Book Description
Awe-inspiring, beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking, Ethiopia and Eritrea are not like anywhere you've been before. A realm of rock-hewn churches, buzzing bazaars and untouched wilderness, the Horn of Africa is truly unique. See the mist rising off the mountains, hear the gurgle of children's laughter in the narrow streets of Harar, or catch a glimpse of a wolf prowling under the thorn trees.
THE BEST COVERAGE- the only guidebook to comprehensively cover Ethiopia and Eritrea and explain how to cross between them via Djibouti
READ UP- all the details you need to travel the Historical Circuit, including ancient cities in northern Ethiopia
BRING OUT THE ADVENTURER- climb a rope, use toeholds or walk a ledge to reach churches and hill-top monasteries
EAT AND DRINK- know your injera from your kitfo, and why the third cup of coffee is the most important
TRAVEL SAFELY- we keep you worded up on the scams, health issues and no-go areas
Customer Reviews:
Well worth it!.......2007-05-09
This book was well worth the money and a must if you travel to the ET region!
Lonely Planet Ethiopia and Eritrea.......2007-01-13
I travelled hree weeks in Ethiopia from 27.12.2006-12.1.2007 time. I visited Addis Ababa, Wollea, Debre Zeit, Dire Dawa, Lake Langano, Awasa and Harar. I used this book as a base for my travel plan and it never failed me. I read the book allways forehand at night before we entered a next place. It saved my son for a trouble becaus of framed Addis Abeba hustler information. He went to one of those ethnic conert the book was warning about and everything hapened exactly as told in the guide book. I got him out of that concert immediately and he saved 1000 bir.
Hotel information was very accurate, except the prices had come up 10 %.
Now I am back in Finland and I am very thankful for the writers. The arranged me a safe trip to one of the worlds poorest and most dangerous countries.
rgards
heikki turunen
most disappointing LP so far.......2006-11-23
travelled through Ethiopia with this guidebook and was very disappointed. The accomodation references are poor (better ask a cab driver), so are the historical descriptions. Also (but this is an LP thing) it's good for people who like to be told by the authors what you are supposed to see, if you like other things you have to ignore the author's comments at all costs.
Excellent on Eritrea as well as Ethiopia.......2005-11-26
"Smallchief" mentioned that he had used this book in only in Ethiopia; I can attest that the Eritrea section is excellent as well. The walking tours of Asmara are a particularly useful and enjoyable introduction to a beautiful and eminently walkable city. Some of the information is out of date - a number of the establishments mentioned in the book are now closed, presumably due to the Eritrean economy's difficult straights. Let's hope that Ethiopia and Eritrea can overcome their joint and singular difficulties.
A fascinating country.......2004-12-30
I have used the Lonely Planet Guide for two visits to Ethiopia. I haven't been to Eritrea so I can't comment on the guide for that country.
The Lonely Planet series, in general, is short on describing luxury accomodations, dining, and chichi places and long on local history, customs, and out of the way places. Described in the guide, for example, are the dubious pleasures of chewing "chat," the lovely Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and the possibilities for trekking in several Ethiopian national parks.
Ethiopia is one of most contradictory and complex countries in the world. It it one of the oldest Christian countries, claims to house the Ark of the Covenant (remember "Raiders of the Lost Ark") in a church in Aksum, boasts "Lucy" the bones of one of the oldest ancestors of human beings, and has some of Africa's most spectacular scenery, the Blue Nile falls for example. Ethiopians have a strong, confident ancient culture and perhaps the most distinctive cuisine in the world. Steak tartare fans will like kifto. Cold beer and hot pasta (reflecting the brief Italian colonization of Ethiopia) can be found most places for less adventurous eaters.
One tip from me that may not be in the guide. Ethiopians for some reason are reluctant to accept 1996 US $100 bills and any bill that is torn or worn.
Ethiopia is a country well worth visiting. This guidebook will tell you all you need to know.
Smallchief
Book Description
Ethiopia's millennia-old monuments, Djibouti's stunning diving, Eritrea's architecture - the Horn of Africa has plenty to offer the traveller. Use this guide to discover the continent's best-kept secret.
