Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a relatively low-crime country compared to Kenya, Mexico and South Africa.

Avoid traveling to the eastern part of the country beyond the city of Harar. Somali separatist groups occasionally launch guerilla attacks. Most expats who go there are US military personnel actively training the Ethiopian army's anti-terrorism unit. Many others are Chinese, Indian or Malaysian representatives of oil companies, who have been targeted in major guerilla attacks resulting in dozens of casualties.

Armed insurgent groups operate in the Oromiya and Afar regions.

In 2008, a hotel in the town of Jijiga and two hotels in the town of Negele Borena were bombed.

Organized crime and gang violence are very unusual in most parts of the country. However, in the border areas of Sudan Gambella Region and Kenya, there are reports indicating occurrences of banditry. Avoid these areas.

Though Ethiopia has a secular government, the people are very religious. The two dominant religions the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Islam strongly influence day-to-day life. Due to their influence the government implements certain rules and laws that could appear unsettling to westerners. In particular, homosexuality is illegal, and not tolerated.

Compared to other African countries, robbery is not a major problem in the cities and towns. However, travelers are advised to look after their belongings. Travelers should be cautious at all times when traveling on roads in Ethiopia. There have been reports of highway robbery, including carjacking, by armed bandits outside urban areas. Some incidents have been accompanied by violence. Travelers are cautioned to limit road travel outside major towns or cities to daylight hours and travel in convoys, if possible.

Travellers with vehicles and cyclists may often be the target of stoning by local youths when driving in rural areas.

mobile

Ethiopia uses GSM as in Europe/Africa, operated by Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation ETC and limited 3G. Currently there are decent coverage around big cities such as Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Adama, Bahir Dar, Awasa, Harar, Dese, Gonder, Mekele, and Nekemete. It is expanding into small cities. For all travelers, having a mobile phone is a must. It is cheap and easily available.

There are only few stores rent SIM cards: you can rent SIM card and phone inside Addis Ababa Sheraton hotel but is it very expensive. Your best option is to a rent SIM card and mobile phone from a local store. You can also buy a SIM card from many local stores try anywhere that sells phones. You will have to give the seller a copy of your passport ID page, 2 passport style pictures, and 40 birr as of 20/03/2010. You'll have to sign an agreement that you will not commit any crimes with your phone. All local stores will have calling cards you can purchase to call internationally.

Roaming charges are very steep. For a short visit, your best option for mobile access is to rent a SIM card with a phone . While roaming arrangements are said to be in place in practice you may find it impossible to get a connection that works reliably, or at all.

respect

Ethiopians are very proud of their culture, identity, and country. Avoid criticizing their cultural lifestyle, especially their brand of Christianity Oriental Orthodox. Avoid all contentious religious discussion, or you may risk all good will and hospitality you could have been afforded. Rather than argue about the merits of Orthodoxy or Islam, it's best to ask friends to explain their customs, festivals and beliefs and to listen with respect.

The Ethiopians' relationship with the westerners is generally free of racial animosity. However, there is considerable suspicion and even xenophobia toward foreigners in the country side. Ethiopians can be short-fused if they feel they are not treated as equals.

If a woman is with a man, ask the man's permission to talk to her beforehand. For a man to avoid eye contact with a woman is considered a sign of respect. If you're a foreign woman and are in public with a man, don't be upset if Ethiopian men address all questions to him. They will do this not to slight you but to show respect. This will be the case on public transport and in restaurants. Likewise, if you are a foreign man, maintaining a formal distance from women will be seen as good manners.

It is very important that you remove your shoes when entering a home.

internet

There are numerous internet cafes in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Nazret, Bahir Dar, Gonder, Awasa and other cities. In Addis Ababa, connection speeds are more than adequate for performing tasks such as checking e-mail most of the time. A typical internet cafe will have a dozen computers using one broadband usually starts from 128kbps connection. Ethiopia's international connection is unstable: On bad days, even a broadband connection will only deliver dial-up speed, because the whole country's traffic is running via an undersized backup satellite connection.

To use the internet costs between 25-35 Ethiopian cents/per min in the bigger cities but outside the cities it usually costs more than 1 birr/per minutes.

Most of the computers have USB, so maybe you'll be interested in using a portable e-mail program like Thunderbird portable from an usb-stick. Take care of computer viruses! Most computers or flash disks in use are infected.

Outside of bigger towns, it is harder to find a working Internet connection and the charge per minute is often much higher than in bigger towns.

Ethiopia is currently in the process of deploying an internet filter, to access blocked sites, use a VPN or use the free, open-source TOR Project. Following an international outcry, a new law that appeared to ban the use of Skype and other VOIP services has been replaced. Personal use of VoIP services such as Skype has been legalised as of July 2012.

telephone

The country code for calling Ethiopia is 251. The Ethiopian dialing plan changed on September 17, 2005, such that the two-digit city code changed to three digits or, from outside the country, one to two digits and six-digit telephone numbers changed to seven digits. The city code for Addis Ababa, as of 17 Sep 2005, is 011 or 11 from outside Ethiopia. An on-line telephone number converter, which will convert an old number to the new number, is available here: (http://www.ethioindex.com...).