As a developing country you cannot expect everything to be working and perfect in Ethiopia. There are always things that you’re going to complain about when living in Addis Ababa. But as soon as you wrap your mind around the fact that it is not going to be so smooth living in Ethiopia or any other developing country in fact, the less you will complain.

It is okay to complain but if you do it too much you might offend your host. It is always better to travel with the right expectations and the following list might help prepare you a bit for those little annoyances that will op up during your time in Addis.

Cellphone Issues

One of the most frustrating things to happen to you in Addis is not being able to make a call or recharge your account during high traffic hours on the network. This usually happens on holidays, Sundays and when Ethio Telecom is trying to ‘upgrade’ something. Ethio Telecom is a government owned and the only telecom company in Ethiopia – this should explain the often terrible service. Add into that a usually terrible customer service experience in their usually crowded offices and they’re unlikely to be your favourite Ethiopian company.

Beggars That Follow

If you are a foreigner, you are to gong to attract more beggars on the street than would your average Ethiopian. It can get really annoying to have them following you after you have already made it clear that you have no change or that you just don’t want to give them any money. And it gets annoying when it is kids that follow you while their condoning/ordering mother sits and watches them follow you till they get what they want.

Some avoid these by walking faster, keeping small changes in their pocket to give away or using Amharic words like ‘yelem’ which basically means ‘there isn’t any’ but used in this case to say that you have no change.

Paying More for a Taxi

The taxis in Addis are not meter taxis, meaning you will always have to negotiate your price. And if you are a foreigner the taxis are likely to charge you more than they’d charge a fellow Ethiopian. But this totally depends on the person, as some just want to pay what they are asked and some will put up a good fight to save a few bucks. If some of the taxis didn’t start their prices so crazy high, it wouldn’t be so annoying but having a guy ask for 300 birr before promptly being bargained down to 150 makes a person cagey and frustrated ad determined to get a good price.

Construction

I suppose it’s all in the name of progress, but progress can be a pain in the arse when it comes to traffic or even just trying to walk down the street. Many of Addis’ sidewalks are no more, instead being replaced by piles of small rocks that make it really hard to walk. Add large holes and workmen into the mix and a trip down the road can be a treacherous experience.

Lack of Seafood

Being a landlocked country definitely has its cons. It is not going to be easy to find nice seafood in Addis. Despite not being that far from the coast, I’ve come to realise that the rare seafood I do find has, without a doubt, been frozen and shipped for days or weeks before ending up on your plate.

Bad Roads

Whichever nice neighborhood you are driving through, you better be keeping an eye on the road because there are going to be ditches and potholes everywhere. If you dare venture out of town on four wheels, you will inevitably one day come across a hole that is just a little larger than a typical small Japanese car.

Power and Water Outages

Power and water outages occur in Addis from time to time and these outages will depend on the areas you live in. While some of the neighborhoods have no water almost half of the time, some might not have a good supply for months. Therefore it’s is quite essential to buy a water tanker and have it installed or just rent a house which has one in the first place.

Likewise, power in Addis can be sporadic and untrustworthy at best. It’s not unusual for the power to be off for days at a time, which will make it difficult to keep all of your electronic goodies charged up. Plan ahead by taking your gadgets to work with you, planning lunches and dinners at places where you can sneak in some charging, and by keeping candles and flashlights on hand for when you’re at home in the dark.

Church and Mosque Noise

If the house you live in is near a church or a mosque, you are going to have that problem of waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning if you are a light sleeper. It is around that time that they usually do their prayers and they are going to do it through mega horns and loud speakers My landlord was very happy to tell me that I can hear the church loud and clear as if it was in my bedroom. When I asked him if that was a good thing, let’s just say he was not impressed.

Bureaucracy and Wait Times

Things like paying your bills, paying tax, getting or renewing your licenses, getting a new telecom service that will require a few installations, dealing with immigration and so on can be a tiresome task most of the time. There are going to be queues, paperwork, wait times, and other annoying inconveniences. Plan well for tasks like this – as in cancel all other plans for the day. Things will sometimes go to plan but be prepared for the worst, take a book and some patience, and you’ll leave without tearing out too much of your hair in frustration.

