Blogs from Ethiopia, Africa - page 7

I leave Gondar the next day 25/12/15 on the 5am local service for 150 brr to Lalibela, meet four Belgium lads on the bus which ends up cram full, not a great deal of leg room for non Ethiopians hah but none the less we eventually reach Lalibela around 4pm, I track down the recommended Salem guest house stay for 300 brr which is very pleasant and near the main cluster of churches. I spend the next two mornings at the churches for mass, this can be from midnight onwards but I'm not that keen. I meet Baruch on my first afternoon after viewing the bustling Saturday "farmers" market and tag along with his guide for the second morning (a busier Sunday), I even manage to find the football on the Saturday via a football den ... read more

Back in Addis Ababa I planned my visit to the south. Asking for information at the tour agencies was worthless, since they charge a ridiculous amount and they tell you that it’s almost impossible to go to the Omo Valley by yourself, which is a lie! I stayed two nights in Addis Ababa to rest, did some laundry and wrote a blog-entry. I also went to the Ethnological Museum, which used to be a palace of Emperor Haile Selassie. Today it’s part the Addis Ababa University that opened in 1949. The museum displays several old, (religious) artwork, handicrafts etc. This particular part of the museum displays everything in order, starting with birth and continuing to childhood and so on. You'll also get to see Haile Selassie's bedroom and bathroom among others. At the hotel in Addis ... read more

My visit to Ethiopia started in Addis Ababa, which means New Flower in Amharic. With more than 3 million people, it’s the capital and largest city of the only African country that wasn't colonized during the end of the 19th century and beginning of 20th century, when greedy European countries (F, GB, P, I, D, B, E) invaded most of Africa for their own benefit. The Italians tried to colonize the country by attacking in 1896 but were defeated by the Ethiopian army! This fact is a source of pride to many Ethiopians. In 1935 the (Sh-)Italians, under command of dictator Mussolini, attacked Ethiopia again by illegally using chemical weapons and took control of the country for about 5 years. Ethiopia uses a different calendar than we do. They just celebrated New Year 2008 (Enkutatash) last ... read more

I was always want to visit Africa, my interest is peoples culture &life style and my friends want to watch wild life I confused to select which country we spend our vacation for our both interests with my friends we argue to select one specific country its hard to find to accommodate this two different interest after a lot of goggling also watching this site finally decided to go Ethiopia, the next thing is finding our tour guide it is an easy task than the first one because there are a lot of tour operators. After we book to our vacation I went to ticket office in Canada Toronto for flight ticket to AddisAbaba Ethiopia there is direct flight with Ethiopian air lines after 18 hours flight from Toronto we arrived early in the morning in ... read more

\Arriving in Axum, it is a pleasant town with sections of it, palm lined streets and lots of hotels, and restaurants. We meet back up with Jeffrey (from New Caledonia who we met in Bahir Dar), and enjoy touring the town with him. The Axumites were a major civilization from 3rd to 15th century (?) , extending into Yeman and Egypt. The Stellas are 90 feet tall and are thought to be from the 3rd century. We walk the town, also seeing Queen of Sheba’s baths, and several tombs and tablets. The archeological museum is fascinating with coins, pottery, even glassware from the Axumite time perio Axum also has the church where the Ethiopians believe houses the Ark of the Covenant, which only two person has seen. Women are not allowed into the church, so we ... read more