Ethiopia Journey Travel Tips

In November 2010 my spouse and I travelled about Ethiopia for 3 months by community bus with a non-public manual. Journey (specially bus vacation) is a real experience and not for the faint hearted as there is long travel times (even for a longer time if the bus breaks down) on inadequately managed roadways. But it is an fantastic way to get up close and private and knowledge the lifestyle and culture of the locals.

Addis Ababa
We arrived at the airport at 3.30am. We had not booked any accommodation thanks to our early arrival so we stayed at the airport until about 7am. A taxi agreed to consider us into the town for USD$10. We went to the Ras Resort the place we experienced to hold out until 9am to see if they experienced a place.
Travel Suggestion: We stayed at the Ras Hotel 3 periods because of to its central site. The value involves breakfast which is dreadful but lunch and meal are excellent.

Bahir Dar
We stayed at the Ghion Lodge on Lake Tana and did a boat cruise to the islands to see the painted church buildings. The Blue Nile Falls place is very but not value the extensive bumpy trip to get there. Considering that damming the river, the waterfalls are certainly absolutely nothing like the posters demonstrate.
Vacation Suggestion: Check out if a guidebook is incorporated with your Lake Tana boat cruise. There was 9 of us on our boat. No tutorial accompanied us on the boat apart from for our non-public guide Samson. The first island we visited Samson acted as intrepreter otherwise we would have not recognized what we ended up searching at. The next island we visited the church guideline spoke English.

Gonder
The abandoned castles are extremely exciting and it is value employing the guides inside the gate.
Journey Suggestion: We stayed at the Belgez Pension which was affordable, cleanse and quiet but the rooms ended up really compact and cramped. They do your washing for a extremely tiny payment – give to the cleaners in the morning.

Simien Mountains
We did a one working day 4WD working day vacation with yet another traveller and our guide Samson.
Vacation Idea: We would have favored to have stayed right away even although we are not trekkers, as the landscapes is beautiful.

Lalibela
We spent 2 evenings in Lalibela checking out the incredible rock churches.
Vacation Idea: Retain your entrance ticket helpful as they will be checked at each church entrance.

Arba Minch
Arba Minch is a overnight bus halt amongst Addis Ababa and Jinka.
Travel Tip: Invest an added night time on just one of the stopovers and do the lake tour.

Jinka
We hired a 4WD regionally to tour the key 3 tribes in the space (Mersi, Hamer and Karo tribes). We shared this price tag with 3 other travellers who had been on the bus and stayed at the exact same accommodation as us.
Travel Suggestion: Invest in your bus ticket to Addis Ababa early (at the very least 1 working day in progress) so you can obtain a much better seat number if not you will locate oneself caught at the back again of the bus on the 2 working day journey. Purchase very good ear plugs so that you can block out the sound of the loud new music movies enjoying.

Transportation
We made use of a range of transport that integrated: community bus, minivan, 4WD and boat.
Vacation Suggestion: If you obtain that pretty a number of of you are heading in the identical route, it will be far more cost-effective and relaxed to lease a minivan and driver like we did from Bahar Dar to Gondar (7 individuals).

Tour Guidebook
We utilised the providers of a private tutorial. This was the first time we have employed a manual for the entire vacation via a new region. The guide proved invaluable in preserving the touts away (value the cash alone), working with nearby tour operators and obtaining lodges.
Travel Idea: Use a private guide’s in depth knowledge and practical experience to appreciate Ethiopia via the eyes of a community.