Ethiopia – Where It All Began

December 28-29

Hello everyone!

For the next 10 days I’ll be traversing the large land of Ethiopia: Where It All Began.

Ethiopia's history: old

The lion is one of many Ethiopian symbols

That’s one of the more common tourism slogans for Africa’s second most populous country. I was starting in the biggest city: the delightfully-named Addis Ababa.

Addis became the capital in 1886

Up until now, my experience of Ethiopia’s capital city has been restricted to its airport, which is currently undergoing major renovation. At least that’s the justification for having portakabin toilets for the last 18 months.

Addis Airport: a work in progress

The construction is spearheaded by Asian investment, a common theme both in the city and across the African continent. The skeletons of tall buildings are beginning to dominate Addis, with some looking more secure than others.

Scaffolding which you're unlikely to see in Europe

The new national stadium

With help from the Chinese government, Addis was able to create its own overground system, a vital artery if crossing the metropolis. I boarded it once – after feeling like a sardine for three stops, I disembarked and decided to use my feet.

The light rail line started in 2015

Very crowded aboard the green line

On a map, much of the city will seem walkable. Distances between main points of interest don’t seem particularly onerous; the international airport is only about 5 km to the south. What the 2D map won’t reflect, however, is the hilly nature of the city. Being over 2,300 metres above sea level also contributes to walking becoming quite a chore, as does the fact that it’s 28’C in winter. Pollution is also an issue, with a layer of smog being clearly visible early in the morning.

All downhill on Churchill Road

Downtown Addis

In spite of all of this, I spent the majority of my time in Addis on foot, stomping along the pavement (and occasionally the road when this didn’t exist) to get a feel for the city. A few times I was joined by people who ‘wanted to practise their English’ or were ‘walking in the same direction as me’. I never felt threatened, though aware of the city’s reputation for pickpocketing, and actually saw some interesting places as a result – I’ll talk about them in the next blog.

Banana sellers rumbling down the hill

The Church of St. Gabriel

The one exception was when I took a taxi from the National Museum back to my hostel. There are a few modern taxis here, coloured yellow and green, but the vast majority are blue Ladas. A bone-shaking 10 km ride in one with a friendly driver called David reminded me of using cars like this in Kazakhstan on a regular basis.

The seatbelt didn't work, which made the ride interesting

A line for petrol

The number of Ladas may be linked to Ethiopia’s more recent past. For 13 years, the country was under the control of a left-wing military junta known as the Derg, with a man called Mengitsu Haile Mariam at its head. He then ‘democratised’ Ethiopia in 1987 and Ethiopia held elections, though the only nominees were Derg members. Links to other communist countries, such as Cuba and the USSR, are visible at the Tiglachen Memorial, which commemorates Ethiopian and Cuban soldiers who died fighting Somalis in 1978.

You have to pass through a police check
before gaining access to the monument

Marxist designs adorn the area

During this time the ‘Red Terror’ swept across Ethiopia, a mass purging and execution of those opposed – or not animatedly celebrating – the new Ethiopian order in 1974. It lasted four years, reputedly killed over half a million people (including a purging of many Derg officials in 1977), and was initiated by Mengistu throwing three bottles with a red liquid (possibly blood) into a large crowd, saying that this is what would happen to counter-revolutionaries. This picture, and many more, are found in the eponymous museum at Meksel Square, where that speech took place. Quite a chilling museum, and disturbing to me that I’d never heard of it.

Red blood being thrown by Mengitsu

A picture of a protester in the Red
Terror Museum

The National Museum, definitely worth a visit if you stop in Addis, traces the country’s past back way further than this time. The slogan I used at the start is a hint at the length of Ethiopia’s ‘human’ history. Ethiopia is where one of the oldest, fullest human skeletons was found: Lucy.

Lucy is an Australopithecus

A replica of the 3.2 million year old girl

The museum does a great job charting the progress and potential links between Homo Sapiens (us) and other hominids, as well as between humans and other animals. It also shows the remains of many species which are now extinct; incredibly, they suggested that 99.9% of species that have ever lived on Earth are extinct. Mind-blowing.

A comparison of ankle bones in mammals

The cranium of an extinct relative of the elephant

They have replicas of some of the more famous archaeological finds in Ethiopia and Eritrea, most of which come from the Afar region in the northeast of the region.

The story is that Lucy is named after a Beatles
song, which was being played in the camp upon discovery

Selam, the remains of a three-year-old who
died 150,000 years before Lucy

The land within the borders of modern-day Ethiopia is steeped in an incredible amount of history, some of which can be seen in its sprawling capital. Much of its recent past has been harrowing, and even now many people find Addis to be a challenging, chaotic, polluted mess. It is all of those. I also found it to be safe, colourful and looking forward. Then there’s the food…

Love you all,

Matt