Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Birr500 for the six-hour journey from Logiya, but there are many drivers and few passen-
gers so negotiation is in order. (See our notes about hitching, Click here . )
TRAIN
Trains are not currently running between Ethiopia and Djibouti, but reconstruction work
was taking place and it's thought that trains will start puffing down the line between Dire
Dawa and Djibouti again within the lifetime of this topic.
THE EMPEROR'S NEW SHOES
Building a railway across the Horn of Africa was never going to be easy. So when two European engineers arrived
in Addis Ababa in 1894 to propose such a scheme to Emperor Menelik II, they would have been prepared for the
challenges of hacking a rail line through the mountains, but they probably never expected that their first challenge
would involve shoes. Menelik was intrigued by the idea of a railway line, but he wanted proof that these two men
knew their stuff. In order to test them, Menelik placed the men in a room under armed guard, gave them a length
of twine and a sheet of leather, and ordered them to make him some shoes by dawn. Unstitching their own shoes,
the engineers used these as patterns and by first light the Emperor had a fine pair of new shoes - and some years
later a railway line!
Eritrea
There are three traditional entry points from Eritrea into Ethiopia: Asmara to Adwa and
Aksum via Adi Quala; Asmara to Adigrat via Senafe; and Assab to Addis Ababa via
Serdo and Dessie. However, all these border crossings have been indefinitely closed since
the 1998 war.
With relations on their current path, it seems sadly unlikely that the borders will be re-
opened during the lifetime of this topic.
Currently, the only feasible way of crossing from Ethiopia to Eritrea is by plane, travel-
ling via a third country. Travelling via San'a in Yemen is the most obvious and cheapest
way. A much more roundabout route is via Cairo in Egypt.
Kenya
There are usually few problems crossing between Ethiopia and Kenya (though see the
Coming From Kenya box, Click here ) . The only feasible crossing is at Moyale, 772km
south of Addis Ababa by road. Moyale has two incarnations, one on either side of the bor-
der.
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