I took advantage of a Lufthansa promotion to book a cheap ticket from Brussels to Addis Ababa. The plane made a short stop in Khartoum in both directions.
Ticket: 131 EUR
Taxes & fees: 308,15 EUR
Ticket service charge: 10 EUR
Total: 449,15 EUR
Addis Ababa Airport
Visa on Arrival
Visas on arrival are available at the airport for 20 USD (or 17 EUR).
Money
There is a Dashen Bank money exchange booth before immigration. After you’ve had your passport stamped, you can change cash at the Bank of Ethiopia. Both banks offer the same exchange rates.
There is no ATM at the airport.
Airport Transfer
Ignore the touts and walk down to the car park. The taxis started off by asking for 75 ETB for the short ride into town. They wouldn’t go for 50 ETB, but settled for 60 ETB.
When I spotted a van from the Desalegn Hotel, I got a free ride to the hotel of my choice. The hotel also offered a free shuttle back to the airport.
Accommodation
Desalegn Hotel #3
Based on recommendations in the Lonely Planet guide and Internet research, the Desalegn was my hotel of choice. But there are 3 Desalegn hotels in Addis Ababa...
The Desalegn #1 is an older hotel that’s not particularly recommended. I gathered the Desalegn #2 was the hotel mentioned in the LP guide. I ended up at the Desalegn #3 by mistake, but that turned out to be the place where I intended to stay. How 2 wrongs can make a right!
I still don’t have a clue where the Desalegn #2 is located. The Desalegn #3 is on Mike Leyland St, better known as EU Rd. The European Union building is just across the street. At night, streetwalkers hang out on the stretch between the hotel and the corner with Cameroon St. Continue along Mike Leyland St and you’ll discover tons of Christmas light bars. For a monger, the hotel location couldn’t be more perfect!
The bedroom is spacious and looks great. It features a sitting area with sofas, a comfortable bed and a balcony. Room amenities include an empty fridge and cable TV, but no in-room safe. A huge boiler provides hot water in the rather Spartan bathroom.
The hotel does have a generator, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have electricity 24 hours a day. When there’s a brownout during the daytime, they generally won’t switch the generator on. Sometimes the generator only powers the lights, while the hot water boilers remain switched off until the evening. Don’t expect your laundry to be ready when there’s a brownout either. In a cheap hotel, one might expect this. Staying at an upscale hotel, which charges 75 USD/night, one expects better service. In a country where brownouts are extremely frequent, 24/7 electricity and hot water are basic services every upscale hotel should provide. The Desalegn Hotel fell way short of that requirement.
Breakfast is included in the room rate, and is served from 6.30 until 10.30 AM. The breakfast buffet offers little joy for meat lovers. When available, the bacon was extremely salty.
The hotel does not accept 1996 series USD bills, while the money exchangers do. You can pay by credit card, but they charge 4% commission.
In short, I loved the location and really liked the rooms... but I wasn’t exactly impressed with the service.
Location, Location!
Other upscale hotels I considered because of their location:
- Global Hotel
* Beyne Abasebsib St
* Close to the Hotel Concorde (Dome Club).
* Not far from the streetwalker scene on Meskal Flower Rd.
- Novotel Hotel
* The LP guide mentioned a Novotel construction site on Bole Rd. Judging from the state of the building, it seems to be decaying. Pity it may never open.
* It would have been the perfect location to explore:
** Bole Rd streetwalker scene
** Memo Club
Online Reservations
Only the most upscale hotels in Addis Ababa (Hilton and Sheraton) can be booked online. The Sheraton hotel has villas available for over 10.000 USD/ night!
Just in case an oil sheik is reading this report. Food
New York New York
My favorite restaurant was New York New York on Bole Rd. Popular with locals and expats, the restaurant offers a varied menu and the odd freelancer.
One of the waitresses is scorching hot! Green View Restaurant
The Green View restaurant, where I often had dinner, is an upscale Italian joint close to the Desalegn Hotel. Make sure you get what you order. When my steak was served with rabbit food instead of French fries, I had the waitress check the menu. A few minutes later, I was served a large portion of Belgium’s staple food.
Pizza World
Also on Mike Leyland St, Musita is a club featuring live music. The restaurant downstairs is called Pizza World. The menu is limited, but they serve good eats and... they’re open late.
One of the waitresses from Musita often comes down to the restaurant to fetch cold drinks from the fridge. A stunning beauty!
Local Food
Injera is Ethiopia’s staple food. It’s spread out like a pancake, with food heaped on top of it. Some foreigners have mistaken it for the table cloth.
Injera replaces cutlery, as you use it to grab pieces of food. Its slightly bitter taste goes well with typically spicy Ethiopian food. McDonald’s
Ethiopia is the 4th biggest country in the world... without a McDonald’s.
Transportation
Taxis are everywhere, but they don’t have meters and grossly overcharge foreigners. If you can figure out where they’re headed, minibuses are supposedly a great way to get around. I simply walked everywhere...
The only time I took a taxi was from Memo’s back to my hotel with evil Betty. The driver asked for 50 ETB, and wouldn’t accept 20 ETB. When I started walking towards Bole Rd, he settled for 30 ETB.
SIM Card
Hotels rent SIM cards for 50 ETB/day. Buying an Ethiopian SIM card will set you back around 400 ETB, and they’re supposedly in short supply. I didn’t need a SIM card while in Addis Ababa...
ATM Machines
Dashen bank is the only Ethiopian bank to provide ATM machines. The most useful locations for foreigners are at the Hilton & Sheraton hotels, and in the Dembel Center on Bole Rd. Enter the Dembel building, turn left and the ATM machine is at the end of the corridor.
The Dashen bank ATMs only accept VISA cards!
Climate
Due to its altitude (over 2000m) and equatorial location, Addis Ababa has a temperate climate year-round. Average daytime temperatures hover around 20°C (68°F). At night, the average temperature drops to between 12 and 14°C (54-57°F). Addis Ababa is not exactly a tropical paradise!
Safety
General
Addis Ababa is essentially a safe city. This white boy stuck out like a sore thumb. Yet I walked everywhere, even at night, and never saw any sign of trouble or violence.
Siren Scam
The most common scam in Addis Ababa is the siren scam, whereby you’re invited to someone’s home to watch a traditional dance performance. In the end, you’re presented with a huge bill for the tej (honey wine). One of the guys who approached me claimed he was from New York. New York, Ethiopia!
Loso
(Message edited by _Loso_ on August 30, 2008)