- over 50 maps, providing comprehensive coverage of the region
- valuable information on safety and health
- where to stay, what to eat and when to go
- special sections on Ethiopia's diverse birdlife, Red Sea diving, Eritrea's architecture and Djibouti's geology
- comprehensive language section covering Amharic, French, Tigrinyan and Arabic
Customer Reviews:
From Africa's Horn.......2002-03-16
I live in Norway, and Africa's Horn is far from my everyday life. I have travelled several times to Eritrea though, and have been searching for guide books from the country. When I went to Eritrea last fall it was with great pleasure I bought the LP book by Frances Linzee Gordon, Ethiopia, Eritrea & Djibouti.
The book is one of the best LP books I've read. The writing is clearly, and it gives us good insight in history, facts, geography, and so on. I have read parts of the book about all three countries, but the Eritrean part is the only one I have actuallu used when travelling.
The books has some very good pictures and maps, and give alot of up to date information. My favorite part is the part about Asmara's architecture, "Asmara, or Piccola Roma, soon came to epitomise the new philosophy: it was not just beautiful, but was well planned, well built and, above all, functiomal. The book is a good guide to use when you plan your travel ahead, and is even better when you actually are there and need or want information.
An extra benefit of the book is the small notes you find alot of, giving interesting information. Reading these notes makes your travel alot more special.
When I travel I use my guidebooks as kind of diaries. I write down restaurants I visit, hotel I stay at, interesting places I see and so on. And this book is filled with my writings almost on all pages. Gordon has seen it all, and gives very useful information about a very interesting, though little known country.
Britt Arnhild Lindland
LP's best!.......2002-01-05
As a Lonely Planet author, I'd like to echo the words of other reviewers of this book. This is clearly Lonely Planet's best title - the writing is clear, concise and informative, the asides are entertaining, the tone is objective yet engaging, and Frances Linzee Gordon's photos are nothing short of spectacular. Congratulations, Frances - you've produced a winner!
Great reference book!.......2001-08-05
A recent front page article in the New York Times on the Lalibela churches in northern Ethiopia sent me running for my LP copy of this book. I was most pleasantly surprised to find over a dozen pages of detailed information on this incredible center of early Christianity. F. Linzee-Gordon's first hand account of a visit to the churches provided a most informative background lacking in the NY Times article. Well done!
helpful, amusing, informative . . ........2001-07-25
Frances Linzee Gordon's guide to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti is not only clearly the best of the available guide books for these countries, but is also a real pleasure to read. I have used it twice this year while filming television documentaries in Ethiopia for National Geographic Television and it has made both trips easier, more interesting and more enjoyable than they would otherwise have been. The practical information is comprehensive and accessible and the historical and geographical information is elegantly written and more readable than is often the case in guide books. But what makes this guidebook stand out is the infectious passion and enthusiasm for the countries which it displays. The personal reflections and the incidental information (particularly in the boxed text) give the guidebook a texture which really helps to make the country come alive. I would higly reccomend it to anyone making a trip to Ethiopia.
LP's best "asides".......2001-05-06
What makes LP's guides something far more than a mere index of cheap places to eat and sleep is its "asides". Those little notes in the corner of almost every page give the traveler a look into the psyche of the subject country. Frances Linzee Gordon's well focused encyclopedic collection of asides in this book arm the traveller with a treasury of notes that help the traveller understand their Ethiopian/Eritrean/Djiboutan hosts and provide a veritable arsenal of discussion topics while on the road. So armed, the traveler will have no problems making friends with the locals. Well done FLG!
