Guide to Ethiopia (Bradt Guides)

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Summary: essential interesting reading for the independant traveller
Review: Although I haven't yet travelled to Ethiopia, I have read the book several times to enable me to plan an itinerary. The book is essential reading for those wishing to travel to Ethiopia. ANY information on Ethiopia is scarce and the excellent conversational style of the author makes for an enjoyable and, at times, humorous read. Compared to other travel books on Ethiopia, this book is unsurpassed in providing positive down-to-earth information without glossing over the negative aspects of travel in this country. I am sure the 'mud maps' of major towns, accommodation and dining out information will prove invaluable to the independant traveller. And if you are interested in wildlife the author obviously has a sound knowledge of this topic, particularly the birdsof East Africa. He provides comprehensive summaries, scattered through the body of the text, on the birdlife (and other wildlife) you can expect to see in different habitats of the country.

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Summary: Carolyn
Review: I haven't read the second edition, but I read the first edition before and during my trip to Ethiopia 5 years ago and found it to be a wonderful and very accurate guide. In addition to the practical nuts and bolts of managing in this unfamiliar culture and language, I liked his attitude about situations he (and I) encountered there.

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Summary: A valuable guide to a little-traveled country
Review: In preparing for a trip to Ethiopia, I found information about the country both scarce and scant. Phillip Briggs' guide has become a valuable tool for planning and introduction to this remote area of Africa. The fourteen chapters cover everything from history and culture to tourist information, health preparations and travel specifics for nine distinct areas of the country. Though Mr. Briggs admits that he found it very difficult to find pertinent information about Ethiopia, the factual portions of the book are both readable and accurate. It is, however, the specific information for the traveler in Ethiopia that is most valuable. In a very readable style, the author relates, for each area, information about climate, routes, sightseeing, transportation, accommodations, food, religion, local practices, parks, wildlife, and specific topics of interest. The humor of the writer makes this guide very interesting and readable. His maps of each of the areas a! re most often of his own making, as regional maps for many remote areas seem to have been nonexistant. The treatment of the "Faranji," or "foreigner," in Ethiopia is dealt with throughout the book. The author tells of his encounters with friendly, but nonetheless, persistent children who accompanied him everywhere with pushing, touching, staring, screaming and, on occasion, rock-throwing. Briggs' humor keeps him and his reader going as both progress through the book. For example, in his introduction, Briggs tells of his own introduction to Ethiopians while visiting Nariobi: "A troupe of white-robed musicians approached our table and erupted into smirking discord. Then, signalled by an alarming vibrato shriek, all hell broke loose in the form of a solitary Ethiopian dancer. Her mouth contorted into the sort of psychotically rapturous grimace you'd expect from Jack Nicholson at his most hammy. Her eyes closed. Her shoulders jerked a! nd twitched to build up a manic, dislocating rhythm. Benea! th her robe--driven, presumably, by her metronomic shoulders--a pair of diminutive breasts somehow contrived to flap up and down with an agitated regularity suggestive of a sparrow trapped behind a closed window. I left that room with one overwhelming impression: Ethiopians are completely bonkers. I knew, too, that I had to visit their country." ...and visit he did. And he has left an account for the reader of a remarkable journey into an area of the world that the reader will certainly want to get to know better. I look forward to his upcoming revision of this indispensible travel guide, to be published soon.

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Summary: very useful travel guide
Review: This is a very useful travel guide. Some of the information is outdated (several new regional airports have been constructed and roads paved since this edition was published) but presumably the forthcoming edition will bring the descriptive material up to speed. What really makes this guide, though, (and why I think it is superior to the Lonely Planet guide)is the background material on Ethiopian history and culture. Since it is for historical and cultural reasons (as opposed to say viewing wildlife) that many travellers will visit Ethiopia, this part of the book is a real strength, as is the chapter on intercultural interaction. Reading this guide you get the sense of real human beings writing it, not some generic "three stars for this castle and here is a good restaurant." Definitely recommended.

Rating:
Summary: very useful travel guide
Review: This is a very useful travel guide. Some of the information is outdated (several new regional airports have been constructed and roads paved since this edition was published) but presumably the forthcoming edition will bring the descriptive material up to speed. What really makes this guide, though, (and why I think it is superior to the Lonely Planet guide)is the background material on Ethiopian history and culture. Since it is for historical and cultural reasons (as opposed to say viewing wildlife) that many travellers will visit Ethiopia, this part of the book is a real strength, as is the chapter on intercultural interaction. Reading this guide you get the sense of real human beings writing it, not some generic "three stars for this castle and here is a good restaurant." Definitely recommended.

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Summary: Ethiopia
Review: You need to be tough to spend four months researching the first-ever guide to a country as large as Ethiopia, especially when that research was undertaken just after a protracted civil war, when the author is suffering from typhoid. Philip Briggs is tough. But he is also a sensitive, enquiring, and meticulous writer with an untarnished enthusiasm for Ethiopia, which he describes as "culturally, historically and scenically the most extraordinary country I have ever visited". He considers this his best book. I'm inclined to agree with him.