Traveling in Ethiopia

On my trip to Ethiopia in September-October ’09, I found that having a local travel agent is a godsend.

Through a friend serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, Nancy Ross, I lucked into Abeba Tours Ethiopia (PO Box 17447, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; phone +251 115 15 95 30/31, www.abebatoursethiopia.com), located in the lobby of the Ras Hotel. This company is run by an Ethiopian man and his American wife and managed by a creative, entertaining, capable young go-getter, Shimels Taye, who was a DJ in a former life and is fast transforming the outlook of the national tourist board.

Abeba Tours will customize trips to your time and budget and also help match you with other travelers to share driving expenses. Through them we found Abraham, the best driver in the entire country, who has a wonderful feel for people and a nose for finding events right before they happen.

Abraham drove Nancy and me in a 4-wheel-drive vehicle in the Omo Valley for 10 days. We paid about $140 a day for car, driver and all the driver’s expenses and then probably another $30-$40 a day apiece for food, lodging, park fees, rangers, guides, etc. The daily expenses varied dramatically, depending on where we were. We stayed in hotels and motels; camping was also an option.

Nancy returned to work and I spent a few days on my own in the capital, then on about Oct. 4 I left for a 6-day flying trip of the “historic route” in the north, also arranged by Abeba Tours.

I spent two nights in Lalibela, flew to Lake Tana, was driven to Gondor and flew to Axum and then back to Addis Ababa. Abeba arranged all the transfers, guides and hotels and made it possible for me to prepay in US dollars through an American bank so I didn’t have to carry huge sums of cash while traveling (a major advantage!).

This 6-day tour cost $1,350, including all internal driving and airfare, airport transfers, guides, drivers, hotels, admission fees, boat rental and one breakfast. All other meals I paid for separately.

If you have a choice and enough time, consider doing all trips in Ethiopia with a driver instead of flying. Going to the south, flying really is not an option. In the north, because of the unpredictable weather patterns, you need to be at the airport for a 45-minute flight at least two hours ahead of time, because if the plane comes early it leaves early and you might not be able to get out again for one or two days. Hence, half of every travel day is spent in the airport instead of seeing the scenery and just relaxing in the capable hands of your driver.

If you are going to fly internally, flying Ethiopian Airlines for your international flight will get you significant discounts on internal airfare (about two-thirds off). I only flew them within Ethiopia, but the flights and staff were great, and they provided much greater service than on US flights of comparable duration!

When it came to food in Ethiopia, I found that vegetables were not readily available except on Wednesdays and Fridays, designated “fasting days.” On those days, you can gorge on wonderful vegetables and legumes by ordering a restaurant’s “fasting platter,” which usually included collard greens, carrots, cabbage, beets and several lentil and bean purees in varying degrees of spiciness. Yum!

The platter price varied greatly from place to place; it was in the range of $5 or less in local restaurants in any city I visited and would be more in the Hilton or if the meal included dancers or other entertainment.

Ethiopia is still very much a cash economy, yet ATMs are still not widely available outside of Addis Ababa. On the advice of Abeba Tours, I brought American Express Travelers’ Cheques, which they took me to the Sheraton to cash. The bank at the Sheraton will cash the checks either in US dollars or Ethiopian birr, depending on what you need.

My agent requested dollars for prepaying airfare and some upscale hotels, and I used birr for everything else. BUT you cannot cash the checks without also turning over the receipts, so take the original travelers’ check receipts with you!

If anyone would like to find out more about my trip, I can be contacted c/o ITN.

BETTY SEROW

Tallahassee, FL