Book Description
A new edition of the essential guide for independent travelers to this unusual and remarkable African country, which has emerged from its war-torn past to welcome tourists with its reclaimed independence. This update provides the freshest source of information published on a compact and traveler-friendly country that has seen many changes. The Eritreans' overwhelming hospitality makes their country readily explorable with the aid of the maps, notes, and language section in this guide; and the interior, rich in historical remains, is well worth visiting. Its colonial past has stamped the capital, Asmara, with the charm of a southern Italian town, featuring numerous bars, cafés, pastry shops, broad avenues, and markets, plus a Roman Catholic cathedral. Eritrea's main port, Massawa, is a natural gateway to diving off some of the 350 islands in the Red Sea. The Dahalak Islands are easily accessible from the mainland for travelers and Eritrea provides the background to the natural history of this treasure trove of fish, corals, and shells, and haven for birds, dolphins, turtles, and the rare dugong.
Customer Reviews:
good travel guide.......2005-11-26
To my knowledge this is the only guidebook in English devoted solely to Eritrea. The closest comparator is the Lonely Planet guide which covers both Ethiopia and Eritrea. As one might expect in a volume devoted purely to Eritrea, this volume has more information and detail (more maps of specific towns, for example) and the historical discussion of the origins of the independence movement is informative. As another reviewer mentioned, successive political regimes have changed the names of streets in downtown Asmara; in my experience, local people are familiar with both the "traditional" and the "official" names, and the use of the maps in this guide was not problematic. The one aspect in which the Lonely Planet guide tops this book is in that book's walking tours which I found quite useful.
Inaccurate & Uninspiring.......2004-10-23
This is one of the poorest guidebooks I have ever used!
In strong contrast to Bradt's excellent guide to neighbouring Ethiopia, this guide to Eritrea is so poor it is nearly useless.
Even before departure, I found that the book just failed to make Eritrea sound exciting - it made it sound dull.
The very weakest points are its maps!
Can you believe that a full page regional map of say, Western Eritrea, can have a grand total of four (yes, FOUR!) places in that region marked on it, fewer than are marked on the much smaller map for the entire country, and failing to show even the places that are described in the relevant section of the guide???
The city map for Asmara is a joke (I've uploaded a scanned image of it to see for yourself), with no names marked for most streets, and most of those that are marked being old names that were changed years ago.
Things to see & do? Very few described, very poorly.
History & politics? These chapters look as if they had been contributed by the propaganda department of the Eritrean government, with glorifying accounts of the heroic fight for freedom and no mentioning of the disgraceful present.
Flora & fauna? The author's knowledge seems to end at distinguishing a mammal from a bird - maybe.
The bottom line is that until Bradt gets a new author to rewrite this guide completely, you are far better off reading the shorter but much better chapter on this wonderful country in Lonely Planet's Ethiopia & Eritrea guide than wasting your money, like I did, on ordering this book.
The 2 stars were only given as an acknowledgement for the publisher's effort to put out a separate guide to this unusual destination, not for the actual value of this book which is closer to zero.
Product Description
Folded paper road and travel map in color. Scale 1:900,000. Distinguishes roads ranging from primary paved roads to tertiary roads (unpaved motorable). Legend includes international boundaries, National Parks/reserves, forests, dunes, railroads, tracks, international airports, national airports, gas stations, bus stations, hospitals, embassies, points of interest, ruins/archaeological sites, bridges, museums, campsites or huts, rest houses/hotels, lodging, missions, mosques. Includes inset map of Asmara, Eritrea's Aridity, general and historic information on Eritrea.
Book Description
Scale 1:900,000. With inset map of Asmara. Printed on one side.
Map of the country and portions of its neighbors. With topographical contours; elevations indicated by color changes.
Legend locates roads (with point-to-point distances in kilometers) from primary paved roads to tracks; railroads; airports and airfields; bus stations; post offices; police stations; embassies; information centers; campsites, hostels, and other lodging; points of interest; ruins; national parks and reserves; forest; sand dunes; hydrography; coral reefs.
