Lonely Planet Ethiopia & Eritrea

Planning a trip to Ethiopia is hard enough, as there is very little available online of in depth information. But, Lonely Planet has answered most of my questions, as usual, which always makes my trips much easier to plan. As a single female traveller, I get upset when there isn't a LP guide for a certain country and their Ethiopia/Eritrea book does it all!

This book was well worth the money and a must if you travel to the ET region!

I travelled hree weeks in Ethiopia from 27.12.2006-12.1.2007 time. I visited Addis Ababa, Wollea, Debre Zeit, Dire Dawa, Lake Langano, Awasa and Harar. I used this book as a base for my travel plan and it never failed me. I read the book allways forehand at night before we entered a next place. It saved my son for a trouble becaus of framed Addis Abeba hustler information. He went to one of those ethnic conert the book was warning about and everything hapened exactly as told in the guide book. I got him out of that concert immediately and he saved 1000 bir. Hotel information was very accurate, except the prices had come up 10 %. Now I am back in Finland and I am very thankful for the writers. The arranged me a safe trip to one of the worlds poorest and most dangerous countries. rgards heikki turunen

"Smallchief" mentioned that he had used this book in only in Ethiopia; I can attest that the Eritrea section is excellent as well. The walking tours of Asmara are a particularly useful and enjoyable introduction to a beautiful and eminently walkable city. Some of the information is out of date - a number of the establishments mentioned in the book are now closed, presumably due to the Eritrean economy's difficult straights. Let's hope that Ethiopia and Eritrea can overcome their joint and singular difficulties.

I have used the Lonely Planet Guide for two visits to Ethiopia. I haven't been to Eritrea so I can't comment on the guide for that country. The Lonely Planet series, in general, is short on describing luxury accomodations, dining, and chichi places and long on local history, customs, and out of the way places. Described in the guide, for example, are the dubious pleasures of chewing "chat," the lovely Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and the possibilities for trekking in several Ethiopian national parks. Ethiopia is one of most contradictory and complex countries in the world. It it one of the oldest Christian countries, claims to house the Ark of the Covenant (remember "Raiders of the Lost Ark") in a church in Aksum, boasts "Lucy" the bones of one of the oldest ancestors of human beings, and has some of Africa's most spectacular scenery, the Blue Nile falls for example. Ethiopians have a strong, confident ancient culture and perhaps the most distinctive cuisine in the world. Steak tartare fans will like kifto. Cold beer and hot pasta (reflecting the brief Italian colonization of Ethiopia) can be found most places for less adventurous eaters. One tip from me that may not be in the guide. Ethiopians for some reason are reluctant to accept 1996 US $100 bills and any bill that is torn or worn. Ethiopia is a country well worth visiting. This guidebook will tell you all you need to know. Smallchief