As for why I chose Ethiopia, some of the reasons are personal. There are, fortunately, many other reasons I would happily discuss with you. There is a rich cultural diversity in this country; deep rooted traditions, stories told by the people and the things you will find; stunning churches in Lalibela, carved from stone; castles, and I am certainly a fan of castles given previous excursions to Ireland and the UK; wildlife and landscapes; all great photographic opportunities.
I must admit that I also love the food and the coffee. You can find plenty of Ethiopian cuisine in Toronto.
I am still used to people asking me whether I feel safe on this trip. The presence of wonderful things does not cancel out hazards. I would therefore like to discuss some of the things one must keep in mind when planning a trip to Ethiopia. It should make for a great trip, but not necessarily for the unprepared.
Travel Illnesses and Vaccinations
As with every topic here, you can find a more detailed source using a Google search. I intend to provide one useful link per heading. Example: vaccination report for Ethiopia. Vaccinations are available for Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid and Yellow Fever among other problems. Consulting with a travel doctor will help you determine which shots you most likely need given the exact places you expect to go in the country. If you have a health plan, that will really help. I paid out of pocket.
Some illnesses have no corresponding vaccine, so different things need to be done about them. Malaria is prevalent in this country. It can be counteracted with chemoprophylactic medicines; these will not so much make you immune as they will inhibit the malarial infection and severity of symptoms.
There is no vaccine for dengue fever. Much like malaria, this is spread through mosquito bites. Any measures you take to prevent mosquito bites will reduce the risk from both dengue and malaria, and these measures include:
-wearing light long-sleeved shirts and trousers
-using insect repellent (I tend to see a "containing 30% DEET" recommendation)
-finding accommodations with screens over the windows and air conditioning
-not being outside at dusk
-packing personal mosquito netting which contains insect repellent, allowing you to safely sleep in places where there are no screens or air conditioning
Also consider how much time you will be spending in national parks or around wildlife. It is possible to get a rabies vaccine.
Food and water safety
One thing which to me didn't stand out as prominently on some info-sites--but which definitely should--is a water-borne parasite, schistosomiasis. It's fitting that it is the least appetizing read I can come up with in relation to this trip. The ways to avoid that are also the ways you would avoid cholera: food and water safety precautions.
I don't plan to do any swimming at all on this trip. If you do, be careful: no wading into strange bodies of freshwater.
The tap water may not be safe for drinking. As a result, I will keep to bottled water. That said, you should also consider the water you may use to wet a toothbrush or take a shower; it pays to find accommodations which have a great reputation for clean hot water. You should also make sure you're getting proper bottled water, as opposed to a previously opened bottle which has been refilled from a tap. Also, don't get served ice cubes in drinks, even if it's an alcoholic drink.
These precautions extend to food. All meat and vegetables you eat should be fully cooked. Avoid salads as a general rule. If you want fruit, prefer the kind with a thick peel which you remove yourself. Street-vendor food is probably not a good idea. I will be going for highly recommended/reputable restaurants during my time in Ethiopia.
Consider that the cuisine is meant to be eaten by hand. I packed hand sanitizer to help with this.
Accommodations
The previous topics touched on this one. You can find a wide range of prices, but it's important to know what you can expect for the price point. It is possible to find places to stay for the equivalent of US$8 per night, or on the high end US$70 or more. I went with the middle of the order, places which are either slightly above or below US$50.
The difference is that you will probably require personal mosquito netting for your stay in low-tier accommodations, while more expensive places should be more likely to provide better services.
TripAdvisor is a neat resource if you want previous travelers' impressions of the services delivered at certain places and price points. I made extensive use of it when booking nights.
That brings me to why this topic needed its own header. I would usually book places through big sites such as Expedia or hotels.ca, but in this case I had a problem finding places outside of the capital Addis Ababa.
One approach is to arrive in each destination city or town and immediately seek hotels for evaluation. I would recommend that for the experienced traveler, and it was my original plan.
Before you do that, consider this: I found that many TripAdvisor rated places came up as "not currently available" on my first try. I did not give up. Many places have their own websites with booking/reservation widgets. Once you find them, you discover that they probably do have rooms available in the time period of your choosing. In my case, one friendly B&B owner even sent an e-mail full of advice about what to see or do near the accommodations and what to watch out for while I'm in town.
One last piece of advice on accommodations. After you fill out the form and submit the data, or send a query to the proper e-mail address, be careful about your Spam filter. Do not delete the contents of that folder without checking the subjects for the names of the hotels or B&Bs you just tried to book. I consistently needed to fish genuine and valid replies out of the Spam folder. Once I figured that out, it was not too difficult to book (and sometimes prepay) twelve days' worth of lodgings in different parts of the country.
