Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

Category Archives: Ethiopian

Fly from Manchester to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines

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Ethiopian Airlines launches services to Manchester (via Brussels)

 
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The smog on the morning of 21 Nov - Hedar Mikael

Big Saint’s days and fasts in November / December

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November /December (Hedar/Tahsas) sees an increase in the number of big Saints days in Ethiopia. For many the harvest should now be in, and traditionally this would have been a time for celebrations.

The smog on the morning of 21 Nov - Hedar Mikael

Smog – 21 Nov – Hedar Mikael

If you were in Addis on 21 November and looked out in the morning you might have thought you were in Delhi, it was hard to see beyond 50 meters. There was a smog such as I have never seen before, as the smoke from hundreds of thousands of fires combined with the increasing air pollution to reduce visibility to mere meters. This is the day – Hedar Mikael – when householders burn their compound rubbish and with the smoke it is believed that disease and sickness is taken away.

As November comes to an end another big day looms – Tsion Mariam – 30th November. This is one of the biggest

Ancient stones in the Church compound in Axum

pilgrimages in the orthodox calendar, all hotels are full for Tsion Mariam as thousands of pilgrims descend on the town and spend the night at the ancient church of Our Lady Mary of Zion (to give it it’s full name). This church is arguably Ethiopia’s most important church. It was one of the first churches built in Ethiopia back in the very early 4th century, and has been destroyed and rebuilt at least twice with destruction inflicted by the armies of Queen Yodit and Mohammed Gragn. It was here that Emperors came to seek the coronation. If an Emperor was not coronated at Mariam Tsion or at least had a special ratification service they could not hold the title “Atse’.
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Sunbird in Axum

The church compound is worth spending some time visiting if you can arrange a stay there at another time. There are stones on which is old Sabean script, that must have been sources from far older buildings. The church built by Emperor Fasilidas has lovely frescoes aside (though only men can enter here), and the trees are full of sun birds and other iridescent birds.

November also marks the beginning of the advent or Christmas fast running from 24th November until Gena on 7th January, so its a great time for those vegetable lovers to enjoy the lovely fasting food at traditional restaurants, and the fried whole fish that is often served too.

The biggest annual Saints day in December is Kulubi Gabriel (28 December). On this day you want to keep away from the big Gabriel churches in Addis unless you want to attend the service. The roads going up to the palace above the Hilton are always blocked off as thousands head to St.Gabriel’s church. However the epicentre of this festival is another major pilgrimage is at Kulubi, a town not far from Dire Dawa and Harar. Here tens of thousands of pilgrims descend on the church, some crawling on hands and knees as a penance or to fulfil a vow to St. Gabriel.

Learn more about the holidays, saint’s days, fasts and special holidays that punctuate the Ethiopian Calendar from the Tesfa Calendar. Get you copy (donation to the Tesfa Communities required) – email: calendars@tesfatours.com

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Fancy popping down to Bale for a weekend?

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Thanks to Ethiopian Airlines you can pop down to Bale for a weekend. A total escape – the Senetti plateau with the Wolves, the Herena Forest with lions, the indigenous Bale Monkey and a whole range of other wildlife , the Juniper woodland at Dinsho with the Mountain Nyala Warthogs and more.

Trek across the moorland, travel on foot or horse back, stay in tents or the luxury of the Bale Mount in Lodge …

NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY / ALAMY, Ethiopian Wolf, from Selamta Magazine


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Bale Mountain Lodge

 

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The Unique Tesfa Calendar is ready!

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New Tesfa Calendar
(desk top and agenda)

The new Tesfa Calendar that runs from Sep 2018 – Aug 2019 (ie Ethiopian Year 2011) is now in its 12th year and is ready!

This calendar is unique in that it details the Ethiopia dates, holidays, saints days, fasts , Islamic holidays and more onto a western calendar month format. So you can see on 11 September it is Meskerem 1 2011, you can see it is a public holiday – Enkutatash (New Year), its also Yohannes – (John the Baptist’s) Annual saints day and Al Hijara- Islamic New Year … not to forget its the monthly Lideta Mariam (birthday of St Mary) day.

