Thesolowanderer

Yesterday I wrote a some general information you would need to be aware of before visiting Ethiopia. Then I shared some awesome free activities in Addis Ababa. Today we will be in the small town of Gondar, north-west of Ethiopia. A 12 hour bus ride from Addis Ababa, yes you will not feel your behind by the time you arrive from all the sitting in the bus. Gondar is a small town rich with Ethiopian history. To truly experience Gondar, you have to visit a few places… Fasilides' Castle About 300 metres from the Gondar Piazza is the Castle, you can see it from the Piazza but the entrance gates are on the other side so you will walk. Or be nice to some guys riding their horses and hitch a ride.  To enter the castle will cost you 200 Birr as a tourist, there a much cheaper fee for the Ethiopian nationals. You will need a tour guide if you have real interest in finding out more about the history. I was very interested but I did not have enough money for a guide in ...

There are a few things you can do in Addis. Addis is a really big city. I have loved and enjoyed Ethiopia as they do not have class zoning. Everyone stays together, they do not have suburbs for the rich as we do here in South Africa. So I have put together a few things you would love to check out while in Ethiopia. 1. Visit Africa's largest market - Addis Mercato Addis Mercato is Africas largest open air market. Here you can buy anything and everything traditional where Ethiopia is concerned. When I visited the market, I expected a dirty place with no tar roads and wet muddy streets, not this market... This market is a city within the city of Addis Ababa. 2. Addis Ababa is a city surrounded by mountains, I truly recommend you take the time to explore these mountains. I took the time to hike up Yeka forest. I was never ready for what I found. There were ancient ruins up the mountain. We found someone had been digging up the bombs from these ancient ruins. The issue is...

Language Amharic is the national Language of Ethiopia. Although a multi ethnic country with 83 languages and 200 dialects. Economy 90% of Ethiopians earn a living from land. Mostly subsistence farming. Time Ethiopia is in GMT +3 time zone. Follows the Jullian calendar, which consists of 12months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 or 6 days on a leap year. Currency The Ethiopian currency is the Birr and cents. Notes are 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 Birr The 1 Birr coin is also in circulation. 1 South African Rand = 1.6914 Ethiopian Birr  Health Requirements A yellow fever certificate is required when traveling on a South African passport. Immigration Requirements For most countries, you have to apply for the Ethiopian visa at the Ethiopian mission at your country of residence. With exception for Kenyan and Djibouti nationals who do not need a visa to enter Ethiopia. Nationals from 39 countries can get their tourist visa on arrival at the airpo...

Traveling from South Africa to Kenya has been easy, the transport infrastructure is set and its simple to go from one country to the next on only one bus. I had to fly into Addis Ababa from Nairobi due to visa issue but I honestly would not recommend road travel North of Kenya to anyone, it is really not safe. From Addis to Khartoum you will need to take a 12 hour bus to Gondar, long distance traveling is prohibited in Ethiopia after dark so your bus will leave Addis Ababa at 5am. You will arrive in Gondar just before sunset. This bus will set you back 485 Birr. Be aware that all the bathroom stops are in the bushes, and only lunch is at a restaurant that is not really appealing so I suggest you have a packed lunch. Find a hotel in Gondar, there is one right next to the bus station, about a 50 metre walk. Stay the night and in the morning you will take a mini bus taxi to Matema which is the neighbouring village to Sudan. This is a 4 hour drive because you keep stopping f...

There are two countries in Africa which are considered to never have been colonized. The countries are Ethiopia and Liberia. In the 1880's Italy failed to take Ethiopia as a colony. On 3 October 1935 Mussolini ordered a new invasion and on 9 May the following year Ethiopia was annexed by Italy. On 1 June the country was merged with Eritrea and Italian Somalia to form Italian East Africa. Emperor Haile Selassie made an impassioned appeal to the League of Nations on 30 June 1936, gaining support from the US and Russia. But many  League of Nations  members, including Britain and France, recognized Italian colonization.  It was not until 5 May 1941, when Selassie was restored to the Ethiopian throne, that independence was regained.  I have been in Ethiopia for a week, I have had to fly into Ethiopia because I can only get a visa into Ethiopia at my country of residence. Today we will keep this light and not deal with the issues behind the visas being dif...