Addis Ababa

Introducing Addis Ababa

On first observing Addis Ababa (‘New Flower’ in Amharic) a little over a century ago, one foreigner called it ‘noisy, dusty, sprawling and shambolic’. Over the next century this tented camp has morphed into a modern business centre and Africa’s fourth-largest city, yet travellers still turn up and utter the same phrase. If that isn’t reason enough to discount first impressions, we don’t know what is!

Give ‘Addis’, as it’s commonly known, a few days and you’ll appreciate its bizarre blend of past and present: the coexistence of old imperial statues alongside hammer-and-sickle placards of the former Marxist regime, and the juxtaposition of wattle-and-daub huts with austere Italian Fascist buildings and luxurious hotels. Lift the city’s skin and the same contrasts apply: tej beats still serve traditional honey wine and azmaris sing centuries-old songs, while a few blocks on, martinis glow and modern beats rain down in hip bars. On wide boulevards, priests in medieval-looking robes mix with African bureaucrats, Western aid workers, young Ethiopian women with mobile phones and the odd herd of goats.

It won’t be long until you say ‘Addis’ like you were talking about an old friend.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009