Addis Abeba, capital of Ethiopia and other Ethiopia Things to Do Tips

When you are in Addis Abeba, you don't have the feeling to be in a 5.000.000 million city.
Addis Abeba is a mix of the past and the present, the city and the small-town feel, the modern apartment buildings and the small houses with zinc roofs.

At some places the city is hilly and intersected by some rivers and green valleys.
In the Piazza area with many hotels, cafes and bars, you can see the legacy of the very short Italian occupation. We stayed in this area.

You can see Addis Abeba in a few days. There are some interesting museums and the Merkato, the largest market in Africa.

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The most interesting Museum in Addis Abeba for me is the Ethnological Museum in the former palace of Haile Selassie.

At the first floor you can find an outstanding exhibition of all the traditions of the country from birth to death, like childhood, games, rites, nomadism, body culture, traditional medicine, burial customs.
I was surprised about its beauty, quality and especially its originality. So, I enjoyed this part of the museum very much.

At the second floor you can find a thematic exhibition of all kinds of traditional music instruments and listen to the music too. There are also icons, Ethiopian crosses and other religious art exhibited at this floor.
In the museum you can also visit the bedroom and the bathroom of Haile Selassi.

Opening Hours:
8am till 5 pm at Tues Wed Thur Fri (closed at lunchtime from 11.30am till 1.30 pm)
10am till 6pm at Sat Sun.
Entrance fee: 20 birr

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Directions: The museum is situated at the main campus of the University north of the centre near the Entoto road. To enter the campus you need an ID.

Addis Abeba has a lot of green in town, like the valleys and wide avenues edged by trees.
I liked the park of the campus of the University. After visiting the ethnological Museum, it's nice to look around.

There are many different trees and beautiful flowering plants. At sunday afternoon a lot of students walked around or sat on benches in the shade.
There was a small open air bar with a lot of shade. Here we took a softdrink, sitting between the students.

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Directions: North of the centre of Addis Abeba.

After visiting the Ethnological museum of Addis Abeba, we saw this beautiful burial stone in the open air. There was no explanation, but we thought, it must be, after seeing the same kind of stones in the exhibition in the museum.

Walking around in the park of the University's Campus we saw more artefacts, but also nice statues and fountains.

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Directions: North of the citycentre.

If you like to see Lucy, our famous ancestor, you have to go to the National Museum of Addis Abeba. This fossilised homonid, named Lucy, is discovered in 1974. In reality you will see the replica, because the real bones are preserved in the archives of the museum. In the basement of the museum around Lucy you can see a lot of other fossiles.

At the ground and first floor you will see a lot of archaeological and ethnological artefacts, like earthenware, pots, bowls and statues, focusing at the (pre)Aksumite, Solomonic and Gonder periods.

At the first floor you can find Ethiopian art. During our visit there was also the temporary World Press Exhibition. This was the second time during my Africa trip I saw this exhibition. (The first time was in Nigeria.)

The National Museum is one of the most important Sub-Saharan museums in Africa.

Opening hours:
8.30am - 5.30pm, Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri
9am -5.30pm, Sat Sun
Entrance fee: 10 Birr

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Phone: 117150

The monastery of Debre Damos is founded in the 13th century and one of Ethiopia's most holy sites. No trace of the ancient monastery remains, but the present church, built in 1961, has an impressive location beneath a cliff at the edge of e gorge. I really enjoyed the route to the church.

At the moment of our visit, there was a long row of people, sitting in front of the church, waiting for a bread. Not the church, but private persons dsitributed this food.

To enter the church you have to pay 20 Birr entrance fee and 50 Birr for the use of your camera. It's forbidden to enter the church within 48 hours after having sexual intercourse or during the menstruation period.

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Directions: 110 KM north of Addis Abeba, about 4 KM east of the main road.

Ethiopia has much variety in landscapes. The first hours, after we left Addis Abeba, heading north, we were very surprised to see very green fields, hills and mountains. Sometimes the fields and mountains looked European like the Alps, sometimes Asian like the Mongolian fields. We saw a lot of herds and agricultural fields.

At the mountainslopes we saw laurels. They told us, that these trees stimulate the erosion, so it was not a good choice to plant so much laurels.

From the side-road to Debre Libanos we had the first breathtaking views at the Jema Valley. The Jema is one of the upper branches of the Blue Nile.

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Directions: 110 Km north of Addis Abeba

Not far from the monastery of Debre Libanos was a local market in the shade of an enormous tree.

We stopped to have a look. The people were selling all kind of herbs, vegetables, beans, cereals and fruits, but also mysterious things, we couldn't recognize.

At the market were a lot of donkeys for transporting the goods. It was my first local market and I really enjoyed it to walk and look around. The local people were very friendly, as we found out later, everywhere in the countryside .

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Directions: 110 KM north of Addis Abeba

Bahir Dar has a very scenic location at the southern end of Lake Tana. Bahir Dar has wide avenues, lined by flowering trees and palmtrees. The town is a pleasant town to stay for a few days.

Bahir Dar is a good base for boattrips to the monasteries at the islands and peninsula of Lake Tana. Also you can easily reach the Blue Nile Falls from Bahir Dar.

In the southern part of the towncentre is a lively market, especially at saturdays. 2 KM west of Bahir Dar is the village Weyto. Here the villagers make tankwa boats, made of papyrus at the traditional way.

For more information have a look at my Bahir Dar page.

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Directions: 575 Km northwest of Addis Abeba

The Lake Tana is famous because of the monasteries of the 16th and 17th century at 20 of the islands in the lake.

We visited the Ura Kidane Meret monastery at the Zege peninsula, after a boattrip of about one hour from Bahir Dar.

The maqdas (inner sanctuary) of the monastery is beautifully painted. Walking around in the gallery of this monastery you can find almost all Ethiopian saints. St George with the dragonis the one, you will see in almost every church in Ethiopia, because he is the patron saint.
At the north wall of the maqdas you can find the Equestrian Saints (see picture).

For more information have a look at my Bahir Dar page.

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Directions: 575 KM north east of Addis Abeba