OTHER PRACTICAL ADVICES

What to carry with you

• The South is very hot, but Bale Mountains are high and cold; be prepared fot temperatures ranging 15-40 degrees Celsius (night and day, respectively).
• A cap if you are going to see the Geleb, it is 7 kms far from the village and it is very hot. As it is one of the best visits in the South, it is worth to be prepared.
• Solar protector, the highest available. Try to imagine the African sun near the Ecuator!
• If yoy can, bring your own tent. We saw horrible ones. You will also save the price of the rent, and even may sell it after finishing the tour for a good price.
• Sleeping bag, a good one if you plan to sleep in Bale Mountains. A thermic sheet, event to protect you against insects at night in some hotels, may be useful: you may see an insect-zoo in some rooms in Turmi or Jinka (the rest of the hotels were good or acceptable).
• Don't think you will find everything you need in Addis Abeba, it is better to carry your own prepared foodstuff in order to substitute the local one in some cases. The best option are the fastest to be ready, because there is not much gaz available. You can get some cookies and candies in the supermarket, as well as Kellog's or soluble coffee. Canned fish is quite bad.
• You must buy some chemicals to produce drinking water. You can find chlorine tablets ererywhere, they are usually not exactly chlorine (it is impossible to carry in a safe way) but chloramines, also with quite good disinfectant power. Anyway, we brought iodine, it is useful to prepare drinking water (2 drops of alcoholic solution 2% v/v per liter of water) and also to disinfect small wounds. Unlike chlorine, iodine is also effective against Giardia and Crypto, but it gives a nasty taste to the water. The best solution is to drink bottled water (available almost everywhere) and to use sterilised water to cook and to clean vegetables and wash yourself. As salads are unusual in Ethiopia, it isn't an important problem. By the way, we dindn't get any disease.
• Some people recommended to us to bring ballons to the children and shave cutters to the adults. There is any problem in doing that, but in our opinion some pharmaceuticals will be much more interesting: antibiothicals, disinfectants and sterile cotton, this may save a life. Bring also diclofenac and antidiarreics, they might be useful for them ... and for you! Some idea about first-aid is also important, disinfection wounds above all.
• WC paper is rare but you can found it in Addis, anyway don't expect founding it frequently even in the best hotels. Table-napkin is simply unknown in Ethiopia, bring your own package; think that even the sauces are eated whit the fingers.
• Trekking boots. Only dust makes casual shoes unefficient, imagine when it rains...

Some important considerations to be taken into account before travelling to Ethiopia

• You must get the vaccinations prior to go. Yellow fiber is not compulsory, but there is people in some areas dying because for it, for example in Arbamich. Malaria is widespread, our guide got it many times. The tse-tse fly causes the sleeping illness, it may be important if you are attacked for a lot of flies, but few bites are not dangerous. If you fell bad when retournig home, tell your doctor you went to Ethiopia. There is no vaccination against the sleeping illness, so you must use insect repellents when entering an infected area; this disease isn't mortal nowadays, and an infected person will develop it after many days (hopefully, at home), but the flyes itself are very annoying, there will be hundreds trying to bite you (only in the morning and the evening, not in the noon). I would recommed to people who usually fell bad whit this kind of problems not to go to Nechisar Park or Mago Park, only if you can close the car's windows when passing through infested areas. Remember this applies only in some parts of the Omo River area, you won't have any problem in other places!
• Change your money in the official banks, not in the streets. Ask for small, new banknotes of 1 birr, you shoud rekon about 200 per person plus some notes of 5, 10, 50 and 100. If you change 200USD per person will be enough, if you find a very expensive item you can usually pay for it in dollars. All the ancient objects sold in the mercato are false, so you may reduce the initial price in about one third, but keep in mind there are only turist souvenirs. Ask your guide if they would change the money back into dollars, but ask them the fisrt day and try to remember them sometimes during the travel.
• Get an insurance, the hospitals are so expensive that is a worth to do that for a little money.
• Be sure that your guide has the legal permission (includin turist taxes) for carrying tourists, it is cheap and if you hadn't you would have big problems with the police...
• You must reconfirm your flying ticket, of course not calling to Ethiopian Airlines although all the Ethiopians will tell you to do that, but to your company.. Ask the phone number before leaving the airport, there are telephone guides but written in Amaric.
• Bear in mind that the Ethiopians have a different calendar, anyway you will manage always in Occidental dates. Last 2007 they changed to their year 2000!.
• Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to some data we have seen, the per capita rent was about 120 USD/year in the late 80's (the same that will cost to you hiring a 4 wheel drive for a single day) the expected lifetime was 47 years and childrem mortality 13.5%. As AIDS as increased a lot since the publication of these figures, the situation has only get worse. The country has more milions of people infected by AIDS (source: WHO), and the wars against Eritrea and Somalia have led to a huge number of wounded people. Respect everything, and be concious that anyone who looks like a tourist is a milionaire according to their standars, of course not for all of them but in general terms. This way you will be able to look at one culture very different than ours, whit much more dignity than at a first glance, it is sure you will be feel different after the travel.