Bradt Travel Guide: Ethiopia

About this book

This new, fully-updated 8th edition of Bradt's Ethiopia remains the most comprehensive, detailed and thorough guide available, particularly known for its strength of background information, coverage of off-the-beaten track areas, and in-depth details of hotels and other tourist facilities. It also contains far more maps than other guides. Bradt's Ethiopia is also the longest serving English-language guidebook dedicated to the country, with a history of 25 years of research and expertise.

This new edition has been updated by the original author, Philip Briggs, the world's foremost writer of Africa travel guides. Recent years have seen a notable rise in domestic and foreign private investment in the development of new hotels and national parks; this new edition includes all the most up-to-date details reflecting all the most recent changes, from development of tourist facilities to improved road infrastructure.

Bradt's Ethiopia is ideal for visitors of all ages no matter the interest, whether travelling independently or part of an organised group, from adventurous and active travellers interested in cultural, historical, and wildlife sightseeing to international conference visitors, spa tourists and community-based visitors looking for activities such as trekking and horse-riding in the Rift Valley and Simien Mountains. Wildlife and birding visitors who come for Ethiopia's wealth of endemics are also catered for and this new edition includes a dedicated full-colour chapter on wildlife and birds.

Of all the African nations, Ethiopia is most prone to misconceptions. The 1985 famine and the cracked barren earth of the Danakil Depression are not images quickly forgotten. But this fully updated guide refocuses the lens to reveal an ancient country that continues to surpass all expectations: from the ancient Judaic cultures of the fertile highlands to the Animist people of the South Omo Valley, from the Afroalpine moorland of the Bale Mountains National Park to the thundering Blue Nile Falls. This book also leads you further off the beaten track, so travellers can see more of this expansive and beautiful land, believed to be the cradle of humankind.

Contents

PART ONE GENERAL INFORMATION
Chapter 1 Background Information
Geography, Climate, History, Government and politics, Economy, Population, Language, Religion, Education, Music
Chapter 2 Wildlife Guide
Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Ornithological Itineraries
Chapter 3 Practical Information
When to visit, Suggested itineraries, Tour operators, Tourist information, Red tape, Getting there and away, What to take, Money, Budgeting, Getting around, Accommodation, Eating and drinking, Public holidays and festival days, Shopping, Nightlife, Media and communications, Local interaction, Responsible tourism, Safety, Women travellers, LGBT travellers, Health, Preparations, Medical problems, Other safety concerns

PART TWO ADDIS ABABA AND SURROUNDS
Chapter 4 Addis Ababa
History, Getting there and away, Orientation, Maps, Getting around, Where to stay, Where to eat and drink, Nightlife, Cinema, Shopping, Other practicalities, What to see and do
Chapter 5 Around Addis Ababa
East towards Bishoftu and Adama, South towards Butajira and Hosanna, West towards Ambo and Mount Wenchi, North towards Debre Libanos and the Blue Nile Gorge

PART THREE NORTHERN ETHIOPIA
Chapter 6 Bahir Dar & Lake Tana
Dejen to Bahir Dar, Benishangul-Gumuz Region Bahir Dar, Lake Tana, Monasteries of southern Lake Tana, Bahir Dar to Gondar by road, Gorgora and northern Lake Tana
Chapter 7 Gondar & the Simien Mountains
Gondar, Debark, Simien Mountains National Park, Addis
Chapter 8 Axum & Surrounds
Shire Inda Selassie, Axum, Adwa and surrounds
Chapter 9 Northeast Tigrai & its rock-hewn churches
Adigrat, Rockhewn churches between Adigrat and Wukro, Wukro and surrounds, Hawzen and the Gheralta Escarpment, Abiy Addi and the Tembien
Chapter 10 Mekele & the Danakil
Mekele, Danakil, The Djibouti-Awash Road
Chapter 11 Lalibela and surrounds
Through routes to Lalibela from Tigrai and Western Amhara, Lalibela, Around Lalibela,
Chapter 12 Dessie & Southeast Amhara
Hayk, Dessie, Kombolcha, Bati, Dessie to Addis Ababa via Debre Berhan, The Dessie-Gundewein Road

PART FOUR SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
Chapter 13 Awash National Park, Harar and Eastern Highlands
Awash National Park, Awash to Harar and Dire Dawa by road, Dire Dawa, Harar, Jijiga
Chapter 14 Bale and the Southeast
Towards Bale Mountains, Bale Mountains and surrounds, Southeastern birding route, South towards Moyale
Chapter 15 The Southern Rift Valley Lakes
Ziway, Lakes Langano, Abijatta and Shalla, Lephis Forest, Shashemene, Hawassa, Sodo, Arba Minch and surrounds
Chapter 16 Konso and South Omo
Travel practicalities, Karat-Konso, Along the Konso-Jinka road, Jinka, Hamer country: Dimeka, Turmi and Arbore, Omorate and the Omo River
Chapter 17 Southwest Ethiopia
The Western Highlands, Gambella region, Benishangul-Gumuz region

Appendices
Language
Glossary
Key historical and legendary figures in Ethiopia
Some Ethiopian transcriptions of place names
Further info

Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Philip Briggs has been exploring the highways, byways and backwaters of Africa since 1986, when he spent several months backpacking on a shoestring from Nairobi to Cape Town. He first visited Ethiopia in 1994 to research the Bradt Guide and has since revisited it several times to update more recent editions. He has visited more than two dozen African countries in total and written about most of them for specialist travel and wildlife magazines including Africa Birds & Birding, Africa Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Wanderlust. He still spends at least four months on the road every year, usually accompanied by his wife, the travel photographer Ariadne Van Zandbergen, and spends his rest of the time battering away at a keyboard at home in South Africa.