Baro Hotel Addis Ababa

Hair: Sadly reminiscent of Eddie Munster Beard: Itinerant Distance Travelled: 2950km Frame of Mind: Impatient The tag line for Ethiopia in their tourist literature is "13 Months of Sunshine". They can claim this on account of the fact that they have a different calendar to most of us. It consists of 12 months of 30 days and another month of 5/6 days. Nice and neat eh? Presumably they also get 13 monthly paychecks? But let's get back to those "13 Months of Sunshine".... Let me read to you what...

I arrived in Addis Ababa around 3-4 am. Way too early, but the cheapest flight that got me from Egypt to Ethiopia. (I did not go overland through Sudan. This bothers me, a lot. But I had promised to try and a tiny more common sense on this trip than I had shown in the past, so given the situation there, I decided to avoid it. I've since learned that the central corridor leading straight through the heart of the country, through Khartoum to Ethiopia is considered reasonably safe. I regret not ...

The trip back from Lalibela seemed to take forever. I was eventually moved to the front seat of the bus, next to the driver. Despite the fact I had to pay extra for it (and had not wanted it in the first place), this aroused much anger in the aforementioned black Caribbean English woman who was also on the bus for the return trip. She seemed to enjoy ranting about the white man and his crimes against her family in the past. When Ethiopians would politely ask where she was from, as she did not...

Welcome to the Ethiopia section - click on the links to go to a specific place, otherwise read on. ~ Blue Nile Falls ~ Lalibela ~ A bit of Addis Ababa ~ Harar ~ Lake Awassa ~ Arba Minch ~ Nechisar National Park ~ Moyale ~ Ethiopia Summary ~~~~~~~~~~~ Day the First - in which disaster is narrowly avoided, and the missionaries get into position. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Got up at 3.30am to drive to the airport. Stef forgot his yellow fever vaccination booklet so we had to turn back. Oh the excitement... ...

This entry is mainly an account of the journey back to Addis. Click the following link to read about the Mercato and other things we did in Addis. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day the Tenth - in which I commit a Bus-sleeping faux-pas, we are tempted to smoke oregano, and we eat the Lasagne of The Gods. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Up at 4.30am for the walk to the bus station. The gates were not open yet so we had to stand in a crowd with the other passengers, while hawkers sang their wares. We particularly like the boy...

We woke up quite early today as we needed to go to Somaliland Consulate to get our visas. Everyone seemed to mention that the place was difficult to find so we thought we should start the day early. I honestly think that I'm pretty good at maps so we decided not to take a taxi plus our host's place and the consulate don't look too far away from each other. Following the maps, it wasn't at all difficult to find. The alley we needed to get into was quite small and there was no name so we had to...

Greetings from Ethiopia! The flight on Ethiopian airlines was very strange. It actually left the airport early and we arrived in Addis Ababa ahead of schedule. Coming into Addis Ababa, I could see tons of little lights on the ground like stars in the sky. It was very impressive. Getting a cab wasn't too bad. 80 birr and they dropped me off at the Baro Hotel. The Visa On Arrival was quick and painless as well. $20 USD and I was in the country. In any case, internet here seems very expensive an...

I love Ethiopian food, but I am seriously bored out of my mind. The Baro hotel has a nice patio to just sit in the sun, but even that isn't enough. I walked around and the air here is seriously bad. I think Bangkok was bad, but the air here is a bit stronger... Ugh. In any case, I met some German/Swiss cyclists going from Cairo to the Cape. Pretty amazing if you ask me. I also met this Japanese lady traveling alone throughout Africa. She is staying 1 day in Addis and then going off to Yemen! ...

January 23, 2008 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia We arrived in Addis about noon and got a room at the Baro Hotel for 100 Birr. We could tell from the smell of bleach that the room had just been cleaned, which gave us a good feeling about the place. This is another hotel that is popular with overlanders and travelers on the Cairo to Cape Town road. We meet a lot of interesting people and learn about traveling in Africa. Many of the people are spending 3-4 weeks here in Ethiopia and there is plenty to se...

February 4, 2008 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia We are bone tired from our eight day trip to Ethiopia's south west. The roads were dusty and rough, but that was not what drained us; it was the accommodations. Mat and Vilim's frugality saved us money but we are paying for it now. Thankfully the second night we were back at the Baro hotel we are able to move into one of the better rooms facing the courtyard at the Baro Hotel. It is spacious with comfortable double and single beds, desk and chair, even a...