Ethiopia is safe for Adventure Travel

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.