend him. His mobile is 0912-041225. He has his own van and he is a a very careful driver. We hired him for a two day tour around the Tigray villages in order to see the rock-hewn churches. This is difficult to do by bus as the churches...

The fourth day was unforgettable indeed! In the morning we visited the Key Afar market, one of the most colorful and very interesting markets of Ethiopia. All the tribes of the area go there to sell their products, vegetables, fruit and handmade items for everyday use. They have wonderful honey and nice handicraft you can buy for souvenirs. They...

On the fifth day we visited the territory of Mursi, deep in the jungle of Lower Omo Valley on the way to Mago National Park. Their fierce look and their hostile behavior froze us. They demanded a lot of money just to let us enter their territory and they got very wild when we took a photo of them without asking them. They asked for two to five birr...

People from all parts of the country come in thousands every year, sometimes even as many as 50.000-70.000. They all wore white clothes, men and women, and most of them, even people of Aksum spent their night in the huge church yard. It was a very emotional sight to see all this congregation who defied the bitter cold and the tiredness of the...

You will regret it, I am sure, if you leave Ethiopia without having visited Lalibela. The enormous churches carved in the rock deserve to be considered one the World Miracles. They are declared a world Heritage which nobody can deny... I arranged to be there just before Christmas when thousands of locals had come to show their faith. The place was...

Bati is a small village near Dessie. It is considered worthy of a visit because of its market where one can see authentic Afar people coming from remote places of east Ethiopia to sell their products. Actually everything else in this place is unimportant and deterring especially the behavior of the people who made me go away as soon as possible....

I happened to be in Dire Dawa during Timkat, Ethiopian Epiphany, one of the major celebrations in Ethiopia. Timkat is celebrated with great vigor. All people come to take part in the great religious festivities. Timkat is usually celebrated near a pool of water or river since it symbolizes John Baptist's blessing of Christ in the river Jordan. In...

Nazret has nothing to attract tourists but it is a cool and comfortable city to have a break between your trips to the north, south, or east. You can avoid the hustle and bustle of noisy and dirty Addis. You can find a pleasant hotel to spend a couple of days doing ...nothing...but relax! The city is very big, but it is quiet and easy. There is...

A really picturesque place in Dire Dawa is the river, as the locals call it. Actually it had almost no water when I visited it. We had to walk for about one hour from the street where the taxi driver left us. We passed beautiful verdant nature and walked along small paths. All the way local children escorted us and kept us company with their happy...

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud, the French poet who lived in the 19th century, chose to spend a part of his life in Harar. A nice two storey restored house, said to be the place he lived, is now an interesting museum. In the central room you can find evidence of his life and work. I opened one of the big books and took some pictures of his...

A very picturesque open market, perfect for photographers and good for travellers who want to catch the breath of the city. But they should all be careful, very careful ! I saw a lot of thieves stealing in front of my eyes. I saw policemen chasing, catching them and beating them up. I heard hundreds of stories about the various ways the thieves...

Fiche is a small impersonal town, two hours by bus from Addis Ababa. Built along the main drag it has nothing to write home about.. We stayed in Bahir Dar Hotel II (30b)– 0111351459. The rooms were around a small sunny yard where we could pick some sun during the day but in the night the cold was unbearable, at least in November when we were...

It is easy to visit the beautiful waterfalls by bus. You should go to the bus station in Bahir Dar and take a bus for Tis Isat village. You arrive there after one hour. From the village you have to walk for half an hour as far as the waterfalls, something I really enjoyed. The views of the valley where the river flows to its fall is an...

Boats are rented that can take you to the islands with the monasteries in Lake Tana. You can arrange which ones you want to visit or let the boatman arrange the route. You can have a 3-4 hour ride or a much longer one if you want to visit the more distant islands. We paid 300b for the two of us for a half day ride and we visited almost five...

In Gondar you will probably be interested in seeing the historical sites and also you may want to book a tour for Simien mountains. As for the sites you can do it yourself, if you have a guide book. If, however, you prefer to book a tour just to save time you can come in contact with the official guide office. You can call them or go to them in...

This church looked so beautiful to me that I stayed in the courtyard for a while and enjoyed looking at it breathing the fresh air - something rare in Gondar. It is built on high grounds and is famous for the paintings of the ceiling. The face of the angels is the most famous figure of Ethiopia. I remember when I lay down on the floor to take a...

On 30 of November Aksum houses one of the most important festivals, the festival of Maryam Zion. We wanted to attend this celebration, so we stayed for a week. At the beginning everything was perfect. The city was nice and quiet. The people were friendly, the market very interesting because the camel traders guided their camels through the city and...

We started with an exploration of the houses of the farmers living in the country side. The houses are scattered, each one with its own field or gathered together in tiny neighborhoods protected by fences or walls. They usually don't like to be disturbed by tourists who invade their private life. And they don't welcome them to their house. But,...