This goes along side stunning photos that will make you want to get out of Addis,

The Tesfa hanging calendar – promoting the community treks

or fly over from where ever you have the calendar and see this beautiful country. The photos are taken from the Tesfa Community treks across the north of the country (the Agenda has photos from other additional places too).

This year the calendar comes in 3 versions:

The traditional hanging calendar (29cm across ands 53cm down)- 12 months with 13 photos. We ask a donation of 200 birr to help support the Tesfa communities who have guesthouses around the country hosting visitors enabling them to walk through their beautiful landscapes.

The desktop version, like the hanging calendar but smaller to fit on your desk (20cm x 17cm) – same pages – with photos facing back and dates forward. We also ask the 200 birr donation for these calendars.

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The Tesfa Agenda – Ethiopia and western calendar merged

donation – however if you buy 3 we will ask only 1,000 birr!

The calendars are available from our offices at Kebena, but we will also have copies at various locations around Addis, notably ICS, Sandford School, German School.  If you would like to hold copies to distribute in your organisation please let us know.

For further information call 011 124 5178 / or email calendars@tesfatours.com

 

 

 

 

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May – A month of holidays in Ethiopia

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Arbegenoch – Ethiopian Patriots

There are a number of upcoming holidays in the merry month of May:

The May Day holiday on 1 May (Labour Day) is the first and is an internationally recognised  holiday (although the UK has moved it to the 1st Monday in May which kind of takes the magic out!)

The May 5th / Miazza 27 is Patriots Day and commemorates Haile Selassie’s triumphal return to Addis Ababa, ending the five year occupation of the city by Italian forces in World War II. In particular it honours the Ethiopian patriots (Arbegnoch) who fought for the liberation of their country alongside British (troops from Africa) and other Allied Forces from the Commonwealth countries, France and Belgium). This year, 77 years after this historic occasion, the very few surviving Patriots that are still able will lay a wreath at Arat Kilo in the centre of Addis Ababa.

Mengistu Haile Mariam

May 28th, Genbot Haya (20) is the date upon which EPRDF forces entered Addis Ababa ending the rule of Mengistu’s government which was known as the Derg.  The Derg was the name given to the committee of the military and police that coordinated the new government following the over throw of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. The Derg, initially a temporary military committee, manoeuvred to take over the government, deposed and imprisoned the Emperor Haile Selassie in September 1974. In August 1975 he was killed in slightly mysterious circumstances. The Derg also formally abolished the monarchy and formally took on the communist ideology.

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EPRDF forces enter Addis Ababa 28 May 1991

Mengistu Haile Mariam quickly rose through the ranks to become the chairman in 1977, enforcing the Derg’s power with a two years of brutal repression called the Red Terror that killed many thousands of innocent people, and imprisoned thousands more.  The Derg also imposed nationalisation of land and businesses, and increasingly faced armed rebellion in Eritrea and Tigray. Horrific famine followed killing maybe 100,000 people and displacing many more.

The Derg officially came to an end as a system of government in February 1987, and in September that year a new government “People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia” came into force, with however, Mengistu as a civilian still heading the

government. The collapse of Mengistu’s government became inevitable in early 1991 with EPRDF forces capturing cities such as Gondar, Bahir Dar and Dessie.  On 21 May with his government in disarray Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe where he still lives under shadow of a death sentence. On 28th May 1991, (Genbot 20) EPRDF forces entered Addis Ababa with very little fighting.

On community trek with the local kids in Meket

These holidays give you a chance for a long weekend here or there and are excellent opportunities to get out and see some of the stunning countryside and historical sights of Ethiopia. Why not book a Tesfa trek, a perfect way to see the scenery, culture and some of the wildlife that abounds in Ethiopia.

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The great Lenten fast draws to a close and Easter approaches

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Fasika in Lalibela

Enkwanaderasachu

Best wishes to everyone celebrating Easter on either the 1st or the 8th of April. Easter in Ethiopia, known as Fasika is celebrated according to the Orthodox or Eastern church calendar this year on 8th April. Some years it falls on the same day as in the western church, some years it can be far apart, but this year it is one week after western Easter.

