National_Geographic_Traveller_UK_June_2017

ADDIS ABABA
Emperor Haile
Selassie’s bedroom,
Ethnographic Museum,
Addis Ababa University
ESSENTIALS
Merkato
Addis
Ababa
ETHIOPIA
Ethnological
Museum
Piazza
University
Getting there & around
Yekatit 12
Square
ADDIS ABABA
Menelik II
Square
Red Terror
Martyrs Memorial
Museum
500 yards
Ethiopian Airlines offers a daily direct service from
Heathrow to Addis Ababa. ethiopianairlines.com
AVERAGE FLIGHT TIME: 7h 30m.
Urael
Bole
The Light Rail system offers the quickest movement
around the city. St Urael station on Line 1 provides
access to Urael; Menelik II Square station on Line 2 is
the best choice for sights such as the National Museum
and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Tickets from ETB2 (7p).
When to go
Temperatures are a fairly constant 21-23C
throughout the year, although the wet season
of June-September contributes four months
of heavy rainfall.
Places mentioned
2000 Habesha Cultural Restaurant.
2000habesha.com
Ethnographic Museum at Addis Ababa University.
aau.edu.et
Ghion Hotel. ghionhotel.com
facebook.com/theafricanjazzvillage
Red Terror Martyrs’ Memorial Museum. rtmmm.org
Shebeta Lounge. facebook.com/shebetalounge
Yaya Village. yayavillage.com
More info
ethiopia.travel
How to do it
COX & KINGS offers three-night mini-breaks in
Addis Ababa for £1,245 per person, including
flights from London, private transfers,
accommodation with breakfast and city tour. They
also sell a 14-day Ethiopian Odyssey tour that visits
Axum and Lalibela. From £2,745 per person as a
group trip, or from £3,625 as a private holiday (with
flights from London). coxandkings.co.uk
the occupiers in 1936 for publicly and
repeatedly denouncing their presence.
Yet, if you wish to step back into Addis
Ababa’s story, you cannot do so without
encountering one particular character.
Emperor Haile Selassie defined Ethiopia’s
20th century, governing from 1930 to 1974
(with the exception of a five-year exile during
the Italian fascist period). While he was
arguably no saint, he was charismatic to the
point of inspiring religious devotion — the
Rastafari movement in Jamaica still
considers him a messiah. And he left his
imprint on the city. His palace (in Piazza) is
now marooned on the campus of Addis
Ababa University and has been refitted as the
Ethnographic Museum. But amid some
intriguing artefacts, including art depicting
Ethiopia’s first fight with Italian colonialism,
the victorious Battle of Adwa in 1896, you can
detect the grandeur. Selassie’s bedroom is
preserved as a statement of majesty, even if
the size of the bed betrays his lack of stature.
He also haunts the National Museum, just
to the south — his colossal throne another
emblem of royal power. It’s mighty enough
to almost eclipse the prime exhibit, the
skeletal remains of ‘Lucy’, a woman who
strode the Ethiopian landscape 3.2 million
years ago, as one of the mothers of mankind.
She was discovered in a lake bed in 1974, a
great year for humanity’s knowledge of its
roots, but a bad one for Selassie, who was
deposed by the Derg amid soaring inflation
and unrest. His demise was unseemly. He
was imprisoned, then reportedly died of
‘respiratory failure’ in August 1975,
according to state media of the day. It wasn’t
until 1992 that his bones were found below a
concrete slab in the palace grounds.
Still, Selassie had the last laugh: he was
re-buried with much pomp in November
2000 at Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Orthodox
bastion he founded in 1931. Athletes stream
past the gates as I near it; again, all sweat and
application, oblivious to the magnificence of
the building behind the fence. But, Ethiopia’s
imperialists, you can be certain, are not.
Their fallen champion slumbers in style
within; his mausoleum an enormous
exercise in cold marble.
Before I cross the threshold, I’m drawn to
one particular grave outside. Here’s another
Addis Ababa idiosyncrasy. The headstone
serenades the soul of Sylvia Pankhurst, the
suffragette and friend of Selassie’s, who
moved to the city in 1956 and died there four
years later. Clearly, my interest in her once
again denotes me as British, for I’m
approached by an elderly worshipper. We
swap strands of conversation, until he drops
the pertinent question: “So, Brexit — is it
fine for you, or not?” When the UK’s current
political affairs are a topic for discussion in a
country once the subject of world concern,
you know times have changed.
IMAGE: ALAMY. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
144 natgeotraveller.co.uk