Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

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Sora dancing at Lalibela wedding

Ethiopia excited to welcome Tourists after almost 6 months!

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Tea at Erar Guest house – Ethiopia excited and ready to serve its guests again

Today Tesfa Tours and the Ethiopian sunshine welcomed our first international tourists since the country closed its borders for COVID19.  They enjoyed a wonderful plate of fasting food (delicious vegan food) washed down with a few beers at lunch and will travel tomorrow to Bahir Dar, to begin their two week adventure across the north of Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Fasting selection truly vegan meal


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Our guides, drivers, and the communities in the Tesfa guesthouses, as well as the hotels that will host them, are all as excited as we are to have visitors after this time.

 

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Meskal flower seller in Addis

Melkam Meskal – best wishes for the Meskal Holiday

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The Demera – Bonfire – for Meskal

Today across much of Ethiopia food is being prepared for tomorrows Meskal holiday, and bonfires are built and decorated with Meskal flowers ( a yellow daisy) and national flags. Tonight many will light the bonfires, although in some places they are lit tomorrow.

Meskal commemorates that St. Helena found the True Cross of Christ in Jerusalem. The Cross had healing powers after Jesus’ crucifixion which was attracting many converts, so the Jews threw the Cross into a rubbish disposal pit, the location of which over the centuries, became lost

In 327 A.D. the mother of King Constantine, Queen Helena, made a trip to Jerusalem to find the Cross. She was advised by an old man called Kiriakos to light a bonfire with incense and be guides by the smoke.  Helena’s people started digging at the spot on

A Meskal Demera (bonfire) built by locals in Addis

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Across many of the peoples south and west of Addis – such as Gurage and Wolaita, Meskal is celebrated over several days and is the major celebration of the year. Meskal also comes at the point where the rainy season -the kremt

Meskal flower seller in Addis

Meskal flower seller in Addis

– is ending. In Addis Ababa where the kremt is longer there are typically still a week or two of sporadic rains, but further north where it is drier the rains have pretty much finished by Meskal. So the holiday also marks the onset of what the greenest season that is often (rather inaccurately) described as spring. The Meskal daisy can be seen growing in fields and open lands across the highlands.

Now is the time to start planning your trip out of Addis. The country is opening for tourism. All those in the tourism sector, hotel staff, guides, cooks, drivers etc are desperate to work and earn something. Foreign tourists are very few and so the tourist sites are all but empty, and it is a wonderful chance to see them without the crowds.

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The Tesfa Calendar is ready!

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The new and unique Tesfa Calendar –

runs from Sep 2020 – Aug 2021 (ie Ethiopian Year 2013) is now in its 14th year and is ready!

This calendar is unique in that it details the Ethiopia dates, holidays, saints days, fasts, Islamic holidays and more on to a western calendar month format. This goes along side stunning photos that will make you want to get out of Addis, or fly over from where ever you have the calendar and see this beautiful country. The photos are taken from the Tesfa Community treks across the north of the country (the Agenda has photos from other additional places too).

 The Tesfa Agenda – 1 week to a page

The calendar comes in 3 versions:

Traditional hanging calendar (29.5cm across and 51cm opened hanging down) – 12 months with 13 photos. Donation 250birr.
You can buying this levitra properien download the coupon after submitting the online registration form. We should fight with the monster viagra online free of sexual disorders which are interrupting your sex life. Another symptom is purchase levitra online amerikabulteni.com the need to empty the bladder often during the day. They do not need to disclose viagra 100mg pfizer the problem of ED in men.
Desktop version to fit on your desk (approx 20cm x 17cm) – same

The Hanging Calendar

pages – with photos facing back and dates forward. We ask 150 birr donation for these calendars.

The Agenda (approx 21cm x 15cm) in portrait format, has 1 week to a page and so 53 pages (52.14 weeks a year) – running from Monday to Sunday on one side on easy to write on paper, additional information on the day and with a photo to match on opposite page. Donation 350birr.

We ask a donation to help support the Tesfa communities who have guesthouses around the country hosting visitors enabling them to walk through their beautiful landscapes.  The calendars are available from our offices at Kebena, but we will also have copies at various locations around Addis.

For further information email calendars@tesfatours.com

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COVID19, and Ethiopia re-opening for Tourism

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Peering through the gap

Its been a while since I sent out an update on how things are progressing here in Ethiopia. The Kremt rains have been heavy this year,  for those of you that do not know this Ethiopia’s rainy season bought about by the same weather system that causes India’s monsoon, and like the monsoon it runs from its beginning at the end of June until it peters out in late September/or early October.

As anticipated the rains, which drive people indoors in confined spaces, and force people who would walk to use public transport, have seen a spike in cases of COVID 19 in Ethiopia with daily cases rising above the 500 mark in late July, and peaking at over 1,500 per day in late August (using the 7 day moving average on ‘worldometer’  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/ethiopia/).  However since then the spike has dropped off with the average back down to 500 a day for 14 September. The mortality figures are similar, peaking in later August at 22, and coming down now to 13 (again the moving 7 day average).

