“There is a place, far, far away, it’s called Addis Ababa”, this is what we were singing as we disembarked after four bottles of red wine each (cheers Ethiopian Airlines!) after a five hour flight from Ghana. We had finally arrived in the city of the songs name sake…and it was bloody freezing!
Apart from the odd donkey, Addis is a busy modern capital and the third highest in the world. Café culture reigns supreme! Nothing beats people watching in one of the many establishments with the best cakes in Africa so far and a cup of sweet spicy tea (Shai). Unlike West Africa we were clearly not going to struggle to find delicious treats here.
Addis Ababa is a city where people swarm everywhere and one of the nicest things has been seeing women and men enjoying each others company as well as friends strolling arm in arm or hand in hand (especially the boys!) The population is a juxtaposition of an educated middle class enjoying the freedom of socialising and desperately poor beggars clad in rags with no shoes, including many children. It is a city where you have to watch your pockets and this was exemplified on our first day when I/Harry looked down to find a two year old child swinging from my pocket! The blind and the disabled seem to have flocked here in the hopes of catching some pennies from the hand of the city’s growing prosperity. Also the home of the AU (African Union), which celebrated its 50th birthday this year, Addis is central to pan-African development and the continents unity.
Although the poverty is hard to witness and impossible to ignore you cannot let it put you off this vibrant, interesting and important place. Addis might not have the beauty of Paris, London or Rome however it is the nicest African capital we have spent time in so far. It may be a bit grey and gloomy but the architecture is a lot more interesting than the typical concrete squares of West Africa. Liveliness spills out from the many bars and restaurants late into the night and although most are full of prostitutes they can be a great place to have a St George (Ethiopia’s favourite saint and beer!)
Another difference from West Africa when wandering the streets is that the pavements are actually free for pedestrians. Rather than every vendor under the sun choking the pavement only chewing gum sellers and shoe shine boys line them meaning there is no need to brave the road in single file! The shoe shine boys seem to be a greatly loved national phenomena. Everyone wants clean shoes and dirty ones are an embarrassment attracting many offers (in our case) to rectify your faux pas!
Whilst in Addis Ababa we were ecstatic to find out that Lucy had returned home and so took ourselves off to the national museum to meet our ancient ancestor! Lucy or Dinknesh (meaning wondrous one) is one of the most important links to our evolutionary roots. At 3.18 million years old she is looking pretty good! A brilliant exhibition walked us through the origins of man and the discoveries made throughout this region, the cradle of man. It was incredible to meet such an important ancestor to us all, go on Grandma Australopithecus Afarensis! This was not only our favouite museum in Africa but at 10Birr (37p) also the best value. The permanent exhibitions we wandered through after seeing Lucy also gave an indication of the rich and ancient history that Ethiopia has to offer.
After such an excellent display of Ethiopian culture and human history we visited an attraction that was the opposite. The Lion Zoo of Addis Ababa houses the descendants of Haile Sellssie’s pride of lions. Kept pacing in small cages and roaring their despair they were a sorry sight. Curiosity drove us the Lion Zoo but it was it was a pretty terrible way to see these great beasts.
Departing Addis by local bus invariably means heading to the Auto-bus Terra at five in the morning. This is a jostling, hassle-some and smelly adventure that all takes place in high pitched Amharic, a bamboozling affair to say the least. As this is a perfect time to get conned it is always a relief to be sitting in your (probably) overpriced seat heading out of the city. Smack bang in the middle of the country it is impossible to miss Addis and as it is a lively and varied city as well as an important hub of the continent you would not want to miss it anyway.
