After a group of travelers were kidnapped near the disputed ethiopean/eritrean border earlier this year, Ethiopia has suffered a growing stigma among adventures as being unstable and unsafe. Adventure Tour operators not surprisingly played down the risks of travel to the area in a recent piece in the NY Times. According to the story:
“The United States State Department (www.state.gov/travel) advises caution when traveling within 30 miles of the Ethiopian-Eritrean border, and Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Web site (www.fco.gov.uk) warns against all travel within 12 miles of the Eritrean border in the Tigray and Afar regions at any time. Relations have been tense since 1993, when Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia.”
“We took over 200 clients to Ethiopia last year, twice the number of people we took in 2005, and consider the main tourist areas we visit to be safe,” said Stephen Nattrass, African product manager for Exodus (www.exodus.co.uk), a British tour company.
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I have a friend who was born and raised in Ethiopia. He talks of fond memories and a place such as what we call “home”. I guess we all must be more careful in some places more than others. After having lived in Mexico, for instance, the stereotypes and the realities of the country are not the same as they once were before I became an expat. It’s not that I’m not careful. It’s just that once you learn more about the people, the culture, the system, I guess the fear is more the fear itself–fear of the unknown. But I say this as the more I travel, I become more adventurous.
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