Ethiopia

Travel to the border areas of Tigray and Afar, parts of Gambella and Awash, Metahara/Awash National Park and east of Harar to the Gode line, is not recommended. For further advice visitors should contact their local government travel advice department.

Ethiopia is situated in northeast Africa, bordered by Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti. The central area is a vast highland region of volcanic rock forming a watered, temperate zone surrounded by hot, arid, inhospitable desert. Places of interest in the capital, Addis Ababa, include St George’s Cathedral, the Menelik Mausoleum and the large market. Aksum, in the north, was the ancient royal capital of the earliest Ethiopian kingdom. It is renowned for multi-storeyed ancient carved granite obelisks and for the church which claims to house the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Also in the north, the Blue Nile Waterfalls are spectacular. National parks include the Simien National Park (in the northern mountains) and the Bale Mountains National Park, on high southern moorland country, which has its own unique flora and fauna. Ethiopian food is based on dishes called we’t (meat, chicken or vegetables, cooked in a hot pepper sauce). Local red and dry white wines are worth trying. Talla (Ethiopian beer) has a unique taste.