Lonely Planet Ethiopia & Djibouti

Jean-Bernard Carillet

Description

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet Ethiopia & Djibouti is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore underground churches in Lalibela, spot rare and beautiful animals in the Bale Mountains, or get to know Ethiopian cuisine in Addis Ababa -all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Ethiopia and Djibouti and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet Ethiopia & Djibouti Travel Guide: Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, festivals, environment, wildlife, cuisine, religion, music, dance, literature, painting, architecture Over 60 maps Covers Addis Ababa, Northern Ethiopia, Western Ethiopia, Southern Ethiopia, Eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti Southern Ethiopia and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Ethiopia & Djibouti, our most comprehensive guide to Ethiopia and Djibouti, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled. Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet Africa guide for a comprehensive look at all the region has to offer. About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits! Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

Sujets

• Etiopía
• Ethiopia

Informations

• Publié par: Lonely Planet
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781787011915
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 37 Mo

Extrait

Ethiopia & Djibouti

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Ethiopia & Djibouti
Ethiopia & Djibouti's Top 14
Need to Know
If You Like
Month by Month
Itineraries
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa Highlights
Sights
Activities
Tours
Courses
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Northern Ethiopia
Debre Libanos
Bahir Dar
Lake Tana & its Monasteries
Gonder
Gorgora
Wunenia & Kosoye
Simien Mountains National Park
Aksum
Adwa
Adigrat
Rock-hewn Churches of Tigray
Mekele
Danakil Depression
Lalibela
Dessie
Kombolcha
Bati
Menz-Guassa Community Conservation Area
Debre Markos
Southern Ethiopia
Southern Ethiopia Highlights
Butajira
Hosaina
Sodo
Rift Valley Lakes
Lake Ziway
Lake Langano
Abiata-Shala Lakes National Park
Shashemene
Awasa
Lephis
Bale Mountains
Dodola
Bale Mountains National Park
Dola-Mena
South to Kenya
Dilla
Yabelo
Borana National Park Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary
Moyale
Arba Minch & Around
Arba Minch
Nechisar National Park
Dorze
Konso
Konso Kantas
The Lower Omo Valley
Jinka
Mago National Park
Key Afar
Turmi
Arbore
Dimeka
Kangaten & Kolcho
Omorate
Weyto
Southwest Omo Valley
Kibish
Omo National Park
Eastern Ethiopia
Eastern Ethiopia Highlights
Bishoftu (Debre Zeyit)
Awash National Park
Djibouti Road
Asaita
Dire Dawa
Around Dire Dawa
Harar
Around Harar
Jijiga
Western Ethiopia
Western Ethiopia Highlights
The Western Highlands
Addis Alem
Ambo
Mt Wenchi
Guder
Nekemte
Bedele
Metu
Tepi
Mizan Tefari
Jimma
Weliso
Kafa Biosphere Reserve
The Western Lowlands
Gambela
Gambela National Park
Djibouti
Djibouti Highlights
Djibouti City
Around Djibouti
Lac Assal
Lac Abbe
Goda Mountains
Plage des Sables Blancs
Tadjoura
Obock
Understand Djibouti
Djibouti Today
History
The Culture
Arts & Crafts
Environment
Food & Drink
Survival Guide

Understand

Understand Ethiopia
Ethiopia Today
Ethiopia's History
Ethiopian Culture
Ethiopian Cuisine
Ethiopia's Environment

Survive

Directory AZ
Accommodation
Customs Regulations
Electricity
Embassies & Consulates
LGBT Travellers
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
Maps
Money
Opening Hours
Photography
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Volunteering
Women Travellers
Transport
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Health
Before You Go
In Ethiopia
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers

Special Features

Legendary Ethiopia
Welcome to Ethiopia & Djibouti

Ethiopia is like nowhere else on the planet, a beautiful country blessed with a peerless history, fabulous wildlife and some of Africa's most soulful peoples.


Nature's Bounty
Ethiopia is one of Africa's most beautiful countries and its landscapes are epic in both scale and beauty. Here is a place where you can trek more than 3000m above sea level (the Simien and Bale mountains) or visit the lowest place on the African continent, the Danakil Depression. In between, there are lush highlands and stirring deserts, vertiginous canyons and sweeping savannah, vast lakes and high plateaus. Lying at the convergence of three tectonic plates, Djibouti offers a unique geological landscape. The vast salt lake of Lac Assal and the bizarre lunarscape of Lac Abbé are strangely unforgettable.

Historical Wonders
Ethiopia, the only African country to have escaped European colonialism, has retained much of its cultural identity and its story is one of Africa's most fascinating. It all begins with Lucy, one of our most celebrated ancient ancestors, moves effortlessly into the realm of ancient Aksum with its oblelisks and echoes of the Queen of Sheba, and then takes on power and passion as Christianity, with mysterious echoes of Ancient Israel, takes centre stage. And unlike so many other places in Africa, the ancients here left behind some extraordinary monuments to faith and power which serve as focal points for so many wonderful journeys. In neighbouring Djibouti, you'll have the chance to marvel at exceptionally well-preserved rock engravings hidden in the mountains.

