I was wondering if there are some nice day trips departing from Addis Ababa. I prefer to use any kind of public transport other than agencies or another kind of tranport.
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Related: Trekking near Addis Ababa, where can one do it?– CGCampbellDec 7, 2014 at 16:13
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No 'hands-on' experience, but according to Gus Casely-Hayford there are only a handful of interesting locales outside of Addis Ababa but within a day's radius of Addis Ababa. And in the best case, public transport will only get you NEAR the venue with trekking yet to do. On the other hand, he reports that Ethiopia has significant numbers of people almost constantly on pilgrimage from one site to another and public transport for these would be a good research suggestion. I have been contemplating a trip, hence have checked out Gus Casely-Hayford's documentaries and blogs on the BBC.– Gayot FowDec 7, 2014 at 18:58
1 Answer
The Ethipoia Heritage Trust has a list of "Twenty One-day trips from Addis Ababa".
I'll leave you to read the full document, but the destinations by name are:
- Aba Samuel and the Akaki River
- Adadi Maryam and Melka Kontoure
- Addis Alem
- Ankober
- Awash River and Koka
- Bekele Recreation Park
- Bishofu (Debre Zeit)
- Bole River
- Chilimo and Gaji Forest
- Debre Libanos
- Derba and Mulu Farm
- Entoto
- Ittisa Tekle Haymanot and Kessem Gorge
- Koremash
- Marhabetie and the Jema Valley
- Menagesha Suba National Park
- Mount Furi
- Mount Zuquala
- Sodere
- Yerer Mountain
The document includes maps and details and descriptions of each trip.
In terms of transport however, while they say it's up to you, the first page does indicate it's worth considering taking a guard and driver. Possibly some of the locations are not that safe, or accessible by public transport. It does describe when you'll need a regular 'saloon' car or a 4WD.
Note that taxis and minibuses are considered public transport there anyway, and some rate them as the best public transport there, and they're cheap. So you really could hire a driver and get them to take you to one of them, or negotiate a day rate.
Of the list, Entoto sounds like the closest and most accessible, and certainly possible with other items on your own, with a taxi and / or public transport. An example of someone else doing that here.
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Taxis and mini-vans are sort of public transport. In any case taxis are limited to the city perimeter. Mini-vans follow specific routes. It's not easy at all to find where they go to and the departure points. This difficulty happens for many reason, of them being the different alphabet. One of the issues related with the day trips is not so much going but returning. Transport, specially from remote places, is very erratic.– nsnDec 13, 2014 at 11:10