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Ethiopia |
Facts about the country
| Capital | Addis Ababa |
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Population |
55 Million |
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Main Languages |
English + Tigrinya + Amharic + Orominga, Guaraginga + Somali + Arabic |
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Electricity |
2 Plug System 220 or 240 Volts 50Hz |
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Currency |
Birr |
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Exchange Rate for US $ as of June 2001 |
18.40 Birr per 1 US$ |
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Safe to Drink Tap Water |
No |
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Size |
1127000 sq km |
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Transport |
Train, bus, minibus, boat (ferry), 4WD vehicle is a benefit, plane |
| Cash Machines (ATMS) | No |
| Credit Card Usage | Not really |
| Religion | Christian + Muslim + Ethiopian Orthodox + animist |
| Measurement System | Metric System |
Recommended Budget per Day in US $
| Total Budget per Person | Accommodation | Meals | Transportation | Other |
| 16 $ | 3 $ ) | 3 $ | 5$ | 5$ |
Main things to See (we give descriptions only on places we visited)
| Things to See | Visited | Brief Description | Recommend (10 is best 1 is don't bother) |
| Addis Ababa | Y | Dirty city with almost nothing to do. The highlight is the National Museum where Lucy is. Otherwise you do not need to stay long. | 3 |
| Dire Dawa | Y | The town which the train stops at from Djibouti. Not a must to see but one of the cleanest towns in Ethiopia. | 3 |
| Bahar Dar | Y | A town on Lake Tana where you can do a day trip to the Blue Nile Falls and can visit the Monasteries on Lake Tana. The Blue Nile Falls are a 45 minute bus ride from town. The Falls are best seen from October to December when the water levels are high. The Monasteries can be visited on boat tours offered by different operators in town. Most were built before the 16th century. | 8 |
| Rift Valley Lakes | N | These include Lakes Lagano, Abiyata and Shala | |
| Gondor | N | ||
| Axum | N | ||
| Lalibela | N | ||
| Simien Mountains National Park | N | ||
Popular activities and Tours (Being not included does not mean they do not exist)
| Hiking / Trekking | x |
| Scuba Diving | |
| Historical Sites | x |
| Sightseeing tours | x |
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Ballooning |
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Bungy Jumping |
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Safaris |
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| Boat tours | x |
| Fishing | |
| Horseback riding | |
| Canoeing | x |
| Camping | |
| River Rafting | x |
| Sky Diving | |
| Abseiling | |
| Surfing | |
| Windsurfing | |
| Kayaking | |
| Sailing | |
| Mountain biking | |
| Roller blading | |
| Motorbike | |
| Sand boarding | |
| Snorkeling | |
| Water Skiing | |
| Others |
Feeling and Opinions on Ethiopia
You need time if you do not fly between places. Ethiopia is also filthy. Other than that it is a great place to visit, where you have nature pure and also ancient historical sites. We would have loved to see more, but it just took so much time to get to places, that in two weeks we only saw a little bit of Ethiopia. Hopefully they finish building their road system. We were also surprised how different Ethiopia was to what we saw on TV. We really enjoyed our stay in Ethiopia, though we were happy when we got to Kenya and they had the shelves full with food.
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Maren & Kirk