With index of place names. Extensive geographic, historic, and cultural information; captioned photos of wildlife and scenic highlights.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing map of Eritrea.......2005-09-20
I bought the ITM Map of Eritrea hoping to get a detailed, up-to-date, and carefully drawn map of that interesting country in East Africa. I know Eritrea fairly well from several visits, careful study of their history, and friendship linking. But alas, this map is inaccurate, it contains few details, and the factual information inserted in the map is difficult to read. The map also contains a historical account of Eritrea. I find the narrative dubious in many regards. For instance, it is claimed that 'Arabs' developed the kingdom of Aksum by the third century, while historians now believe that the Axumite culture may well have originated in Africa. No mention is made of the interesting connection between Egypt and Punt (believed by many to be Eritrea) in the third and second millennium BC. To sum up: a very disappointing map - qualifying for one star in my evaluation.
Go buy it.......2003-05-09
Most detailed cartography of Eritrea I have seen so far.
It has been a lot of help to find my way around Eritrea.
Eritrea, specially the capital Asmara is one of the hidden gems in the world.
I advice any one to visit. I found it to be one of the calmest, friendliest and safest countries I visited.
Product Description
Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about Eritrea, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about Eritrea, including Ethiopia and Eritrea, doing business, USAID (over 5000 pages), agriculture, energy, Mickey Leland Initiative, Reconciliation Processes, commercial guides, food aid, and more. This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues. In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book. This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 100,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material. Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages t
Product Description
Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about Eritrea, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about Eritrea, including Ethiopia and Eritrea, doing business, USAID (over 5000 pages), agriculture, energy, Mickey Leland Initiative, Reconciliation Processes, commercial guides, food aid, and more. This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues. In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book. This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 100,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material. Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages t
Average customer rating:
- A Dissenting Opinion
- Excellent for trip planning
- east africa handbook
|
East Africa Handbook 2000
Michael Hodd
Manufacturer: Footprint Handbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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-
Lonely Planet East Africa
ASIN: 1900949423 |
Book Description
Written by Michael Hodd, who has visited the region over 40 times, the Footprint East Africa Handbook is a knowledgeable, practical, illuminating and sensitive travel guide to the region.
Customer Reviews:
A Dissenting Opinion.......2004-10-26
It's not that this book is so bad, it's simply that it isn't worth the superlatives heaped on it by the other reviewers.
Although it is nice enough, it simply wasn't practical for bare-knuckle travelling. Having left behind the much more detailed (and therefore more informative) Bradt guides for Uganda, Ethiopia and Zanzibar (yeah, shame on me for being such a fool), I purchased this last minute substitute in an airport enroute.
It was a pleasant read, but not very helpful in trying to determined the easiest, cheapest or most enjoyable mode of transport from point A to point B - whether that was from town to town, or from airport to sleeping accomodations.
Some of the information was dreastically out-of-date (though that can happen with any guidebook that is not current) and the price informaiton was annoying. I much prefer seeing the prices next to the listing rather than go searching for some cost index table to decode each country's living expenses.
The thing I found most objectionable were the difficult-to-manuever maps.
The Bradt guides get my thumbs up recommendation. I am not a fan of Lonely Plant, but I have to concede that even their guide is superior to this book in terms of a practical travel aid.
Excellent for trip planning.......2000-06-17
This book has a lot of information. Amazing how many hotel and restaurants are listed, broken down by price. There are even descriptions of what type of food to expect. I love the history inserts throughout the book. I appreciate the author being forthright regarding health, safety and how to respect the local authorities. Well worth the money.
east africa handbook.......2000-05-20
very helpful and easy to use guide. worth every cent.
Average customer rating:
- fun reading
- Either she should not visit or not have written a book!
- What a great find! Excellent reading and good fun!
- This book deserves a rating of zero!
- Read for Yourself
|
Eccentric Graces: Eritrea and Ethiopia Through the Eyes of a Traveler
Julia Stewart
Manufacturer: Red Sea Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Eritrea
| Africa
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ASIN: 1569021015 |
Book Description
Prologue: This is a travel narrative about Eritrea, a tiny sun-drenched country along the Red Sea, and Ethiopia, its giant southern neighbor and former colonial overlord. Among the oldest civilizations on earth, these two African countries can boast over 2,000 years of recorded history.
