On the road to Harar
(This is the second installment of a travel series, documenting our journey on Saturday, April 25, 2026. Here is a link for the one.) The distance from Dire Dawa to Harar is only about 50 kilometers, but the road climbs…
Category: Travel
Dire Dawa: echoes of the railway age
After several years away, I recently returned to Dire Dawa with my wife and daughter, joined by my wife’s colleague, her husband, and their two children. We travelled from Addis Ababa by air. We could have taken the train, but…
ከሃረር ባቢሌ
በቅርቡ ወደ ኢትዮጲያ ለአጭር ጊዜ በሄድንበት ወቅት ሃረር እና ባቢሌንን የመጐብኘት እድል አግኝተን ነበር። በብዙ የአገሪቱ ቦታዎች ላይ የፀጥታ ችግር እንዳለ ብናውቅሞ፤ እዚያ አካባቢ ብዙም ስጋት እንደሌለ ወዳጆቻችን ነግረውን ስለነበር ነው ወደዚያ ያቀናንው።እንደተነገረንም የሐረር ጉብኝታችንን ያከናወንው ያለምንም ፀጥታ ችግር ነበር።…
Addis restaurant offering food and a view
Recently, I visited Union Cocktail Bar & Restaurant near Meskel Square—one of those places locals and expats often take visitors for a relaxed night out. The venue has a modern, rooftop-style setting with a carefully put-together look. Its vintage touches—reclaimed…
Water hyacinth infestation of Lake Ziway: Local guide explains
There’s been a lot of talk about harmful water hyacinth, locally called Emboch, that invaded most of the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes water and what it means for the surrounding populations that share the lake. One of the lakes infested…
Return to Dire Dawa
Frédéric Garnier, 72, is a retired French dentist who lives in the suburbs of Paris, Chantilly-Gouvieux. He spent the early parts of his life in the eastern town of Ethiopia, Dire Dawa, where his father was working for the Djibouti-Addis…
A community leans on customs to save an antelope from extinction
SENKELE— In the tall-grass woodland of the Great Rift Valley in southern Ethiopia lies the Senkele Swayne’s Hartebeest Sanctuary. The area has long been home to the Swayne’s Hartebeest, an endemic subspecies of antelope known locally as Qorkey. Named after…
Ethiopia participates in Spain’s largest tourism fair
Ethiopia is taking part at the international tourism fair in Madrid, the 2019 Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR) which opened on Wednesday. Six Ethiopian tour companies, Green Land Ethiopia, FKLM Ethiopia Tours, Ava Tours, Wondu Tours, Ethio Land Tours Operators…
Returning to the Roots
Coming to Armenia is a homecoming, a return to my ancestral homeland. As a fourth-generation descendant, I belong to the minority Armenian community in Ethiopia. I’m an Ethiopian national of Armenian origin. I speak Amharic and some of my favourite…