When I was about eight years old my parents took my siblings and I to the countryside to see our grandparents. I remember being so excited since it was my first time going to see them where they live. And also because I’d get to play with countless dogs and the possibility of going horseback riding for the first time was a given.

After a shaky three hour ride and close to an hour walk from the main road in to the villages that loath the city life, we finally arrived. As we got to their village I saw my grandparents waiting for us outside their house and I started running their way to hug and greet them. But what was waiting for me was unexpected.

Perhaps I was hoping for too much – a hug and a kiss, maybe a little lift up and spin, but no! As soon as I got close, my grandmother started spitting on me, yes, spitting! It was not big balls of saliva but it was still relentless sprinkles directed at my face. With utter disgust I yelled out “why are you spitting at me?!” turned around quickly and started running back to my parents only to see my dad laughing at me so hard. Taking joy out of my misery, I thought.

That day I learned that in our old culture when an elderly does that to a kid it is actually a blessing and the kid should not shy away from it, and oh yeah, their blessings do come true. It has happened to me a few more times throughout the rest my childhood but I’ve always either avoided or dodged it.

May be I shouldn’t have. Who knows where those blessings could have gotten me by now.

But imagine had it happened to an unsuspecting grownup, on a first visit, it would have without a doubt been just too weird and awkward no?

Here are the few tips that might save you from those few weird and awkward moments that we have in store for you for your first visit to Ethiopia.

The Weyalas

The line buses/minibuses in Addis are the most commonly used modes of transportation to get around the city. So let’s say just when you were trying to hop in one to go somewhere, you see a guy in front of you by the bus door staring at you and yelling out names of random areas to you. What do you do? Run as fast as you can in the other direction? No, don’t do that.

These guys are called Weyalas and they are not possessed and they don’t have mental problems. Their job is to help to the bus driver. What they do is yell out the areas that that specific bus passes through and its final destination to everyone passing by so that you’ll know which one to catch. And they also collect the fees from the passengers, tell the driver to pull over when someone wants to get off and also open and close the door for the passengers. So just don’t run away. It’s weird.

Gursha

That awkward moment when eating Ethiopian food (mostly Injera) with an Ethiopian and he/she rolls a big one for you and stretch out the arms to put the food in your mouth.

It happens a lot and it is quite hard to avoid.

No, they do not think that you have not mastered the art of putting food in your mouth and no, they do not think you are in bad shape and you need to eat more. This selfless act is called ‘gursha’ and it is done for a simple purpose: to show affection. All Ethiopians have grown up with a lot of gurshas flying their way. And it is not so nice to say no once the arm has been stretched. There is even an episode of The Simpsons where they actually took joy out of gursha. So can you.

So when it happens to you, man up, open your mouth and take it like an Ethiopian.

The other thing you might notice about Ethiopians is that they will always invite you to join in on eating their food with them. They are just being polite and they just don’t want to eat alone if they are not alone. The word used to ask someone to join in on the feast is ‘enibla’ which means ‘let’s eat’.

This you can say no to without the person taking offense.

The Eyebrow Thing

Let’s say you were talking to an Ethiopian and the conversation reached the point where you had to ask him/her a yes or no question, and you did, but there was no reply so you ask again and still no reply. What do you do? Yell at that person? No! Just try to notice the eyebrow movement because a swift move of raising the eyebrow up then down means yes. It’s like nodding but only slicker.

To say no or disagree we shake our heads like everybody else. So no tricks there.

The Short, Quick Inhale

When speaking with an Ethiopian you might notice that they do the short quick inhale thing every now and then as they listen to you. It is like taking a fast short breath, a relaxed voluntary hiccup without the click, the equivalent of a nod or the “aha… aha” you do when you are listening to a person.

So don’t be mistaken, it is not because we are highlanders and there is a shortage of oxygen. It’s perfectly healthy and a sign that you are being listened to. So do not worry.

Ferenj, China, and African

It doesn’t matter which corner of the world you are from, for most Ethiopians, if you are white you are a Ferenj. It is said that a long time ago there were some French people here in Ethiopia and the Ethiopians pronounced it as ‘Ferenj’. And to this day the word that is used to refer to a Caucasian is Ferenj.