Eritrean and Ethiopian histories interlock, yet still maintain distinctive features. Eritrea's past revolves around foreign incursions and occupation, as well as ongoing trade and cultural mingling with Mediterranean and Arabian worlds. Ethiopian history speaks of imperial glory and dominance, and for great swaths of time isolation, as its Christian kingdoms held out in highland strongholds while Islamic and pagan militaries swirled around them.
Today, both countries, having just emerged from a thirty-year war, are dirt poor. Many citizens live on less than one dollar a day and both nations receive millions of dollars annually in food and development aid. But, with many well-trained professionals among local and exiled populations, rebounding economies, the rule of law, and rich histories and cultures to draw upon, Eritrea and Ethiopia represent the brightest hope for democracy and growth in Africa in the new millennium.
Customer Reviews:
fun reading.......2004-07-03
If you can not go to these places yourself, it is fun to at least read about them. Loved it.
Either she should not visit or not have written a book!.......2002-08-20
Poor Julia,
Wined in Asmara and then left to her and friends devices
in Ethiopia!
Everything in Eritrea was wondeful but not so in Ethiopia.
Julia struggled during her stay in Ethiopia and denigrated
almost all of her travel sites - too many people, watery
tankwa, mud hut church, too much money, etc.
Strangely, of all the Amharic proverbs she puts to print,
she denigrates one tribe. One wonders how she managed to learn
enough Amharic to transliterate!
Lastly, one should tell Julia that Eritrea was never a colony
of Ethiopia.
A waste of her time to visit Ethiopia and a waste of her time
writing about her travels in Ethiopia while at the same time
waxing poetic about the "African experience".
What a great find! Excellent reading and good fun!.......2001-03-10
It is not a surprise to me that there are such mixed reviews of this book. It is obvious by reading the reviews that you either loved it or hated it. That said, I read it and thought it was fantastic! If you have an opened mind, and a sense of wonder - as does the author of this book - than it will be apparent that most of these negative reviews have an alterior motive. Why is that? Africa is a continent that is as diverse as these reviews! Coincidence? Please read this book with the intent that it was written: as a travel narrative. How often are we lucky enough to read the accounts of a woman travelling through these two contrasting countries? It is a perspective; and like any work of art it brings something different in everyone who views it. I'm happy to say that this book gave me an excellent insight into these countries in an easy to read and understand manner. Ms. Stewart's experiences seem wonderful, scary, mysterious...all description given to the countries as well as the continent. Bravo! It's a rare treasure and wonderful addition to my library!
This book deserves a rating of zero!.......2001-01-30
Don't waste your money on this book. The author of this book was unable to grasp anything beyond the trivial and superfluous thus completely missed the essence of the two countries. The author obviously doesn't bother to check facts as she repeats artificial histories created by liberation fronts as historic facts. Her rush to generalize is very troubling. Both countries are extremely diverse (Eritrea has more than 8 languages while Ethiopia has over than 30 languages.) The number of ethnic groups is much higher close to a total of 100, some living in both countries. Simple generalizations like "Eritreans" or "Ethiopians" for the most part are not valid. The author simply was unable to recognize the diversity of the cultures with in the two countries and the complex historical relationship that exists between the two countries.
For the most part the book is packed with ignorant babble and definitely a waste of time and money. I give it one star only because that is the lowest rating that I can give. This book deserves a rating of zero!
Read for Yourself.......2000-11-05
Surprised that a reader/reviewer writes off this fascinating book as a travel guide, which means he entirely misunderstands the book's genre (and misreads the subtitle of the book "through the eyes of a traveller"); it is a travel narrative not a travel guide, which in travel narrative style does not pretend to offer the reader with prices of hotels and lists of good restaurants, but rather gives the armchair and actual traveller a glimpse of the atmosphere of a country and its people as a snapshot in time. Stewart has accomplished this task well. The Ethiopia and Eritrea she visited several years ago, have already changed, and it is valuable that some of their pre-border-war character - albeit from one person's experiences - was captured. Yes, you should buy Bragg if you want a good travel GUIDE, but read this for insight and entertainment.
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