Fasika is a Ge’ez (the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia) word and also the word in Amharinya and Tigrinya for Easter. Easter is also sometimes called Tensae a Ge’ez word meaning to rise). It is one

Sheep are bought into Addis for sale for holidays

of the most important holidays in Ethiopia, marking the end of a long 55 day Lenten fast. On Easter Sunday chickens, sheep, goats and cattle are dispatched for the pot as the fasting comes to an end in no uncertain terms. Sunday sees piles of sheep skins on street corners, to be picked up by small dealers in trucks. In the days leading up to Easter flocks of sheep and goats as well as herds of oxen are driven by herders into the city, chickens are driven in trucks and pick ups. They are sold at impromptu markets all over the city to be slaughtered in back yards. Prices of livestock more than double for Easter. Sheep come to the capital with drovers bringing them across countryside from several hundred miles away, from Shoa and even as far as Wollo.

Local shepherd boys in Wollo


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After Easter there is no fasting not even on Wednesdays and Fridays until after Pentecost on 27th May (Parakilitos). In the countryside the end of the fasting is celebrated in different ways. In Tigray priests are feted with parties held by different households from their parish. In Wollo I have seen the girls making swings from rope to hang from trees and sing songs while swinging, while the boys have javelin contests. Its also a second wedding season as people like to get married before the rainy season and after the fasting. These are enjoyable times in the countryside, and if you have the chance to spend a week or so up in the countryside on a Tesfa Trek in Wollo, Tigray or the Simiens you will be a very welcome guest and

Hosanna palm rings

participant at the celebrations. Its still not too late to book your trek in early April!

The lead up to Fasika starts now with Palm Sunday or Hosanna this Sunday (1 week before Easter, 1st April this year).  It is a very special day in the Orthodox church commemorating Jesus’s march into Jerusalem on a donkey with Palm fonds laid before him. It is marked with palms (worn by many worshippers on hands or head), processions and special services in the church.

Following Hosanna is the last week of the Great Lenten fast or Hudadi.  This final week of Hudadi is commonly known as Holy Week, or the “Week of Pains” or in Ethiopia Himamat and it is the strictest part of Lent. During Himamat no absolution is given, and during this week the fast becomes yet more rigorous. For some strict worshippers, having broken the fast after mass on Thursday they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water until Easter morning. So they totally abstain for all of Good Friday (or Sekelet) and Saturday, breaking this fast after the church service that goes through the night on Saturday, finishing at around 3am on Sunday morning. These three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.

As far as I am aware no other major religion has such penitential fasting. For the strict observers of the fast, the 55 days of Lent are very tough on the body. Fasting in Ethiopia not only means a vegan diet but also means many hours of no food or drink. Each fasting day the observer will not eat of drink anything from the time they wake up until after the mass in the middle of the day is finished in church for many that means 3-4pm. Two simple meals may then follow, a late ‘lunch’ or more properly ‘break-fast’, and a light supper in the evening. What is staggering is that there is no drinking – not water, not coffee, nothing – during those fasting hours.

For vegetarians the end of Lent means no fasting food, even on Wednesdays and Fridays – so make the most of the last week of fasting.

 

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Treks that change lives!

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Tesfa Community Treks providing income to local villagers, and open the eyes of the guests.

Enaf Tesfa village guesthouse in Tigray

An increasing number of discerning tourists are looking to the Tesfa Community Treks where villagers host the tourists and benefits flow directly to the local hosts. For while the Simien Mountains and Bale Mountains have been drawing tourists for decades, keen to trek in these Afro Alpine mountains with their unique wildlife the Tesfa treks also have wildlife and stunning views but at the same time tourists are giving a big something back, and experiencing the real Ethiopia of the highland farmers.

Since 2003 Tesfa treks have been hosting tourists in the

Mequat Mariam Scones for breakfast

mountains of North Wollo around Lalibela. Initially in Meket Woreda and more recently Gidan and Lasta woredas local villages have built 11 guesthouses organised as cooperatives to host small groups of walkers along the basalt escarpments that surround Lalibela. Included in this network of guesthouse are several on Mount Abuna Yoseph, a protected area around the highest peak in Ethiopia outside of the Simien and Bale Mountains at 4,288m.  The higher reaches of Abuna Yoseph are home to a pack of Ethiopian wolves, as well as troops of Gelada, leopards and many raptors.