Most Ethiopians refer to the Chinese, Korean, Japanese and such, as ‘China’. I think there is no need to do research to find out why we do but I have a reason to believe that it is not out of ignorance. It’s just that thing we do.

You can point to people from different sub Saharan countries and ask an Ethiopian where they are from, the answer will be “He’s African”. Then ask the Ethiopian where he/she is from and the answer will be “I’m Habesha” (means Ethiopian). It is not because that person is facing an identity crisis, it is just the way they refer to themselves and the rest of Africa. It is quite common to hear Ethiopians refer to other Africans as if Africa is another continent. Is it a nationalist thing? A pride thing? I do not know but it is definitely a thing.

And in the words of the wise old man who used to live next-door to my parents “Do not ask questions you do not want to know the answers to.” Wait what?!

After the 911 attacks on the two towers of New York more than a decade ago, all the Ethiopians that call these towers their workplace were taken in for questioning. The police had a good reason to believe that they were potential suspects. Now, how did these people who are from a country that is allies with the US and moved to the land of opportunities to get the taste of the “American dream” end up being suspects for the terrorist attack? The reason is amusing;

As one can imagine when the Ethiopians were rounded up and taken in to the interrogation rooms they were undoubtedly shaking with fear and some might have even wet their pants. But this panic and fear that can be read from these Ethiopians’ faces can only be mistaken for culpability for the first 5 minutes of the questioning, till the million dollar question was asked; ‘Why were you not at work on the day of the attack?’ The interrogators surely have heard it all when it comes to reasons, lies and alibis. But not this reason, not ever. And the reason was

‘It was New Year’s Day, It was a holiday’

I’m sure the questions that followed were something like ‘in mid-2001?!’, ‘in September?!’, ‘and why in God’s name on the 11^th?’ but little did they know; it was not 2001 for Ethiopians, it was not September and it sure was not the 11^th in the land of thirteen months of sunshine, oh yes, thirteen months!

It was Meskerem 01, 1994.

Breaking Down Ethiopian Calendar and Time System

This calendar system belongs to the Orthodox Tewahido churches and Coptic Orthodox Church and it is used by the whole of Ethiopia and Eritrea (once part of Ethiopia) as a primary calendar system.

The Year

It is believed that the difference between the Ethiopian and the Gregorian calendar system came about when the counting started. Somebody was lazy? No!

The Orthodox churches believe that the Ethiopian calendar started counting from the year of the birth of Jesus and that is why the Ethiopian year is called ‘Amete Mihret’ meaning ‘year of mercy’.    And this means that the Gregorian calendar must have started somewhere between 7 and 8 years before the birth of Christ. Who knows the birth year of Jesus more than the church really, right?!

The Months and Days

The Ethiopian year is consisted of thirteen months, lucky people huh! Well, not too lucky. Why? Let me explain.

Just like the rest of the world the Ethiopian year has 365 days and 366 on a leap year. But here’s the trick; the first twelve months of the year have 30 days each, and that means that at the end of the twelve months there will be 5 or 6(leap year) more days left to enjoy before calling it a year. And that is when the thirteen month ‘Pagume’ is born determined to entertain the extra few days that the rest of the months couldn’t handle.

The Ethiopian new year starts on the Meskerem 01 which the 11^th of September for the rest of the world and it ends on Pagume 05 which is the 10^th of September.

The Time

I know what you are wondering, there is no way that the time could be different?! Ohh yes! If you are Ethiopian there is a way.

Since Ethiopia is located close to the equator, the land enjoys an equally shared 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night throughout the year. So when the sun is out and it is day the Ethiopians start the new day which is at 1 se’at (7am for the rest of the world) and when the sun sets and it is dark the Ethiopian  night time starts which is at 1 se’at (7pm). The day changes when the sun rises and the time system counts the lengths of day and night.

There is no AM and PM in Ethiopia so to distinguish the difference between AM and PM all you have to say is Qen or Mata (day or night). Get it?

