Ground
Transportation for Ethiopia
Options for traveling within Ethiopia for a 21-day period
Outline
- Car
- Train / Bus / Air
- Other Options
- Estimate of total ground travel expenses
Car
Traveling in Ethiopia by care alone is often not the most desirable mode of transport to take. It appears that you are essentially hiring a driver to accompany you in a car. Roads are not always as well managed and there is a common practice in the countryside of kids playing chicken with moving vehicles. This as well as throwing rocks at cars and the random wild animal herd that you may share the road with. The Lonely Planet guide suggest not using a car hire service due to possible misunderstandings and host of other possibilities you open yourself up to unless, you really want to get the “full” experience. Otherwise, it may be worth it to just utilize the larger 4x4 and driver services given the unexpectedness of driving here.
The two options here seem to be Car Hire for terrestrial public transport and Avis which is operated by Galaxy Express for the 4x4 transport.
*There is a lot of bureaucracy that occurs it seems in order to reserve a tour or driver you need to contact the companies themselves. Often, they may request half of payment up front. It may be beneficial to also make these arrangements once there. I only have the data that seems appropriate from my guidebook.
-Old 4x4 minibus $120 day est.
-New 4x4 Land cruiser $160 day est.
(prices may include fuel, driver allowance to cover accommodation and food, insurance and taxes)
https://www.galaxyexpresstourethiopia.com/reservation/car.html
http://www.abccarrent.com/cat3.php?title=SUV%20Sport%20Utility%20Vehicle
*Prices in Ethiopian Birr
$1.00 USD = 32.43 Birr on 3/9/2020
Example: 2007 Sportage Kia without driver/fuel is $49 per day and $0.07 per mile seems about appropriate given a driver is about the same as the car per day.
The driver age is negligible given need for driver
Train / Bus / Air
When it comes to traveling by train throughout the country of Ethiopia there has been some changes from what I found in the map’s assignment. Now there is only one rail available and that called the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway operated by the Ethiopian Railways Corporation. It runs from Addis Ababa to Djibouti as seen on the map. You cannot purchase tickets online and would need to do so through agent or when on the ground.
https://edr.gov.et/en/travel-fair.html
As you can see by the fares, it’s not uncommon to come across tiered prices. In this case it costs nearly twice as much for international travelers as to domestic. A trip from one end to the other would run roughly $36.00 USD.
https://www.seat61.com/Ethiopia.htm
As far as travelling by bus goes it is mostly only recommended in the bigger cities, but options are available to move within cities through minibuses in what appear to be the most reliable but long due to frequent stops made according to my Rough guide book and own research.
The first being Sky Bus of Ethiopia which is comparable to say a greyhound bus here. The below three pictures are the main routes with departure times and costs. Most tickets are unavailable to purchase online. These fairs as you can see run about $1.00 USD per 25-50 km.
http://skybusethiopia.com/site/services-and-routes
Another option for bus transport is Selam Bus Line Share Company. I also am unable to locate online ticket purchasing but judging by my travel guide I would expect fares to be comparable to Sky Bus as they are the two main operators. Further research tells me there is not a lot of free markets entities in this country and the Government controls most things.
https://selambus.wordpress.com/ticketing-offices/
Travel by plane may be a great option to see the land from above and an affordable one at that, so long as you book your ticket through Ethiopian Airlines. If you meet one of the qualifications in the picture below, you can purchase domestic tickets at a discount. Many flights to 23 cities run daily and can be seen in this map.
*Searching a one-way ticket to one of the 23 cities that is further away from the capital tells me I can get a ticket for $60.00 USD. That is almost too cheap to pass up considering the costs and hassle of the difficult driving challenges. I was excited to see this because this will make traveling much less stressful. I would plan to utilize all other modes of transportation as to not miss the full experience and affordability offered by the smaller distances.
Other options
There are several different options to consider when traveling in Ethiopia. I have covered a lot of the larger distance options but when it comes to traveling within a given city you will find some options in local minibuses, taxis and Bajaji (blue 3-wheeler).
According to the Rough Guide it is best to utilize any option accordingly.
*Bajaji run along adjacent roads making frequent stops (less than $1.00 USD) per ride.
*Taxis are becoming less common and are being replaced by Bajaji but are considered much more expensive and usually charge higher fare to travelers ($1.50-3.00 USD per ride)
*Chinese bicycles may be rented extremely cheap for around ($1.00 USD). Dependability is an issue so would need to test ride bike.
Estimate
of total ground travel expenses
The total cost of traveling within Ethiopia for a three-week period is dependent on the mixture of modes used. Hypothetically the trip would begin in Addis. If I were to plan say two flights to two cities while traveling via bus to others and utilizing the various smaller sized options for days spent visiting cities, I would feel comfortable allotting the following amounts for ground travel:
Domestic flights x 2 = $130.00
4x4 w/driver x 3 days =$360.00
Train 2-3 trips of varied distance = $100.00
14 days of Rik Shaw vehicles and or other options including taxis, bikes, and Bajaj’s @ ($5.00 USD x 14 days) = $70.00
Of course, I could limit the use of domestic flights, 4x4 driver and or Train use to save even more money.
But I would feel comfortable budgeting $660.00 for travel costs over 3-week period.
References
Briggs, P. (2019). Bradt
travel guide: Ethiopia (8th ed.). UK: Bradt
Travel Guides Ltd.(pg’s
98-101)
Rough Guides Ltd. (2015). The
rough guide to Ethiopia (1st ed.).
London.
Submitted by Nate Wallace on 3/10/2020.