Question:
I am planning a trip to ethiopia in the near future - perhaps sometimes next year. I have fallen ecstatic about it after reading accounts of old travellers (Thesiger and the like). And as I look at travel guides (which are not many), the country still seems to maintain magic. Can anyone advise me on a good guide to buy ( I live between the UK and Italy)? Also a good ground tour operator which can help me organize perhaps specific hiking activities? And last but not least, I 'd love to do it on my own - I have read the country is fairly safe for women travelling solo. Anyone out there who would discourage this view?
Many thanks!!!

Choices:
hed

 

Well I'm a guy, but from the people I met while I was there, it seemed safe enough for lone women. The only thing you might want to avoid would be the bars, which outside of certain places in Addis or those belonging to tourist hotels tend to be very much male preserves.

For usual petty stuff, Ethiopia is extremely safe - just watch out for pickpockets in Addis.

I quite liked the Bradt Guide and would recommend it without reservation. Once you get used to the 6am buses, traveling Ethiopia is certainly possible. I wouldn't say it's the easiest traveling experience you'll ever have, but I can guarantee it'll be one of your most memorable. It IS a magical country.

Did not do any hiking so can't help you there, but let me know if you have any other questions.

David

I haven't been to Ethiopia, but did look in to the possibility not too long ago.

I'm a birdwatcher and we try to get an element of birding into all our holidays (you'd be amazed at what you can find around Venice at Easter!) so I just did an Internet search for "birdwatching tours" "ethiopia", probably using alltheweb.com for the search engine.

This returned some pretty useful hits with details of travel in more remote areas, that could form a valuable study resource. Although it might seem strange, anyone planning to go off the beaten track in some of the less obviously touristy areas of the world could do a lot worse than to check out some of the major birdwatching resources on the internet - fatbirder.com and birdtours.co.uk sping to mind - as they have trip reports for just about everywhere - often fro birders travelling independently.

Anyway - good luck - and let us know how you get on.

I have checked the bird-watching website, very informative, and the Bradt guide seems to be always the mentioned one and in high regard.

From what I have seen - more since I posted my message, I get the feeling Ethiopia is really quite safe, but not something to go and travel alone. Not so much in terms of safety, it does sound like a safer place than many parts of the world I've been to, but in logistical terms and of infrastructure. There seems to be a myriad of local tour operators organizing all sorts of trips with 4by4, and rightly so, given that it sounds like road conditions are not the best. I suppose the solution to that is to travel by bus - however exhausting or slow. Apart from this though, are bus routes extensive? Will they take me exactly where I want to go or is it easy and ok to jump on taxies - as one does in the Middle East and negotiate destinations? Keeping always in mind one is a female traveller. Perhaps, since you have been there, you can help me, David (even if you are a man)?

Hi again,

Possibilities for traveling alone in Ethiopia depends on which part of the country you want to visit.

The northern historic circuit (which was the bulk of my visit) it is certainly possible to travel by bus, though they're slow and you have to have a lot of time and patience. Between Addis, Bahar Dar, Gondar, Axum and Lalibela, there are usually daily buses. Note that buses don't travel at night, so some routes (Addis - Bahar Dar, Axum - Lalibela most of the time) are two day trips on the bus. The roads were quite bad (I'm guessing worse than usual cause I was there in the middle of the rainy season) and the longer journeys are quite exhausting, so you probably will want to put some time between two bus journeys. One alternative is flying some of the segments - Ethiopian Airlines operates a decent service between all those cities I noted.

For the basic 'big 4' towns of the northern circuit, you certainly don't need to hire a travel agency. It's quite easy to hire local guides in each city, who'll help you understand beter the sights and will lead you to the slightly out of town sights. Two guides I used and was satisfied with, were Alemu in Lalibela and Tesfay in Axum. They're both official guides so a bit more expensive than the 'unofficial' guides (basically, just kids who show you around), but they were very reliable and will not just show you the sights, but also provide lots of advice for further traveling in their region.

The one place where you might need a 4x4 in the north is if you'd like to explore the rock hewn churches of Tigre. What I did was to take transport to the closest village and then walk the rest. This called for some days of lots of walking, but the scenery is always gorgeous and worth it. At no time in walking in the countryside did I feel the least bit threatened, and from female travelers I met during my visit, I got the impression that it's not problematic for women either. (with the exception of hanging out at bars - i did hear a story of two women being followed by an aggressive drunkard at a Lalibela bar).

I'm guessing it should be possible to get to out of town sights by taxi, so long as there is a road going there (many of the monastaries are rather inaccesible by car; your options are walking or hiring a mule.

Infrastructurewise, I should also mention Ethiopia's budget hotels. Most people visiting Ethiopia find the cheapest of the range quite disgusting. The more touristy places in the north (ie. the big 4) have at least one government hotel which is usually overpriced, and a few tourist class hotels that are clean and very good value (ie. 6-7$ us will get you a clean room with hot water). The cheaper range usually double as brothels - some are perfectly habitable, others less so, but you might wanna avoid them as a woman. Unfortunately, when you reach less touristy towns, this last type of accommodation will be your only choice. In that case, your best bet would be to find a cheapie managed by a family or run by women.

In the extreme south, the attractions are pretty much inaccesible unless with a 4x4, and it's quite expensive. I did not go there, so can't help you with that.

Hope this helps with your planning,

David

Many thanks. This is an exhaustive answer to my questions indeed! I was actually looking into the Northern part of the country because I am particularly interested in historical sites, but also because to do it all would require a longer, much longer time spent on doing the trip.
I suppose the female travellers u mention were alone. It makes me feel somehow more eager and encouraged .... Thanks again,Corinna