So 8 se’at Qen is 2 PM and 8 se’at Mata is 2 AM. Quite fascinating really.

Pros

• You will get to enjoy two New Year’s celebrations and two Christmases.
• Christmas is on Tahisas 29 7^th of January, more time to buy presents.

Cons

• The time system is confusing for expats to arrange meetings and appointments untill they get used to it. Or untill they start saying 2pm ‘ferenji time’ (meaning foreigner time) at least.

Bottom Line

No need to fantasize about time travel after watching all these Hollywood sci-fi movies. Buy a round trip ticket to Ethiopia. One to the past, one back to the future.

Sarbet, whose name literally means ‘grass house’ is a charming neighborhood just outside the main city area. Although it used to be considered mainly a residential area, it has quickly become a popular expat hang out due to its close location to the African Union, the large International Evangelical Church, and the Canadian Embassy.

Accommodation

Sarbet is considered a desirable place to live by many expats because of the secluded street of homes located behind the Canadian Embassy. It’s one of the few places within the city that has a decent amounts of trees and flowers. Houses in the area can be a bit expensive with most costing between 30,000 and 40,000 Birr a month. However, the homes usually have several bedrooms and bathrooms and are surrounded by a garden area and secure fencing.

If you’re a single person and aren’t looking for a fancy place to live, you can find a simple one bed room apartment for around 3000 Birr a month.

For those staying only a short time, there is one hotel in the area called King’s Hotel. It’s located across from the International Evangelical Church (IEC) and is know for its great service and free wifi. Most rooms cost between $50-65 a night.

Shopping

Sarbet isn’t known for being a great shopping destination, however, there are a few stores in the area. Most of them are found inside Adams Pavilion which is the large building beside the roundabout. One of the most popular stores you can find there is the international best selling brand, sole Rebels. Adam’s Pavilion also has several ATMS in the lobby.

Piñata, considered the best part supply store in Addis, is located in Sarbet too near King’s Hotel. It has everything you need for your next celebration including custom made piñatas.

There are also two grocery stores in the area that are both known for carrying a decent amount of Western food brands. The first is Novis Supermarket which is located next to King’s Hotel. The second is Fantu Supermarket which is after the roundabout on the way to Karl’s square.

Many people also enjoy shopping at the NGO bizarre which is held at IEC the last Saturday of every morning from 9am-11:30am. The vendors sell all types of food, crafts, and artisan designs.

Transportation

Getting to and around Sarbet is easy. Mini-buses from Mekanissa, Mexico, and Gabrielle all pass through the area, and any contract taxi would be familiar with getting there as well.

You can also find a bus out of Sarbet by waiting at any of the main bus station areas which are located on both sides before and after the overpass. You can also usually find a ride by waiting outside the Canadian Embassy or Munich German Bakery and Cafe. Contract taxis are also prevalent and will stop just about anywhere in the area.

The only thing you must keep in mind though is that because there are no clubs or bars in Sarbet, transportation shuts down early. After 9pm, it will become difficult to find a ride home.

Restaurants & Cafes

Sarbet offers lots of choices for cafes and restaurants. Most of them only serve Western food though so you will probably be out of luck if you’re craving injera.

• Kaldi’s – This popular chain cafe is always a popular meeting place and is located in Adam’s Pavillion. It’s quite loud here so if you need some peace and quiet, it’s better you look elsewhere.
• Tomoca – This is both a cafe and an art gallery. On warm days they also open up their roof top for those wanting some sunshine.
• Bella’s – Many choose this place for its selection of cakes. They also serve coffee, tea, and other quick bites.
• Efoye – Located next to King’s hotel, this restaurant has some of the best pizza and sandwiches in town. They also offer a soup of the day and several vegetarian meal options. The place is quite small and their sign is written only in Amharic so it’s quite easy to miss, however, it’s worth hunting down because the food is amazing.
• Garden Paradise Restaurant and Bar – Located in Adam’s Pavillion, this restaurant has several different Western food dishes as well as big screen tv’s which they turn on for football matches.
• Munich German Bakery & Cafe – This cafe offers both lunch and dinner options, although it is mostly known for fresh baked bread and touch of German influence. It’s located across the street from the Canadian Embassy.

