Addis Ababa

I arrived to a damp Addis Ababa early this morning and I was immediately struck by how green the landscape is.  Staying at the Hilton in Addis is definitely a luxury; this is a beautiful hotel and very different to how the very large majority of the locals live.  We drove around the city this afternoon to get a feel and it reminded me of India without the number of new high rise buildings.  That said, the skyline is dotted with cranes and new construction (I am told Ethiopia is the fastest growing African nation).  I have tried to share a sample of pictures below to give a feel of the variety of the city.  Ethiopia was never colonized and so you don’t see the expansive British buildings like you do in India and instead there are more meaningful statues erected to local heroes and other countries who helped them, for example Mexico Square.  This is also the third highest capital city in the world at over 3,000M although I haven’t noticed any effects on that.  The city is also surrounded by hills and the highest mountains reach 14.000 ft.

Tomorrow we drive south to Arba Minch just north of the tribal areas.  We have about 500Km to travel and I hear the roads are pretty good fortunately.  It will be a very interesting journey!