47. Ethiopia: Addis Ababa

Our flight from Nairobi Kenya to Addis Ababa Ethiopia went smoothly. Of course, Craig had us at the airport so early that we beat the Ethiopian Airlines staff there, and had to wait for them to set up. Haha.

Upon arrival in AA, after a 15 minute delay chatting with a guy at the airport who we thought was our shuttle driver (but who turned out to be just a guy wanting to change money for us), we made our way to our hotel. Arriving around 9:30P, they seemed unaware of our reservation, but my "boy scout" travelling partner had ALL the paperwork, and the confusion was quickly dispelled.

Our Africa experience now changes, from an animal focus, to a cultural focus. Our one day in Addis gave us time for a visit to a museum and to the markets.

The Ethnological Museum is situated on the campus of Addis Ababa University, in the former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie, whose real name is Tafari Makonnen. His pre-emperor title of "Ras", meaning duke or prince, coupled with his first name was the source of the word "Rastafarian", a counter-culture movement developed in Jamaica and brought to light by reggae musicians like Bob Marley. Go figure

After a tour of the museum, we drove through the local markets. Some pix attached.Read more