Ethiopia Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

You don’t need to login to read the below reviews. But do sign up or login to share your solo travel experiences, country safety rating and comments.

Ethiopia Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Ethiopia and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Etymology: The country name derives from the Greek word "Aethiopia," which in classical times referred to lands south of Egypt in the Upper Nile region.

Capital: Addis Ababa.

Independence / foundation: Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world, founded at least 2,000 years (may be traced to the Aksumite Kingdom, which coalesced in the first century B.C.)

Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of a short-lived Italian occupation from 1936-41.

Population: 116 million.

Currency: Ethiopian Birr (ETB)
1 USD = 56.33 - 56.95 ETB
1 EUR = 61.07 - 62.13 ETB

Time zone: UTC+3

Languages spoken: Oromo (official working language in the State of Oromiya) 34%, Amharic (official national language) 29%, Somali (official working language of the State of Sumale) 6%, Tigrigna (Tigrinya) (official working language of the State of Tigray) 6%, Sidamo 4%, Wolaytta 2%, Gurage 2%, Afar (official working language of the State of Afar) 2%, Hadiyya 2%, Gamo 1%, Gedeo 1%, Opuuo 1%, Kafa 1%, other 8%, English (major foreign language taught in schools), Arabic.

Religions: Ethiopian Orthodox 44%, Muslim 31%, Protestant 23%, Catholic <1%, traditional <1%, other <1%.

Climate: Tropical monsoon climate with wide topographic-induced variation.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $294 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $2,400.

Main airports: Bole Airport, Arba Mintch Airport, Asela Airport.

World heritage sites in Ethiopia

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 11.

Top world heritage sites:

- Aksum.
- Konso Cultural Landscape.
- Harar Jugol, the Fortified Historic Town.
- Lalibela Rock-Hewn Churches.
- Simien National Park.
- Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region.
- Lower Valley of the Awash.
- Lower Valley of the Omo.
- Tiya.
- Bale Mountains National Park.
- The Gedeo Cultural Landscape.

Interesting facts about Ethiopia

- Ethiopia did not change its calendar to the Gregorian and years have 13 months so is 7 years behind.

- Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by a goat herder who noticed his goats were energised after eating from a certain bush.

- Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that was never formally colonized, despite Italy ocupying it twice from 1895-96 and 1935-1941.

- Ethiopia is home to Lake Tana which feeds into the Blue Nile, one of the two major tributaries of the longest river in the world, the River Nile. It is also home to the hottest place on earth, the Danakil Depression and the oldest lava lake, in Erta Ale Volcano.

- The remains of the oldest fossilised human skeleton, commonly known as Lucy (Australopithecus), was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. Estimates say she lived 3 million years ago.

Further reading: N/A.

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Ethiopia Travel tips

More about Ethiopia on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️