While the world taps its feet, Ethiopia breakdances with its shoulders. This is an uplifting, inspirational country which confounds expectations. It’s no featureless desert but a land of majestic landscapes surrounding a vast, fertile plateau. The rock-hewn churches in its medieval capital, Lalibela, are regarded by many as the eighth wonder of the world. Its people are welcoming, proud and besotted by their own culture and history. Bradt’s Ethiopia is the most thorough guide available to this country rich in culture, history and dramatic scenery, and has been highly praised by both travel press and readers.
‘Thorough and reassuring, it provides all the practical and background information to make readers leap from their armchairs and visit this vast, magical country’ The Daily Telegraph (UK)
“The Bradt Guide has almost everything you need to read about the country’s history, tourist attractions and hotels, and proves itself to be an invaluable companion while in the country." SX News
"Thorough and reassuring, it provides all the practical and background information to make readers leap from their armchairs and visit this vast, magical country." The Daily Telegraph (UK)
"Essential reading for anyone with the remotest interest in Ethiopia ... a complete reference book to Ethiopia as well as an excellent travel guide." Travel Africa
"Highly personal and informative guidebook ... his enthusiasm is reflected in every chapter." Business in Africa
"An indispensable handbook for anyone wishing to visit Ethiopia." The Guardian(UK)
From the Back Cover
In this comprehensively updated third edition of Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide containing over 150 pages of new material, Philip Briggs invites you to share his sense of wonder at a country he describes as "the most welcoming, enjoyable and uplifting I have ever visited." He introduces a majestic landscape, a diverse natural history, the richest historical heritage in sub-Saharan Africa, and an exuberant and welcoming people who are "quite gloriously bonkers."Inside you'll find: where to find some of East Africa's rarest wildlife; national parks and wildlife sanctuaries; historic sites, including the rock-hewn church of Lalibela - the unofficial eighth wonder of the world - and the ancient palaces and stelae of Axum; 65 new or revised maps and town plans; places to eat and to stay. (5 1/4 x 8 1/2, 544 pages, color photos, maps, illustrations)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
African travel specialist Philip Briggs has been exploring the highways, byways and backwaters of the world's most challenging and exciting continent since 1986, when he spent several months backpacking on a shoestring from Nairobi to Cape Town. In 1991, he wrote the Bradt Guide to South Africa, the first such guidebook to be published internationally after the release of Nelson Mandela.
Over the rest of the 1990s, Philip wrote a series of pioneering Bradt Guides to destinations that were then - and in some cases still are - otherwise practically uncharted by the travel publishing industry. These included the first dedicated guidebooks to Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Rwanda (co-authored with Janice Booth), all of which are now in their 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th edition.
Philip has visited more than two dozen African countries, and written about most of them, whether it be for guidebook publishers such as AA, APA-Insight, Berlitz, Camerapix, Dorling Kindersley, Frommers, Struik-New Holland and 30 Degrees South, or for specialist travel and wildlife magazines including Africa Birds & Birding, Africa Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Wanderlust.
He still spends at least four months on the road every year, and spends his rest of the time battering away at a keyboard in the sleepy dorp of Bergville, in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg region of South Africa. He is married to the travel photographer Ariadne Van Zandbergen and lives with three dogs and a cat. When not obssessing over some or other aspect of African history, culture, wildlife or travel, Philip's interests include music, reading and walking.
Although I haven't yet travelled to Ethiopia, I have read the book several times to enable me to plan an itinerary. The book is essential reading for those wishing to travel to Ethiopia. ANY information on Ethiopia is scarce and the excellent conversational style of the author makes for an enjoyable and, at times, humorous read. Compared to other travel books on Ethiopia, this book is unsurpassed in providing positive down-to-earth information without glossing over the negative aspects of travel in this country. I am sure the 'mud maps' of major towns, accommodation and dining out information will prove invaluable to the independant traveller. And if you are interested in wildlife the author obviously has a sound knowledge of this topic, particularly the birdsof East Africa. He provides comprehensive summaries, scattered through the body of the text, on the birdlife (and other wildlife) you can expect to see in different habitats of the country.
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I am planning my third trip to Ethiopia, and Philip Briggs' 4th edition of Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide has proved to be indispensable. I have used his previous guidebook editions on my trips, and his information and tips are always exactly right. As an extra added bonus, he is an entertaining and perceptive writer, and the books are fun to read as well. This is the only book a traveler needs for a trip to Ethiopia.
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This is the most recent and most useful of the small number of guidebooks for Ethiopia available in the U.S. Descriptions of places to see were clear and informative, and the sections on how to get around, where to stay, good places to eat, and other tips for each town were accurate and well-researched. This book also contains useful sketch maps of many towns; these are now FAR more accurate than those in older editions, and I found them easier to use than similar maps found in other guides. There is also a thoughtful section on general issues related to travel in Ethiopia. I found this far superior to the other commonly available guides I own for information on Addis Ababa, the so-called "historical circuit," and the lowland desert areas (information on this last region is pretty scarce, but this book has more than others). The book is focused on providing useful travel information and not on long descriptions or photographs; if an informative guidebook to use while travelling is what you're looking for, this one is your best bet. (Be sure to get the newest edition, though-- the previous ones weren't nearly as good!)
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