Friday, September 27, 2013

Good bye, Ethiopia

Last Saturday we left Ethiopia and flew through Africa to reach the south. We stayed in Ethiopia almost a month full of experiences and feelings. These words describe what we've left behind: Love, happiness, sadness, anger, poverty, green, spicy, injera (typical food), anthropology, resignation, rage, black, life, lakes, waterfalls, shared taxis, money, resignation, rejection, roads, rain, hands, scam, hospital, police, children, church, religion, dreams, happiness and so many others. Good bye Ethiopia. Very pleased to have experienced you.

PS. The plane in the picture is the plane we took from Gondar to Lalibela. The one we took to Johannesburg was almost as big as Weygoss Guest House, our last hotel in Ethiopia, just 5 minutes away from Addis Ababa international airport.

Thief in Addis (Ethiopia)


This man is called Elias Negash. Do NOT trust him. He is a thief.

Please share this message with anyone involved in Tourism in Ethiopia.

Fancy a genuine story not in the newspapers?
Do you like independent travel free of scams?

Then read on...

We met Elias Negash in the morning of Saturday August the 31st by the tourist information office by Merkel Square in Addis Ababa.

We spoke to the tourist information employee and Elias seemed to be known to him (later we found out that he had entered the office with tourists several times in the past). Since he seemed to be able to help us better, we left the office and went to get our bus ticket to Bahir Dar. He came with us to this bus company office next to the tourism office. We ended up not buying the tickets there as he had told us about a more convenient possibility.

He introduced himself as an employee of Goal Ethiopia and said was happy to help us without any charge. His motto was 'Whatever you do for others comes back to you in the future'. 

He spent quite a few hours with us in a nearby clinic were we had to go due to personal needs. He helped us there (this is where we took his picture). He also got for us a mosquito net, which he sold us for 430Birr, which seemed to be a reasonable price to pay for a new, high quality net.

He called his 'brother', who is a taxi driver to bring the net and drive us to a restaurant with good quality wifi, which is difficult to find in Addis.

He also drove us to Axum Hotel, where we could work online. On the way he asked for a local lady who did laundry and we left our clothes there. He spoke to staff members of Axum Hotel who seemed to know him too (possibly been there with tourists in the past).

He promised to collect the clothes, and the minibus tickets and asked for 200Birr to pay the driver, which also seemed to be quite reasonable.

The tickets of this bus costed 270 each, therefore 540 Birr. As he promised, he brought us the clothes and the bus tickets the day after, Sunday September the 1st when we met him again at Axum hotel.

We have kept the tickets, which he falsified, together with 'pre-booked' tickets with an open date to go to Harar. He asked 230 Birr for the pre-booked tickets claiming that they could be valid for any day, just calling the office.

He seemed to know quite a lot of the Goal Ethiopia organisation (later we found out that he had indeed worked there and had been sacked for good reasons) He had probably studied the Goal.ie website and knew that there was no phone number in Ethiopia published to easily confirm his claims.

On the morning of September the 2nd we woke up early and we waited for a minibus which never turned up. We had to take another minibus later.

We did not have time to confirm his authenticity nor the authenticity of the tickets and paid him. Total we paid him 430 + 200 + 540 + 230 equals 1400 birr, from which we expect he made less than 1000 bir net profit (40 euro).

Was it worth it?
We believe that a man with his connections, intelligence, communication skills and knowledge could easily make that money legally.

Why then?
1- Tourists are often seen in Ethiopia as walking banks. This is because many in the past have given excessive tips and charity donations. We encourage tourists to donate money to registered charities such as Goal.Ie, but NOT give money to beggars and give money only when corresponded with a good service.

2- Elias was not worried about the police. We found out why. After three long visits to a police station we realised that the lack of motivation towards work from many policemen is helping crime in Ethiopia. We believe that crime, even if not violent, should be prosecuted to promote tourism, increase jobs and allow freedom.


We are hoping that this message in the social networks helps all tourists. Please share this message with anyone involved in Tourism in Ethiopia, as others can avoid the trap.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Lalibela Funeral

During our stay in Lalibela, we came across this event, in which while some celebrate the life of the deceased others enjoy it playing table-tennis and fuss-ball, which, together with pool are very popular games in Ethiopia.

This busy funeral is in contrast with Lalibela's characteristic tranquility, which we could appreciate while sleeping at the Tukul Village Hotel.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Ethiopian House inside...

Would you like to see this house inside? We visited many in Gondar in the north west of Ethiopia. It is a very interesting experience, and we will be able to show it to you in our documentary. If you want to be among the first in watching it, join us on your favorite social network. Links available at the bottom of www.EducationalPaths.com

However, we preferred to stay in a very comfortable and clean room at the Taye Belay, which we recommend you. Its location, right next to the royal enclosure (which we could see from our terrace) is ideal. Its restaurant has the best food you can eat in Ethiopia. You often see local connoisseurs going there to enjoy an excellent meal.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Educational Paths towards the Blue Nile Falls

The Blue Nile waterfalls are only 30km away from Bahir Dar. A must-see-site, not only for the beauty of the waterfalls but for the people you see around. We left the Abay Minch Lodge, excellent choice of hotel in Bahir Dar, and took public transportation, which we recommend to those interested in interacting with the locals. In these buses you also travel with animals, holy grass to put in the floor of houses and whatever you can fit. That way they use all the space and save petrol, which is quite expensive for them.
Educational Paths at their best!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Exclusive news from Ethiopia.

Despite of what it is often thought in the Western countries, Ethiopia has a rich variety of flora and fauna. The dessert is limited to the lowlands in the south and the east. Ethiopia has a rainy season with long thunderstorms. We experienced the effects of one of them in our way to Bahir Dar. The only road going over this usually small river, tributary to the Nile, was flooded. We had to push our 4X4 as otherwise it could not move. This was part of the adventure spirit that we shared with the locals. This video is exclusive to our documentary.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

May the force be against Violence

Very near our hotel in Addis Ababa (Hotel Bahir Dar) we find many Ethiopians singing and dancing on their way back from a massive demonstration against Islamic Extremism. It was very interesting to see how many people show their strength for their common goal. A very interesting experience during the beginning of our stay in Ethiopia. We are very keen to show you in our documentary how well they associate here.

Our telephone number while in Ethiopia will be + 251 927 16 71 25

Ethiopians add 6 hours to the European time, though they are at GMT+2 and have their new year on September 11th.