At the end of our trip to Ethiopia, my third trip to Africa after Ghana and Morocco. Soon, I will be in South Africa completing the fourth corner. Though Africa is not a rectangle, the areas all seem pretty different. An African Studies professor once said that the only generalizations that are true for all of Africa are that (1) it’s big, and (2) it’s complicated. So far, I agree.
Ethiopia is a trip that nearly didn’t happen. The news coming out of the country right now is not positive. The US State Department has rated it a 3 for reconsider travel and the British Home Office published a map with different parts of the country color-coded as red, yellow, and green. Some of the areas that we most wanted to visit fell into the red zone (Lalibela). My wife had some work obligations in Addis Ababa, so we decided to press ahead albeit cautiously. In moving forward we did set some parameters. We decided to stay at the Capital Hotel and Spa rather than our normal, more local style of an AirBnB or guesthouse. This was because of the security of a controlled entry and an armed guard and the potential for Plan B and an exit strategy. Although I have long known that government agencies like the State Department and the Home Office err on the side caution and with good reason, I was always reluctant to ignore their advice.
By staying at the Capital, we chose an upscale hotel of Swedish ownership. With security in place and somewhat neutral ownership, the threat of a terrorist attack seemed low. With the spa, we felt if wandering Addis was unsafe, we could easily switch to a spa vacation. If it felt like we really just needed to get out of the country, a larger hotel with a shuttle and staff might be helpful. As it turned out we stuck to Plan A. My wife completed her work, then we booked tours with Go Addis Tours (www,goaddistours.com). The tours included a day long tour of Addis including food, a trip to Harar and a trip to Lalibela.
First, I should say Ethiopia is hard. It is not the place to make your first foray into Africa. It is rewarding — it is one of our favorite trips and a place we very much want to return to. Addis is a huge city with a modern commercial center that we barely went in to. Our most frequented areas were Bole (around our hotel) and the area around the University of Addis Ababa. We also visited Mount Entoto, a national park that is within Addis and its highest point. I walked around the Bole neighborhood alone and with my wife during the day. I was offered shoeshines, sex (prostitution is apparently legal though I have not independently verified this), asked for money, etc., but I never once felt threatened. There are armed guards at various locations.
What To Do in Addis?
Holy Trinity Cathedral: We visited with Go Addis Tours. I would recommend a guide because we learned so much about the Ethiopian Orthodox religion from our guide who was EO. Everything about the church is symbolic of something. An EO church always faces east so that the first light shines on the Ark of the Covenant (replica, the original is in the church in Axum). Women enter on the north and men on the south, the east entrance is for the priest. The EO church is in no way as ornate as the Roman Catholic churches, but everything about it was interesting.
Mount Entoto: The national park offers stunning views, zip lining, dining, art and nature.
The National Museum to see Lucy, our oldest bipedal ancestor. She was discovered in the Rift Valley and named for a Beatles song. Addis is building a fabulous new science museum and I am not sure if she will move there. Her current location is a little run down.
The Merkato: Large and chaotic, the largest open air market in East Africa. You can buy anything there and probably be pickpocketed and many other things.
Eat and walk: The best Ethiopian food in the world is in Ethiopia. The city seems pretty safe with a few precautions. There are a few western options, but why bother. The EO religion does not eat the cloven hoofed animals, so you won’t fine pork anywhere.
Harar
Harar is a Muslim, walled city in the east of the country near the border with Somaliland. This area is safe, which might tell you something that the closer you get to Somalia, the safer it becomes. Being a Muslim city in a majority Christian country sets it apart from everywhere else. To get there, we took a short flight from Addis to Dire Dwara then a van to Harar. We toured a rail museum before heading to Harar. The rail museum was also a functioning train station and rail yard. most of the equipment was 100 years old and French. Our guide seemed to be something of a Francophile and spoke seven language. For our tour, she chose to conducti it in French. I asked questions in English and she responded in French. We both pretended to understand one another. It was a beautiful friendship.