Haya Hulet is one of the areas of Addis that is getting a complete construction overhaul. With the new LRT being built that will pass straight through the neighbourhood and repairs underway to improve the old roads, Haya Hulet can be an extremely overwhelming area to go for a walk.

Located between Urael and Megenagna, Haya Hulet can a very busy place with all its shops and stores.

Accommodation

With the rent of a four bedroom nice old house with hardwood floors being anywhere from $1,250 USD and up, living in Haya Hulet is not as cheap as it used to be. The rent of an unfurnished one bedroom space in a shared compound would go for a minimum of $450 per month.

In November 2014, I was looking for a house and was surprised to find out that I couldn’t find a two bedroom place for less than $600 unless the house was unfurnished or the compound was shared with the landlord.

Regarding shared housing, I know of someone who lives with three housemates in an old big house and the rent per month is $300 per person. Prices have surely gone up a lot within the past few years for Haya Hulet’s residents and will definitely go up even more once the railway and the roads are finished.

Shopping

If you are looking to buy some clothes, you are in heaven. Everything from fake Louis Vuitton Chinese copies to nice and affordable European and American brands are all there. Especially the street that stretches from Haya Hulet out to Bole Medhanealem is full of these stores.

There are also two supermarkets just a couple of hundred meters away from each other by Zerihun Building. You can find most of the stuff you need between these two supermarkets. For other small things there are always plenty of those small shops that you can find everywhere in Addis.

There is also a big duty free store but it is only for those who have the duty free status, people who work for embassies and NGOs.

Recreation

There isn’t much to do when it comes to recreational activities in Haya Hulet but it is close to Bole and Megenagna so you can always go to these neighborhoods to find something you cannot find in Haya Hulet. There are of course gyms that are open for membership all year round in most of the hotels including Capital Hotel and Axum Hotel. Capital Hotel also has a swimming pool and there is soon going to be a full spa as well.

Restaurants & Cafes

There are a lot of those copy cafes with nothing to differentiate then from the rest. The ubiquitous all coffee, tea, cake and soda menu. But that is what Haya Hulet is all about. A lot of same things, everywhere. If you want just a coffee all you have to do is basically walk in to the next café you see.

• Yeshi Buna – Located just at the end of Chechnya road, Yeshi Buna is known for its 24 hour service and delicious Ethiopian food. It is common to see this place packed at 4 and 5 in the morning since people like to make a stop there for a quick bite after a heavy night of partying.
• Zebra Grill – One of the well-known and old restaurants of Haya Hulet, Zebra grill is known for its selection of European dishes (Chicken being their specialty) since the rest of the restaurants mostly just serve Ethiopian.
• Pizza Corner – Just across the street from Yeshi Buna, Pizza corner is one of the newest additions to the restaurants of Haya Hulet. They have a selection of nice dishes and combos of your choice.
  Right next door, there’s an ice cream place that serves different flavors of ice cream and shakes. But what they are most known for is obviously their pizza. I’d recommend it.
• Elsa Restaurant – All you’ll find here to eat is Ethiopian. ‘Qurt’ and ‘Kitfo’ which are both raw meat dishes, is what you will most likely to see people ordering since they are known for their good quality meat. They have a variety of Ethiopian dishes on the menu to choose from so it might be better to go there with an Ethiopian the first time.

Nightlife

Just like the cafes, there are loads small bars that are all quite similar to each other. Whatever you can find in one bar, you can likely find in the other. Unless you are shopping for prostitutes, just jumping in to one small bar gives you the experience of all.

But then there is Tobia, Known for their ‘Tej’ which is honey wine, and their Ethiopian dishes. Even though it cannot be classified under nightlife because it closes down at 10pm, a lot of nights start there since Tej has the tendency to make people go merry.

And then there is Road Runner where people like to go and get beers sitting around the fire. It had a nice atmosphere and friendly people both times I went there.

• Fiesta – A place with two bars on one floor, with the small one as the VIP, Fiesta is like the bars you find in Bole. It has that lounge-y look and a DJ that loves to play either dance or Tigrigna music. Which can be a bit of a weird mix. But all in all it is a fun place to hang with a hookah on your table.