Transportation
There are minibuses which can take you from city to city for a fee. You can also hire a ride. Consider that all road travel can be bumpy and the other passengers will tend to keep the windows closed despite any hot temperature inside the vehicle. Consider sitting behind the driver if you need to be near an open window.
You can also rent a bicycle, if you're feeling more adventurous. It's not something I will do for this trip.
If you are traveling long distances within the country, you might consider domestic flights a time-saver. I will board a couple of domestic flights during this trip, once to get from my international point of arrival to the true itinerary starting point; once more to get back to the capital near the end without needing a terrifically long minibus ride.
There are no trains currently in operation in Ethiopia.
Cultural/Economic Shock
I can't say that I will be truly prepared for this part of the experience. I come from a well-off part of an affluent country, and I have taken to heart the advice that outward signs of this affluence could be trouble. I will already stand out as a tourist, but there are certain things I can control:
-leaving jewellery at home
-most of my clothes including boots are second-hand, not ragged but not particularly stylish, and the boots are intact yet quite creased and far from whatever glorious look they once had
-no camera in the Merkata of Addis Ababa lest it get stolen, though I am still on the fence about whether I will go to that particular marketplace
My hat, after which the blog is named, probably breaks this code the worst. It's second-hand and a look inside reveals the wear, but its previous owner was gentle with it. I have considered leaving it in the backyard for a rainy night and hoping that cats or squirrels or raccoons don't destroy it in the meantime.
I have been told to expect curious people to ask me where I'm from, or to offer me different kinds of services in return for money. I have been told to wear a money belt under my clothes or tight across my chest, but also not to put up a fight if I am confronted or threatened about it; this is why it is better to carry a good quality copy of the passport photo page in that belt and leave the actual passport locked in a room safe.
In Toronto, all cabs have a metre and service is fairly consistent. In Ethiopia, I will likely have to haggle for a fairer deal than the first offer. I have read the suggestion that one should only use a cab with a radio. There are also rickshaw-type modes of transport, but the language barrier might come into play when you use them: it would help to know some words in Amharic, a key language.
Possible tip source, as well as general purpose tips: goafrica.about.com. Scroll down a bit for basic safety rules.
Furthermore, you should make yourself aware of the laws and customs of the country. Some of them are particularly eye-opening and quite different than what I am used to in Canada.
Different Visas
If you intend to travel on a tourist visa, you are allowed one piece of each quipment such as a laptop or camera, for personal use. If you are a photographer, you may want to pay special attention to any detail you can find about these requirements. You might initially be inclined, for example, to bring different lenses for different situations; you might want to think about that. I am sticking with one good lens to help bring the point home that I am not traveling for business and do not expect to get paid for these photos.
If you are a professional who plans to make money from your photos or captured video of Ethiopia, then you will likely have to pay for a business visa. It costs more. Consider clicking through this site to understand what the requirements are for each visa.
As a tourist, I am bringing the required things to Bole International Airport near Addis Ababa, my point of arrival. That is where you can get a visa upon entering the country. Some of the necessary things include passport-style photos of yourself, a passport valid for 6 months beyond your stay, and proof of departure--a computer generated flight itinerary which confirms round-trip booking.
Travel Advisories
Please consider the advisories or warnings posted by your country of origin. Some of the regions in Ethiopia, particularly near borders, are not considered safe right now. For example, my original itinerary would have put me in Aksum, a place of great historical significance and the heart of an ancient empire, in the Tigray region.
Unfortunately, as the advisory warned me, Aksum is close to a disputed border with the country Eritrea. Banditry, kidnapping and armed conflict in the Tigray region are all concerns, so the Canadian government warns against travel to this region, among others. I decided it was not worth the risk. At the end of the day, I redistributed the days I would have spent there to other parts of the trip, and I also had fewer "travel days" to consider. I can probably go about everything else at a slightly more leisurely pace and enjoy myself better as a result.
One day, when things are a bit more stable there, I might visit the obelisks and the tombs of ancient nobility. In the meantime, nothing in particular is warning me away from some great places. I am excited and anxious to visit these places and to write about them for you.
Money
The currency is Ethiopian Birr (ETB). This site has a neat currency conversion widget. You might also be required to pay for some things such as pre-booked hotels using US dollars. At the time of this post, US$1 = 17.65ETB.
Bottom line: Do your research and be prepared
I doubt I have covered everything in this post. I hope it gave you some idea of the preparations I have made for this trip. If you plan on going to Ethiopia, look many things up. You might want to go on a tour with a group, using an experienced company which will help you address these concerns.
I depart in a few days and arrive two days after that. Around then, the fun should really begin.
Until then,
D. Madeley
No comments:
Post a Comment