Outdoor Adventures
Welcome to Africa's most underrated wildlife destination. The Ethiopian wolf, that charismatic canid from the high country around the Simein Mountains, Menz-Guassa and Bale Mountains, is the ultimate prize, the sighting of a lifetime. There are gelada monkeys across the high northern plateau as well as other primates, while watching the extravagantly horned and sure-footed walia ibex cling to a rocky precipice is one of the great sights in nature. The birdwatching, too, ranks among the best in Africa. In Djibouti, there's superb hiking in the Goda Mountains, awesome whale-shark spotting in the Gulf of Tadjoura as well as stunning diving amid coral-encrusted wrecks off Djibouti City.

Peoples with Proud Traditions
When it comes to human cultures, Ethiopia has an embarrassment of riches. There are the Surmi, Afar, Mursi, Karo, Hamer, Nuer and Anuak, whose ancient customs and traditions have remained almost entirely intact. Venturing into these communities and staying among them is akin to receiving a privileged initiation into a forgotten world. A highlight of any trip here is witnessing one of the many festivals that are an integral part of the traditional culture, from age-old ceremonies marking rites of passage to Christian celebrations of singular passion, the impact upon those who witness such events can provide travel memories to last a lifetime.

Mursi woman wearing a clay lip-plate | Sarine Arslanian / Shutterstock ©


Why I Love Ethiopia
By Anthony Ham, Writer
In a lifetime of travel in Africa, I've never been anywhere quite like Ethiopia. It has all the essential elements that call me back here time after time – wildlife you just don't find elsewhere, epic landscapes of rare beauty, an endlessly fascinating historical tale that provides depth and context to any journey through the country. But there is something else at large in Ethiopia, a spiritual dimension that infuses every aspect of travel here and brings ancient stories and landscapes to life in a way that I've never encountered anywhere else on the continent.
Ethiopia & Djibouti's Top 14

Lalibela
Nothing prepares you for the first time you see the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and walk among them for real. Carved entirely out of rock, the still-functioning churches are large, artistically refined and mostly in excellent states of preservation. This is Orthodox Christianity at its most raw and powerful, with the extraordinary architecture adorned with extraordinary paintings and enlivened with the soft chants of white-robed priests and pilgrims.

Jon Bratt / Getty Images ©


Top Experiences
Simien Mountains
With deep canyons and bizarrely jagged mountains sculpting scenery so awesome that if you saw it in a painting you might question whether it was real, the Simien Mountains are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in Africa. They offer important protection for some of Ethiopia’s endemic wildlife, and sitting amid a troop of tame gelada monkeys is an experience you’ll never forget. This is terrific trekking territory, but is also easily accessible by car.

Gelada monkey | Zlikovec/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Harar
By far the most intriguing city in Ethiopia, Harar is a joy to explore. Getting lost in its crooked alleyways is just as fascinating as visiting the many museums, markets and traditional homes packed inside the old city walls. And then there are the hyenas. Two families feed them by hand, and let you do it too, but these large carnivores wander throughout the city and you may just bump into one while walking about at night in one of Ethiopia's most unusual encounters.

Shoa Gate market, Harar | Alberto Loyo/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Lac Abbé (Djibouti)
There is nothing else on earth quite like the large, spikelike calcareous chimneys of Lac Abbé. Hot springs dot the landscape, and fumaroles can also be found. These surreal-looking formations are a geological work of art, the result of millennia of volcanic activity and wind erosion. Experiencingt his eerie landscape at dawn or at sunset is truly exhilarating.

Michael Runkel/Getty Images ©


Top Experiences
Gonder
Gonder preserves a treasure trove of history. The walls of the Royal Enclosure contain a half-dozen medieval palaces and a host of legends; you can easily imagine the grand feasts they held here as you walk among them. Further out are peaceful and atmospheric sites, including Fasiladas’ Bath, the Kuskuam complex and Debre Berhan Selassie Church, saved from the marauding Sudanese Dervishes by a swarm of bees.

Painted ceiling of the Debre Berhan Selassie Church | mtcurado/Getty Images ©


Top Experiences
Lower Omo Valley Ethnic Groups
The Lower Omo Valley is a remarkable cultural crossroads. From the Mursi people and their lip plates to the Banna with their calabash hats or the body painting Karo, tradition runs deep here. While the commonly held notion that the more than a dozen ethnic groups residing here live completely outside modern society is wrong, walking through the markets and villages or attending one of the many ceremonies really can feel like stepping back in time.

Young Dassanech man | Hector Conesa/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Rock-Hewn Churches of Tigray
Hidden like lost treasures in this arid landscape, the ancient rock-hewn churches of Tigray are the stirring mountain counterpoints to Lalibela's more famous city-bound churches. Partially carved and partially constructed, most sit on remote cliffsides requiring long walks (and sometimes steep climbs) and the sense of d