Mequat Mariam guesthouse, N.Wollo

Since 2012 tourists have also been walking on the Tesfa treks in the Agame mountains around Adigrat in E.Tigray. There is a network of 7 village guesthouses with stunning walks between and a number of magnificent rock hewn churches that are rarely visited by tourists (other than those staying in the guesthouses). Again there are Geladas and amazing birds to see but as with the treks in Wollo, it is the host communities and the age-old farming life of the highlands that have the biggest impact on the visitors. The hospitality is humbling and simplicity of life prompts something to all of us coming from our cluttered and hectic lives.

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Breakfast @Taga Mariam, Simiens

Now Tesfa is opening up new areas for community treks, with 3 simple village guesthouses to the south of the Simien National Park (Funded by African Wildlife Foundation) and 4 village guesthouses in North Shoa, in and around Wof Washa forest, just beyond Ankober. As with the village guesthouses in Wollo and Tigray, each guesthouse is owned and run by a community from the local village organised into a cooperative.

In each case 55% of the payment (around $34USD) goes to pay the village community and lunch (mostly provided by the village or another nearby provider), 25% goes towards local

The forest at Wof Washa, N.Shoa

guides and coordinators, and only 20% (+VAT) is kept by Tesfa Tours who provide the marketing and booking service. Each community provides not just accommodation, but food, hot drinks, and a pack animal. The cost per night also includes a guide, so all that remains is transport in and out and bottled drinks (sold by the community ) – beers, water, soft drinks and maybe some wine or gin and tonic!  Facilities include beds, with sheets and blankets, a simple sit down toilet, a dining room, and great views!

For more information contact info@tesfatours.com or pop by our Addis office.  We will also add more information on our

The view from Janamora Woreda to Ras Dashen

website in the near future.

Get out into the fresh air of the mountains and experience the Real Ethiopia!

 

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Beautiful and unique Ethiopian Calendar

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Tesfa Calendars

The Tesfa Calendar is the calendar you need on your wall or desk.

Not only does it have stunning photos that will inspire you to make trips to the mountains,

but it shows the dates in the Ethiopian Calendar in a western grid (with western dates shown)

Key saints days, feast days, fasts, national holidays and other interesting information is shown.

They come in 3 formats – Wall hanging (52 x 29cm when hanging), Desk Top (20 x 18 cm ) and Agenda (20 x 14 cm closed)

 

These calendars are available from many locations in Addis:

Desk top calendar

  • Sandford School (Jim or Richard)
  • ICS (Jennifer)
  • German School (Sarah)
  • EU main offices (Lucas)
  • British Embassy (CLO – Dadly)
  • PACT – (Cassandra)

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and off course Tesfa Tours office at Kebena.

We ask a 200 birr donation for each calendar – proceeds go to support the community tourism.

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Ethiopian Wolf in the Simiens

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NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY / ALAMY, Ethiopian Wolf, from Selamta Magazine

Flying on Ethiopian this week I was really happy to see a photograph of the Ethiopian Wolf on the cover page. The Ethiopian Wolf is a beautiful and now extremely rare and endangered animal, but we all must ensure its survival.

Tesfa Tours would be happy to arrange a tour dedicated to spotting these rare canids. Contact us to let us arrange the trip.

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Tesfa Calendar available now – runs from 01 Sep 2017

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Tesfa Calendars

Whether you live in Ethiopia, or used to live here, or are planning a visit, this calendar is a must.

  • Each month shows the main saints’ days, the fasts, and other holidays set into the western calendar.
  • Ethiopian calendar dates and months are clearly shown too (allowing you to ‘translate’ dates from one calendar to the other).
  • Calendar showcases the Tesfa Community treks in Wollo and Tigray with stunning photographs (mostly from clients).
  • Proceeds are used to support the farming communities along the treks.
  • Full moon depicted on the calendar.

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Desk top calendar

It comes in 3 formats:

  • traditional wall hanging version 52x29cm (when hanging)
  • diary format 20cmx14cm, designed to fit in your bag
  • desk top version to sit on your desk.

Tesfa asks for a donation of 200 birr for a calendar if picked up here in Addis.

We can also post internationally: the cost is £15 for 1 & £25 for 2.

Email:  calendars@tesfatours.com for more info or call 092-349-0495

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