Positioned right around the center of Addis, Kazanchis is one of the oldest parts of town. Kazanchis was one of the places where our fathers went for a little jamboree. Stretching from about four kilometers from the palace down to Urael church, Kazanchis still reflects the soon to-be-forgotten swinging jazz days of Addis. It’s an area that still refuses to be quiet at night.

After decades of longing for a piece of Kazanchis, investors and the Richie Rich have finally got to it. Sadly, it’s changing quickly and in fewer than 10 years from now, there will likely be only hotels and mixed use buildings that tell no story of how things use to be.

Accommodation

Since you can find those 60-year-old, wooden-floored houses hidden behind all the cafes and bars, renting a house can be a bit cheaper than in the other, more central, parts of town. I’ve seen two- and three-bedroom houses that are being rented out for no more than $600 USD a month.

With all of the ongoing construction in Kazanchis, more and more apartment buildings are popping up and adding new options to the choice of housing. The rent for a two bedroom apartment on one of these newly built buildings would be somewhere from $650 to $800 USD based on whether the apartment is furnished or not.

Kazanchis is now also the home 4 and 5 star hotels so if you are in Addis just for a few days, there is that option of spending more than a hundred dollars a night.

Shopping

Kazanchis is a place where you can get plenty of same item vendors that inexplicably seem to cluster close together. There is an abundance of stationary shops in Kazanchis and also quite a few shops for computer accessories. You can also find a few boutiques along the main road but that’s about it. Kazanchis is not a shopping haven.

Restaurants & Cafes

There are a lot of small local cafes and restaurants where you can stuff your face with $2 meals so it is simply awesome for the non-snobbish. But the small, cheap restaurants mostly only serve Ethiopian dishes. There are also some nice restaurants where you can find more expensive European fare.

• Lime Tree – With the UN right behind it, Lime tree can get pretty busy around lunch time. It’s a nice, small place with good service. And for the lemonade crazed, they have a pay for one and have unlimited lemonade rules. So go crazy.
• Kabana – Opened no longer than a year ago, Kabana is the new addition to those who crave Caribbean. Their menu includes delicious Caribbean dishes like oxtails and jerk chicken. The owner is mostly there and super nice so if you’re not happy with what’s on your plate, you should not hesitate to send it back.
• Romina – Once the party spot of Kazanchis, Romina has now turned to a decent restaurant with a decent menu. The food is decent and slightly cheaper compared to the other nicer restaurants in that area too. There’s a whole lot of ‘decent’ at Romina!

Nightlife

If you are out for a fun night involving alcohol and some boogie boogie there are a couple of nice places in Kazanchis that you can go to. Plus there are heaps of those small local bars with extremely loud music and prostitutes that some might prefer to go to.

• Liquid Lounge – Liquid is a nicely designed lounge in the heart of Kazanchis. They have a DJ playing dance music throughout the week but it is only packed on the weekends. Which is good for the ones who go there not for the dancing but for a tête-à-tête with a few drinks and hookah.
• Club Voltage – This club is lcoated inside the Intercontinental Addis Hotel. Even though they have they have nice couches, a big dance floor and a DJ, they still have not managed to fill the dance floor. But they do host some fun parties and events there every now and then.
• Fendika – Fendika is a small traditional restaurant that has been around for a long time. The owner is a renowned traditional dancer and is still one of the performers there. It is usually packed with expats and diaspora who are there to see these performances while sipping on Tej (honey wine). The owner also invites old and somewhat forgotten Ethiopian musicians to Fendika and gets them to perform for his audience.

The Old Airport area of Addis Ababa is where the rich reside. Once a desolate and an undesirable part of town to live in, Old Airport has completely went through a major transformation over the past two decades. It is now full of embassies, embassy residences, and the international community school.

Old airport is located in between Sarbet and Tor-Hailoch and Mekanissa.