Mekdela – the mountain fortress of Emperor Tewedros

Although the New Year holiday on Saturday will have affected social distancing as people came together,  I anticipate that the figures allowing for a blip, will continue to fall as we move into October and could see new infections drop below 100 a day with the dry weather that we anticipate being the norm from mid October.

The other positive news is that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that Ethiopia will re-open for Tourism as of 1 October. There will be protocols in place, including use of face-masks and sanitiser, spacing in transport (vehicles will only operate with 50% capacity) and getting people to keep a safe distance. Although details have not been made clear it is understood that the requirement for incoming passengers to quarantine will be dropped, probably relying on testing before the flight and on arrival, and a procedure to allow any positives cases to be tracked.

Meskal flowers near the Simiens – traditional for the New Year


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For those eager and able to travel to Ethiopia we will offer lots of fresh air (most monuments are outside), and we anticipate that there will be so few visitors that tourist sites will be far emptier than usual, so this could be the time to book that special trip.

Additional news – the Tesfa Tours hanging calendar is out – with the Desktop version and Agenda soon to be ready.

Let me wish all our friends, customers, suppliers, and those who just picked up this blog – a happy new year, – and wish that 2013 (for that is the new year in Ethiopia) rapidly gets better for the whole world!

 

 

 

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Ethiopia – COVID19 and the internet interruption

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I wanted to update all our followers on what has been happening in Ethiopia over the last few weeks, and reassure people that we are still here after the internet was switched off.

The internet shutdown began on Tuesday 30th June, following the killing of a prominent singer with strong political views, a wave of protests swept through Addis Ababa and the country leading to the arrests of certain political activists and leaders who have been putting forward ideas of ethnic violence. This is also linked to the approach of the election that had been planned for September but which was postponed due to the COVID19 virus. For more in formation look at reliable news sources, but do not trust information put out on social media websites. We are only now getting internet back and apologise to our customers and those who have been in touch for the delays in responding.

We were of course already reeling from the effect of COVID19 in Ethiopia, and have been fearing the worst for our country. However to date Ethiopia has been one country that has not been too seriously effected by the virus – at least in medical terms. The government has put in place a range of measures to limit the spread of the virus so that masks are required in public, transport operates with only limited numbers of passengers, offices are only working partially and with staggered times to avoid ‘rush hours’ etc.

Currently the country has performed close to 300,000 tests, with under 8,000 positive cases tested, of which just over 3,000 are still active cases, 127 died, and a little over 4,500 recovered. New daily cases are averaging around 200 a day, with a very few in critical condition (around 30) and an average of around 1-2 deaths each day (a number of which are tests performed on people who died in hospital not in the CV19 treatment centres).  The main rainy season started about a month ago, and the rains have become persistent in Addis Ababa over the last few weeks, resulting in people in cramped accommodation staying indoors more, and temperatures being much lower. This must make the spread of the virus more likely, but so far the numbers are manageable. We all hope it stays this way through August and September and when the drier weather comes in mid September and more so in October, that the virus ceases to be a danger.

Active Recovered and Death in Ethiopia: -Source https://ethiopianhealthdata.org/story-map


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There is a good graphic website illustrating the Covid19 statistics in Ethiopia: – https://ethiopianhealthdata.org/story-map

 

 

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Ring of Fire today in Lalibela. Annular Solar Eclipse

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Ring of Fire above Lalibela
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Those of us privileged enough to see it today were spectators to a planetary drama that hid the central part of the sun from view for several minutes. The whole eclipse lasted close to 2h30min.

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Annular Solar eclipse 21 June- be careful

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A ‘ring of fire’ – how a solar eclipse looks

This coming Sunday – the 21st June, is the date of solar eclipse across a big swathes of Ethiopia. Across a particular part of Ethiopia it will be an annular solar eclipse. That is to say that the moon will cover more than 98% of the Sun and leave a small rim of light around the edge.

The central line on which the annular eclipse (where it will be longest) will pass cross is the Bahir Dar road just south of Injibara but it crosses the road that goes from Motta to Bahir Dar near a town called Sheba,  comes close Nefas Mewcha in Gayint, then passes Tesfa community trekking guesthouses in North Wollo, passing directly over Lalibela, crosses the main road to Mekele just south of Alamata and heads out into Afar just south of Lake Afdera.

Map of Annular Eclipse passage in Ethiopia see  https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov

In places like Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar and Axum you can see a partial eclipse- with around 90% of the Sun blocked out by the moon at the highpoint.The Eclipse will start at around 6:50am reach its high point just before 8am and finish around 9am.

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Safety glasses should be worn

a CD disk however there are many other professionals who say this does not give you any proper protection.

