ETHIOPIA (information)

stay: 24/Aug/2006 ..29/Aug/2006

General View ---------

The people will annoy you. They cannot speak English, though they say they can. Fuel station only for diesel are many. When you find petrol, you should have your fuel tank full every time. 'NOC' petrol station has a good quality petrol, I heard.
The people along the street try to throw stones toward you. Waving your hand to them is one idea to make them not to throw stones.It's important to close your helmet's windscreen.
I got ETHIOPIA visa at Nairobi (KENYA) / $20 (single 1 month)

Economy ---------

  • $1=Br9.10149 (inter-bank rate) / border: Ks100=Br9..10, $1=Br8, SD100=Br200
  • ATM for VISA is only in Addis Ababa (refer to 'town').
accommodation (room); (provincial town)10.., soda; 3, local restaurant; (injera) 4, Internet; 15/h
The accommodation and injera are cheap.

Food ---------

'injera' is popular. You can eat it with other meals. But some (most?) tourists dislike the sour taste. A certain tourist described that's 'spoiled floorcloth.' They say 'soda' as beverage.

Accommodations ---------

They have parking area as long as there's no note. But the security is your own responsibility.

in Mega

There are some hotels along the main street.
DEGENE HOTEL (along the main street)
S? / shared duty toilet & shower, but broken

in Awassa

(hearsay)
ADENIUM CAMPSITE (2 green iron gates & pink flowers, Ethiopian & German flag, near 'WISDOM TTC,' 'Elee cottage' and Lake Awassa)
C30, W80 / kitchen, restaurant, laundry
TEL 0462212778 / 0916823265

in Lake Langano

(hearsay)
BEHELE MOLLA (at the lakeside)
C?, room? / lakeside nice view

in Addis Ababa (capital)

BARO HOTEL (Piazza area)
C25, S70, W80 / shared toilet & shower
you can pitch a tent in the hotel. 1 or 2 tents are available to pitch. This hotel is popular and often full. Around the hotel there are some other cheap hotels.
(hearsay)
Park Hotel, Planet Safari (place?)
Unpleasant to the guests.

in Gonder

(hearsay)
SELAM HOTEL (place?)
Thief Hotel! They will open your room by the spare key and steal your variable things .
(hearsay)
ETHIOPIA HOTEL (place?)
cheap?!
(hearsay)
TARARA HOTEL (place?)
good?!

in Ferotie Selam

ABEBA HOTEL (along the main street, big sign)
S10, W? / shared toilet & pay? shower (5?), restaurant & bar, shared TV

in Weynitu Dsta

Central Hotel (inside of the village)
S10 / shared toilet, no shower, bedbugs, land floor, generator light
There are many rubbernecks. There is a pay cold shower (1) at the village. If your motorcycle is big, you may not park inside.

Town ---------

in Addis Ababa (capital)

soda; 3

ATM;

In 'Sheraton Addis Hotel' there is an ATM.

Internet;

Near 'BARO HOTEL (Piazza area)' there are some Internet-cafe which is possible to type Japanese.
Internet; 0.25/min

in Gonder

There are professed guides and barkers. They may annoy you.

in Azezo

Petrol;

There is a 'shell' petrol station. But they had fuel only for diesel. ? km from Azezo to Gonder there is a 'NOC' petrol station. This is clean and no rubbernecks. This is a good place to make yourself presentable.
To get enough petrol here is important when you go to SUDAN. Because the next petrol station is at Gedaref (about 340 km from here) in SUDAN. (For diesel, you can get at the SUDAN side borer and black market on the way)

in Shehedi

This is a small town about 35 km from the border and about 145 km from Azezo. There is a customs and banks (refer to 'border'). There seemed to be no petrol station.

Customs;

The customs is the south side along the main street. The sign says 'ETHIOPIAN CUSTOMS AUTHORITY METEMA CUSTOM' on a white ground with a blue letters.

Bank;

Their rate is better than street exchangers. Unfortunately they don't trade SUDAN money.

rate;
exchanger (border): $1=Br8, $1=SD200 (From $50 they will trade), Br100=SD200
bank (Shehedi): $1=Br8.7 (they don't trade SUDAN money)

Government Establishments (visa) ---------

in Addis Ababa (capital)

SUDAN Embassy (place?)
At Addis Ababa and Cairo (EGYPT) there is the most possibility you can get SUDAN visa in Africa.

Border ---------

Moyale (entry from KENYA);

No money is charged. Sometimes the immigration officer interview you. At the customs you need to show your Yellow Fever card (not sure), carnet and insurance card. The carnet is only to show. They will make their original temporary import document.
Street exchangers are there (Ks100=Br9..10).

Metema & Gallabat (Gonder-Gedaref) (leaving for SUDAN);

border map

(ETHIOPIA side)
No money is charged. The customs in ETHIOPIA is not at the border. It is at Shehedi (refer to 'town'), 35 km from the border.

There's no petrol station. Someone said there is a black-market petrol. Near Azezo there is the last (first) petrol station (refer to 'town'). At the border there are many groceries and restaurants. You can use your last money here.
coke; 4, coffee; 1, water (1L); 5

(SUDAN side)
You need a carnet. At the registration office you'll be required a fingerprint and a photo. You need another registration in Khartoum or another big town. When you leave SUDAN you have to show the registration stamp in your passport at the border. If you don't have it, you have to pay the penalty. (refer to 'SUDAN')
There is a petrol station. But when I visited they had only for diesel.

street exchanger;
There are street exchangers around the border. They are bull. It's impossible to discount.
There are some banks at Shehedi (refer to 'town'). The bank rate is better than them.

Road ---------

Moyale[0 km]--(paved 770km)--Addis Ababa[770 km]
Addis Ababa[0 km]--(At3180, paved 180km)--[180 km]--(dirt 15km)--Blue Nile River[195 km]--(dirt 15km)--[210 km]--(paved 50km)--[260 km]--(gravel 15km)--[275 km]--(paved 405km)--Azezo[680 km]: North of Addis Ababa, there is a high altitude mountain pass. Two sections of dirt or gravel road.
Azezo[0 km]--(paved 15km)--Gonder[15 km]
Azezo[0 km]--(dirt 180km)--(border)[180 km]--(dirt, under construction 60km)--[240 km]--(paved 105km)--Gedaref (SUDAN) [345 km]: SUDAN side (border - Gedaref) will be all paved because it was under construction.

GPS (download) ---------



(for GARMIN 'Map Source' file)
  1. addis-khartoum.gdb Addis Ababa - Khartoum (SUDAN)
  2. nairobi-addis.gdb Nairobi (KENYA) - Addis Ababa


(GPS eXchange format file) You need to rename the file!
  1. addis-khartoum.rtf Addis Ababa - Khartoum (SUDAN)
  2. nairobi-addis.rtf Nairobi (KENYA) - Addis Ababa


(HTML Plain Text, only the main waypoints)
  1. Addis Ababa - Khartoum (plain text) Addis Ababa - Khartoum (SUDAN)
  2. Nairobi - Addis Ababa (plain text) Nairobi (KENYA) - (border) - Addis Ababa
  3. Jungle Junction (Nairobi) (plain text) The way to Jungle-Junction

route & track;
  • Addis Ababa - (border) - Khartoum (SUDAN)
  • Nairobi (KENYA) - Wajir - (border) - Addis Ababa

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