Taitu Hotel Addis Ababa

For the Ethiopia portion of our trip, I've added extensive narrative and photos for two reasons: 1) it was the most adventurous and interesting part of our 2005 Big Adventure and 2) the details may help others who are planning a trip to Ethiopia (which I highly recommend for those who like seeing truly far flung places that challenge as well as entertain them). Took a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Addis Ababa. It stopped in Khartoum, Sudan which is in the middle of the brownest, driest looking...

There was a lot more to Zanzibar (the night snorkelling with the lonely Zanzibari boatman?) but as that now seems so long ago now we must move on swiftly to Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa has its charm. At the airport I met a brother and sister called Sophie and James (from Cambridge/London) and we shared a taxi into town and checked into the same hotel. We then had a wonderful couple of days, along with a 24 year old Ethiopian fixer called Lalo who approached us in the street. Lalo, who alway...

Lalibela, ever heard of it?  I must admit that before coming to Ethiopia neither had I.  However, this place is probably the country's top tourist destination and is an amazing site to behold.  Time not being on my side, I only was able to explore Lalibela for one day before returning to Addis.   In the 1200s, monks decided to construct the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and what makes them so impressive is that they were not built from the ground up but from the ground down.  All of the chur...

Addis Ababa... The big adventure got off to an auspicious start. After finally checking in my bag I was set on a last pint of Guiness to relax before the flight. I decided to grab some cash from the nearest ATM. Unfortunately, my card got jammed, then retained. Great start - not even on the plane yet and I'm desperately trying to ring HSBC to cancel my switch card. The flight went well though. The flight attendants were a laugh and proceeded to get swallied at the back of the plane as soon as...

This is going to be a long one so I may have to split it up. I'm also going to dedicate a post to the Ethiopian bus system after this one. Its just that unique!! So, to start at the beginning... We left Addis Ababa early on the morning of the 11th. In the Toyota Landcruiser was Alicia and Arnold, an American couple driving from England to Cape Town, Mark, an Australian travel photographer living in Kuwait and myself. We headed south out of the capital, aiming for Arba Minch that day. The driv...

Biting the bullet and paying $300+ for a forty-five minute flight that takes trucks two or three days overland can *************sidered a victory or cause for celebration, but still it feels good to be back in Addis Abeba. Even now I have barely enough time to see both Lalibela and Gonder, with lengthy land travel in between the two and a budget now pinched. I decide to forego Lalibela to concentrate on Gonder and Bahar Dar since they lie along the same path, thus allowing me to see two major...

Friday 13th and no major upsets apart from paying for an extra days accommodation to the hotel , not too sure if this was a genuine mistake on the part of the hotel or not, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt though. It has to be said sheer stupidity on my part though! The flight touched down in Bahir Dar to pick up and drop off some passengers before arriving in Addis. Toby, Matt, Athene and myself shared a taxi and got a place at the Taitu Hotel, close to the Piazza. Had some very nice ...

We took a 5 hour flight from Doha to
Nairobi, and after a short stop-over was in Addis Ababa 2 hours
later. We weren’t expected to arrive in Ethiopia for another
couple days, but we decided we had seen enough of Doha (there wasn’t
really that much to do and it was HOT) so we quickly changed our
flight to Nairobi, booked our flight to Addis the night before at
midnight and was on our way to the airport at 5 am the following
morning. I guess this is the beau...

Welch Ironie das ich in eines der ärmsten Länder der Welt fahre, dort in das teuerste Hotel der Hauptstadt gehe und daraufhin den Kapitalismus als human wahrnehme. An unserem ersten Tag in Addis Abeba gingen wir in das Sheraton um uns das Gebäude anzusehen und einen Kaffee dort zu trinken. Ich war überrascht dort recht wenig Ausländer zu sehen. Nicht nur die Angestellten, sondern auch viele der Gäste schienen Einheimische zu sein. Nicht das ich einen Äthiopier trennscharf von einem Somali unt...

I'm staying at the Taitu Hotel, supposedly first in Ethiopia, now falling apart spectacularly. Checked out the Wutma Hotel and during breakfast was approached about a possible 8-day of southern Ethiopia for $100/day for 4WD and driver to be shared 3 ways. Met Zelalem ("Call me Z"). We had coffee and I decided to let him guide me for the day. To the Merkato, one of the biggest markets in Africa, where "you can get anything including a Kalashnikov". Back to the Piazza in a shared taxi, which op...