Accommodation

After the sudden rise to fame of Old Airport as a wonderful neighborhood to live in, the prices of apartments and houses have skyrocketed. The cheapest rent I’ve heard of in that area is a tiny studio apartment in a shared building for $300 USD per month. To rent an unfurnished two bedroom apartment close to Victory Road, be prepared to pay close to a thousand dollars a month. It is the same with houses, the rent for a small townhouse with two bedrooms is also a little shy of a thousand dollars in Old Airport.

And just like most expensive areas in Addis, the most sensible way to shelter oneself is to find a shared house or apartment.

Shopping

You can find a few shops where you will be able to shop for most of the things you need to get through the month within a few hundred meter stretch along Victory Road. Fantu and Shoa supermarkets provide the residents of Old Airport with most of their groceries. There’s a flower shop just opposite ICS on Victory Road if that’s your thing.

Old Airport also has a Home Depot-style place. It’s a huge store and has heaps of different types of wares you can choose from. Lafto Mall where it is full of shops and stands where you can shop for different sorts of things from clothes to electronics.

Recreation

Compared to most of Addis, Old airport offers the most types of recreational activities in one area. Just at Lafto Mall you can find a gym and a swimming pool, so there goes your Sunday. There’s also a gym on the Adam’s Pavilion building for a reasonable membership fee.

Or if pumping iron isn’t your thing and you want a more relaxed sporting experience, there’s the golf club up the ring road and the bowling alley inside Lafto Mall. The golf club is a nice place to go on your weekends to shoot some golf balls and relax. They have membership for those who want to go regularly but anyone can go there, rent a set, and play at any time. The bowling alley inside Lafto Mall is the better one of the only two in town. It has a bar inside to make the experience of tossing heavy balls down a lane a bit more tolerable.

Restaurants & Cafes

If you live in Old Airport, you can find both very nice restaurants and local tibs places without breaking a sweat. Everything is within a few minutes walk from your home especially if you live along Victory Road.

• Tivoli – Mostly known for their pizzas, Tivoli also has a wide variety of options to choose from on their menu. The food has always been nice each time I have been there but the service was not the best in the world.
• Aba Guben – A really cozy restaurant with delicious food. But the one funny thing I’ve noticed about Aba Guben is, even though they have the most Ethiopian name possible, they do not serve a single Ethiopian dish whatsoever.
• Tomoca – Tomoca is the best place to get coffee according to most coffee lovers. With Ethiopia being the origin of coffee, serving the best coffee is kind of a big deal. They also pack and sell their coffee if you want to take some home. Unfortunately I am not a coffee person so I cannot vouch for them myself.

Nightlife

Old Airport is a mostly residential area and not a place you go to for a party. The only parties I hear of are the ones the residents throw in their homes. Other than that, except for a few local bars by the military compound and the small bar sections inside some of the restaurants, Old Airport can get pretty quiet at night.

Simply, Bole is where one usually goes to find most of the luxuries that Addis hast to offer and it’s considered to be the nicest part of Addis by most of the city’s residents. It’s the part of town that has transformed very rapidly within the past decade in to a concrete jungle. A construction site can be seldom avoided nowadays while walking on the two parallel Bole roads.

Bole stretches from Meskel square all the way to the airport. And also the road parallel to the Bole road which stretches from the Atlas area to the airport is also considered as Tele Bole/Bole Medhanealem.

Accommodation

Living in Bole is without a doubt very costly. If you want to live in a two bedroom furnished house close to Bole road you’d better be prepared to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 USD a month. It is the same with apartments, if not more. If it is tucked away at the back or your landlord lives with you in the same compound, you can sometimes find houses for around $500 less.

And, of course, there are those houses that you’ll end up paying a gazillion dollars for while most prefer to live in a shared house with friends to be able to afford the conveniences. These large, fancy houses are around but are usually the domain of the highly-paid types.

For short stays there are always guest houses like Mr. Martin’s Cozy place offering rooms for as low as $25 a night.

Shopping

There are plenty of stores for clothes, shoes, and accessories along Bole Road – they’re actually pretty hard to miss. You’ll find all kins of stores in mixed use buildings like the Getu Commercial Center, DH Gheda Tower, and the Friendship Building. You can also find loads of all kinds of shops in two of the city’s few malls: Edna Mall and Dembel City Mall.

