Addis Ababa Warnings Or Dangers Tips by RblWthACoz

If you are about to be pickpocketed...

...it will most likely start by someone slapping your arm or hitting you in order to try and get a response out of you so they can start a verbal argument with you while their friend picks your pocket. I had someone try and do this to me, but I knew what was up long before, so I just kept walking. Someone might also yell negative anti-foreigner statements, or anything else to get you pissed off and off balance. My advice is for you to just keep moving and don't stop.

The scam

Generally Addis Ababa is a very safe city to be in. People walk the streets at any hour of the night, including women by themselves and you don't really find anything seriously negative going on. One thing you do need to be aware of is the resident scam. This is how it will work. Someone will approach you and ask if you want to see a traditional dance with a coffee ceremony or something along those lines. They might also tell you that today is the only day it is going to happen because it is a "special celebration day" in order to try and pressure you to do it. If you do go along with it, this is what you have to look forward to: They will serve you coffee, food, and most likely a lot of alcohol. Then suddenly it will all end and they will demand you pay them a huge amount of birr for the whole thing. Anywhere from 500 to 1,000 birr. Basically it's a scam because they never tell you how much they are going to charge you up front. My advice is to just pass on the whole thing since it is run by con artists. Another way to know you are being set up is when someone says they work in the hotel they just watched you come out of. Usually you will see the same guy sitting outside a hotel keeping an eye out for new suckers, I mean tourists.