Scams and Surprises in Addis Ababa

As I left the beauty of the turquoise-domed Medhane Alem Church behind me, a realization too cynical for the first day of my two weeks in Ethiopia set in: Addis Ababa, the country's capital, was like any other city in East Africa—it was just bigger. That was, until a young man approached me and offered to show me around.I wasn't shocked to learn that our exploration of sights like Merkato Market and the newly-opened Addis Ababa Light Rail wasn't free, not in his eyes. I was disappointed that...

Read more...
Bahir Dar’s Dust

"Are you a rasta?" the boatman asked me, as we sped away from the city of Bahir Dar and over Lake Tana, toward its famous orthodox monasteries. Initially, I thought he was joking, but then I ran my hands through my hair and realized why he might've thought that.Bahir Dar is hot, you see, but also very dusty. My hair was much too long during my Ethiopia trip, which made me sweat a lot more than I otherwise might've done. As my hair dried, the dust coated it, and boom: White-dude dreadlocks...

Read more...
Gondar: Where It All Came Together

I considered skipping the town of Gondar, first of all because of how immediately scammers surrounded me as I walked into my hotel, but secondly (and most importantly) because of how eager I was to get to Lalibela, which I fully expected to be the highlight of my trip—more on that in a second.However, Gondar quickly showed itself to be the most charming destination in Ethiopia, and not just because of the city's castle, which is known as the Ethiopia's Camelot. Nor was it only picturesque...

Read more...
Simians in the Semiens

Like Blue Nile Falls, the Semien Mountains are at their most beautiful during or just after Ethiopia's rainy season, when they are lush, green and wet. Thankfully, I happened to venture into them on a perfectly sunny day, there the cobalt sky provided the perfect counterbalance to the golden grasses atop the hills. Anyway, the Semiens superficially resembled South Africa's Drakensberg, which I saw in full emerald regalia. I wasn't missing out, not really.To be sure, I spotted at least 200...

Read more...
Lalibela Made Me Sick

Lalibela, too, is purported to be more impressive when the land is greener (are you noticing a trend here?), but nothing could destroy the hype I'd built up about Bet Giyorgis, a cross-shaped, rock-hewn church that is perhaps the most ubiquitous monument in all of Ethiopia. It didn't disappoint, even if a guard stubbornly refused me entrance to it just minutes before the official afternoon opening time. (To be fair, he did absolve me later that evening by allowing me to photograph sunset.)The...

Read more...
Robbery Amid the Rocks of Axum

Axum had been an afterthought as I planned my trip to Ethiopia—I only spent a night there because the company who sold me my trip into the Danakil Depression (more on that in a second) also sold me a trip to the Tigray Cave Monasteries, which were halfway between Axum and Mek'ele, where my Danakil tour would depart from.But low expectations always produce great results, especially in Ethiopia, so Axum ended up charming me, from the ruins of the mansion of the Queen of Sheba, to the Church of...

Read more...
The Blue Nile Trickle

In Bahir Dar the morning after my "rasta" incident, I embarked for Blue Nile Files—but with a warning."It hasn't rained in a long time," the driver said, as we arrived at the guide station. "Don't be surprised if you arrive to see a trickle more than a fall."The good news about this warning was that it set my expectations extremely low: I viewed it as a triumph to see more than a few drops falling over the edge of the cliff, even if it wasn't the sheet of water some guidebooks show. I was let...

Read more...
The Door to Hell, Danakil Depression

My four-day trip into the Danakil Depression included about half a dozen stops, but only two of them were of any significance to me: The yellow sulfur fields of Dallol, the hottest inhabited place on the planet; at Erta Ale, a volcano home to one of only a few "persistent lava lakes" on the face of the Earth. Neither disappointed.The lava fields, for their part, appeared of another world, the turquoise liquid pooled into the indentations of crystalline sulfur appearing to offer solace from...

Read more...
This site uses cookies to understand visitor needs. You can see our terms of service police here. To allow us to improve our content please click ok. OK