The drive to Harar takes about 1.5 hours and goes through stunning scenery featuring an arid mountain landscape. We saw baboons walking along the side of the road, terraced farm fields and many Ethiopian dwellings, people and livestock. The largest cash crop, in fact the crop that is crowding out everything else including coffee is khat (one of several spellings). Khat is a drug with amphetamine and possibly hallucinatory effects. I am told the compounds are similar to those found in coca. It is everywhere. You will drive through the largest Khat market in the world where people are carrying huge bundles of it around. I bought a bag to try. It had a pretty limited effect as I was told repeated use increases the high. Having seen it in use, it does appear to be addictive (conjecture), and prolonged use may rot ones teeth (dental care here is suspect, so this also is not proven). Having said that, I did see many people curled up on the road side with a big bag of khat which to me says nothing good.
Harar is said to be the fourth most holy city in Islam (not sure why or who ranks city for Islam, Price-Waterhouse?) It has 82 mosques within the walled city, the highest concentration in the world. Many of these are small and do not include a women’s section (the EO faith is similar to Islam in that it has separate entries based on sex and adheres to a food code). Within the walled city, there are a few museums, one devoted to Arthur Rimbaud, but it’s best just to walk around, get lost, get found. Most of the restaurants are outside the walls. There you can try the food which is Ethiopian, but also has influences of the Arabs and Indians. Harar was a trading hub for centuries and benefitted from the cross culturalism associated with that. There is still a smugglers market there that sells all manner of things that came in from Somaliland, but who knows how it got there.
The number one thing to do in Harar though is to feed the Hyenas. This is not the tourist trap that it seems. Going back centuries the city has had a Hyena festival (it sounds to me this is a worship going to an Animist past). In the festival, porridge is offered to the lead hyena and if he eats it, good things happen and if he doesn’t bad things happen — kind of a high stakes Groundhog Day. Anyway, that is the origin. For more than 50 years one family feeds the hyenas every night outside the city walls, butchers give meat scraps, and anyone can join in. My wife and I both fed them (me with a stick in my mouth). You probably never knew that you wanted to feed hyena until you’re there, then you realize that you do.
Lalibela
It’s almost not worth discussing because I cannot do it justice. You just have to see it. If you have a bucket list, this is on it. If it’s not on your list, your list is not complete. But first a word on safety: For a while the Home Office showed Lalibela in the red zone. At this point, there were no TPLF nearby, there were a number of guys walking around with assault rifles, but no more than you would see at a Hobby Lobby during the Christmas season. There is no electricity because electricity comes from a TPLF controlled area. The economy is hurting here as it relies heavily on tourism and there are almost no tourists, which in a way makes it a perfect time to visit. However, everyone must make their own assessment of a tolerable level of risk. For us, we were glad we went.
Lalibela is a complex of 11 rock-hewn churches carved into the mountain. It is said that King Lalibela worked days for 23 years and angels worked at night to help him. He built the complex after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as the “New Jerusalem”. Each of the churches is carved from the top down because man goes into the earth when he dies. It is just incredible. I say that after visiting Petra and Machu Pichu each earlier this year.
Oh, and the landscape is stunning too.
Miscellany
Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by a goat herder named Kaldi centuries ago. Ethiopians typically drink coffee in a coffee ceremony that involves burning frankincense, roasting beans, eating snacks, and incredibly strong coffee. This is not just for show, though there are modern coffee shops that offer a quick cup or a macchiato, these ceremonies are everywhere and Ethiopians regularly partake. It is a social gathering as is any meal in Ethiopia where it is not unusual for lone strangers to dine together.
Injera is served with every meal and is not only made from teff, but also sorghum or wheat though teff is most common. The bread is spread out over the plate and food placed on top of the injera and never on the plate. Dining is done with the hand and napkins are few and far between. Feeding each other happens.
Overall, I would recommend a trip to Ethiopia and wish to go back and see the many areas we missed: Gonder, Axum, the Rift Valley, Danakill, to name a few. It is inexpensive as the largest bill in circulation is the 200 Birr note (about $4) and as a cash economy, a large wad of bills is needed. As Africa’s only nation that was not colonized, it’s culture is rich and deep. I doubt there is any place like it on earth.