Please make sure you your friends and family and other people around you are aware of how dangerous it is to look directly at the Sun during an eclipse. The only point at which it is safe is when the moon has totally covered the sun, at this point is not going to be visible for most people in most places. I have read that the Sun will also damage cameras as it will penetrate writing to them. However it may be that your phone camera can take a few pictures so long as you don’t have it filming the Sun and don’t have it zoomed in. But you must be very careful not to be looking at the Sun while you do this which is difficult.

Take care, Mark and the Tesfa Tours team

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Photographs for the new calendar – 2013!

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Calendars produced by Tesfa Tours

Tesfa Tours 2012 Calendars

Hi Trekking Folks

Are there any Tesfa trekkers out there with photos from their trips that we could use in our new calendar (Wollo, Tigray, Janamora or Wof Washa community treks)? As usual we are planning to produce a Tesfa calendar again for 2020/21 – Ethiopian year starting 2013 – despite the virus.  We will desperately need to encourage clients into the mountains once this cloud is lifted and people can start to travel.

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We love photos (in landscape format) that highlight the guesthouses, the landscapes, the communities and treks and the wildlife… if you think you might have some please do get in touch with me – mark@tesfatours.com

I am also producing an agenda – although that could be scaled down a bit this year – and so will need photos from elsewhere in Ethiopia – as there are some 55 photos (in portrait format) in the Agenda. For any photo included we will off course give a credit on the photo and a complimentary copy of the calendar will be sent to you!

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Melkam Hosanna / Palm Sunday

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Palm Fonds are worn to commemorate Palm Sunday (Hosanna) – this one specially made for COVID19 emergency

Easter is now one week away in Ethiopia. Today is Palm Sunday or Hosanna in Ethiopia. It is usually one of the busiest days in the church calendar, but today – although some still went to church, Addis Ababa remained quiet. People did put palm fonds on their heads. Hosanna marks the start of the final week of Hudadi, commonly known as Holy Week, or the “Week of Pains” or in Ethiopia Himamat and it is the strictest part of Lent. During Himamat no absolution is given, and during this week the fast becomes yet more rigorous. For some strict worshippers, having broken the fast after mass on Thursday they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water until Easter morning. So they totally abstain for all of Good Friday (or Sekelet) and Saturday, breaking this

Eyesus Church very quiet on Palm Sunday

fast after the church service that goes through the night on Saturday, finishing at around 3am on Sunday morning. These three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.
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Fruit and Veg store in Addis

This year Easter will not be a great celebration. Many will continue to fast seeking God’s intersession in these COVID19 times. However lockdown as in Europe is not possible. People live day to day from small businesses and there is no real safety net. People buy their bread at small bread shops, fruit and veg from stalls on the road side, small ‘supermarkets’ sell other food stuffs, corner shops sell pretty much all you need- pasta, rice, flour, eggs and much more.

Now handwash stations are outside shops and ropes keep people away from the counter or even outside – so that business is conducted in the street. The government has declared a state of emergency to tackle the virus and are making preparations: hospital beds, gathering PPE, asking retired medical staff to volunteer. Tesfa Tours, as with many businesses has been asked for and has provided  funds and a vehicle to help with the emergency.   We all pray that the measures are enough to stave off the worst of the virus.

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Coronavirus update from us

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Handwashing stations in central Addis Ababa

I am absolutely sure all of our clients and supporters know full well about the Coronavirus that has swept through so many countries of the world. There are 11 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ethiopia (as of 26 March), however due to lack of testing it is widely accepted that there will be more than this.

We have taken the decision to ask staff to stay at home. A few staff will come to the office occasionally to process salaries and other critical payments, but all others will stay at home in an effort to protect them, their families and try to stop the spread of the virus. The staff of Tesfa Tours have voluntarily agreed to take 1 week unpaid leave per month, as there is no business in the near future. I have undertaken not to make any staff redundant at this point, and am also planning to pay the communities some money to help them keep the guards paid at the community guesthouses and to keep some income rolling in.

We have also agreed to close the community guesthouses even to local tourism as of 25 March (when our last client will return from his trek), as we do not want to spread the virus from Addis to the rural areas.

I will be checking my emails regularly and my senior staff will work from their phones, but with the uncertainty caused by the virus we can not accurately cost or plan trips in the coming months. Never the less we will still be here on the other side and the communities will need your support, so we encourage you to look at visiting the Ethiopian highlands once this is all over.

I will send out a few blogs to let you know how we are doing in Addis Ababa.

Please everyone –

  • Stay safe by taking proper precautions and thereby keeping those more vulnerable than you safe;
  • Remember we are in this together, and we must all come out on the other side more unified and together as a result of this pandemic;
  • Keep positive, and do not keep reading worst case scenarios – we need to keep a perspective here.

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We look forward to more positive news in the near future.

Mark, and the Tesfa Tours Team

 

 

 

 

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