Ethiopia safe to travel to?
 

Hey all,

I want to go to Ethiopia (all over) later this year, however it seems unclear to me if it's safe to travel there at the moment.

The country declared state of emergency last October and the Department of State website has as a travel warning. I always take these warnings with a grain of salt. Looked at Canada's and UK's travel website and seem to have similar warnings.

Conversely, I've read reviews on TripAdvisor and random sites about people who just came from Ethiopia and seems they had no issues.

Curious if anyone has recently returned from there or any thoughts or opinions on this?

Thanks,
j

I was in Addis last week and the city at least is exactly the same as it has always been. Internet access to some news sites and Facebook was more hit-or-miss than usual, but otherwise nothing to indicate a State of Emergency.

That said, there is probably more "unrest" in the areas inhabited by the minorities who have been expressing the protests that triggered the SoE, but even then it seems to have not affected tourists or tourist areas heavily.

thanks for that.

Ignore official government warnings at your peril.

+1 ... and also likely to invalidate your travel insurance.

The state of emergency still exists although has been relaxed. There remains a heavy military presence in the capital but is not particularly overt.
Internet access is restricted and 3G was not available whilst I was there the last 2 weeks. Facebook was not available, I didnt try other social media. WhatsApp worked OK on hotel wifi.
Dire Dawa and Jijiga were safe enough although don't get many tourists! I will be up in the North in a few weeks, Ill let you know how I get on...

Curious to hear how it goes. Do you mind sharing what cities in the North you are headed to?

Aksum / Mekele primarily and then back into Djibouti. I'm not there for tourism though

I would like to know which airline to take from California. We like Turkish Air but are intrigued by offers from LAX to ADD on Ethiopian Air. We would go economy and are Mileage Plus Gold. What we like about Turkish is that we have always had an open middle seat AND we love the lounge in Istanbul. However, I hear that you can get domestic flights in Ethiopia for half price if you fly in on Ethiopian Air. What about if you are on a UA award? Any info would be appreciated on hotels, flights, cities to see, etc. Thanks in advance!

I was in Addis last November and had a great time.

Regarding airlines: Going I flew EWR-ADD on Ethiopian which was nice. On the return I flew ADD-IST-LAX on Turkish. Very nice. They actually had a chef on board the IST-LAX segment. The only down side was the flight departed ADD 2 AM.

I was in Addis over Easter and it was fine. I drove all over (Ambo and Metahara for work) and had no problems. Facebook never worked and WhatsApp was hit or miss. I flew MSY-ATL-CDG on Delta and then Ethiopian Air to ADD. I had a long layover in Paris but was too lazy to go into town and get dinner. But I liked the flight bc you flight overnight and arrive early in the am. It was a new 787 too. Turkish Air arrives late at night. Did same route going home with only a 4 hour layover in CDG. Everything was great and checked my bags in ADD to MSY and they made it with no problem. I've been twice in the last year and I couldn't tell any difference from before the unrest as opposed to after except for certain websites not working.

I just got back from Ethiopia a few days ago. I was in the North (Lalibela), Addis and the South (Arba Minch, Jinka and Turmi). I noticed absolutely no security issues. I felt safe at all times.

thanks for sharing! Definitely helps a lot.

I'm curious about visiting the Afar region...has any FTer (recently) visited?

Just got back from Ethiopia and felt fine everywhere I went. Went to the Afar region and that was awesome. Visit if you can.