As for supermarkets, there are quite a few. There are two medium sized grocery stores just by Edna Mall and also larger ones like Shoa Supermarket by Wollo Sefer, Novis Supermarket by Japan Road, and Friendship Supermarket inside the Friendship Mall.

Recreation

If you are up for a work out you are in luck. There are gyms inside most of the hotels in Bole that are open for memberships. If you want a swim with your workout you can sign up at Harmony Hotel or Bole Rock. If you’re in to saunas, Desalegn Hotel has a gym membership package that includes their sauna.

If you want to watch movies fresh out of the box office then the Matti Multiplex is the place, located inside Edna Mall. And in the same mall you can find a 7D cinema if you want to get your blood pumping with six minutes of sheer excitement (but it is not for the pregnant or the faint of heart). Ah Addis… where seven dimensions come straight to your cinema seat.

Also in Edna mall there is a gaming zone full of fancy video games and gizmos for those who are cooler than the rest. Even though the place in swamped with kids most of the time it is fun to bear with it for a couple of hours to enjoy racing and shooting stuff. At least once.

There are three tennis courts that are open to the public around the Bole Dildiy area if that is the kind of thing that you’re into. But it is advised to go early to avoid long waits.

Restaurants & Cafes

Oh where do I start, if there is one thing that Bole does not need more of, it is cafes. There are cafes almost every 50 steps you take on Bole road.

• Kaldi’s Coffee – This is the biggest café chain in Addis and Bole was where they first started. There are at least four more in the Bole area alone. They are mostly known for their frappuccinos and coffee.
• Natani Café – This cafe known for its cheese cake and people just can’t stop talking about it. Maybe it is time to go try it. They cannot all be wrong.
• Paresienne Cafe – This is one of the popular cafes in town to meet friends in the morning, have some bacon with your breakfast and gossip before going in to work.

There are a few very nice restaurants in Bole for those who roam its streets. Bole is where people usually go to wine and dine. These restaurants are expensive compared to ones in other parts of town but many agree that they’re worth the extra buck.

• Le Grand Rev – This Italian restaurant is tucked away behind the main road and is a place that people choose this place for its serenity. And of course the food.
• Rodeo – This is a bar/restaurant that has a western cowboy look and feel to it. Overwhelmingly decorated with signs and souvenirs, Rodeo offers a cocktail and food menu like no other. The bartender is none other than the owner himself and the service is great. They play nice music on a big screen too.
• Antica – This is one of the nicest restaurants to go to as they have very good food, an excellent service and they even do deliveries.
• Yod Abyssinia – This is a cultural restaurant by Bole Dildiy where foreigners flock to on their first visit to Addis. Yod serves tasty Ethiopian food and drinks to its customers while entertaining them with some live performance by traditional bands and dancers. It is quite a fun place to take someone on their first day.

Nightlife

Bole is the place to party. It is responsible for the purchase of too much Panadol and the producing of too many scandalous nights. There are enough bars and lounges in Bole to make half of the area’s workforce call in sick the next day.

• Black Rose – This is a lounge with easy listening and world music playing at all times. But don’t let that fool you, it is at black rose where ‘out for just a couple of drinks’ can lead easily to club-hopping the whole night. They serve various cocktails and shooters along with a few snacks to make the morning bearable. The service is very good but you will surely pay good money for it. Quite a bit.
• Flirt Lounge – One of the places that partiers go to before heading to the 4AM clubs. It has a live band playing two nights a week and a DJ during the weekends. They have a VIP area upstairs where the prices are a bit more than downstairs and they also serve shisha (hookah) up there for the privileged.
• Tri-up – This is a restaurant/bar by day and changes to a mad party house by night. The music gets louder and the fun gets merrier as the pendulum keeps swinging. The crowd is mostly young and fun loving so there’s no doubt that you will see people busting moves even though it’s not a club.
• Oh Canada – A quiet place where you have meals with friends and family during the day but the story changes on the weekend. The Ottawa Senators obsessed owner/manager Lily turns her backyard in to an awesome party den. Great music and nice atmosphere.