Ethiopia: Some Interesting Facts

Public Holidays

Date 2005 Occasion
January 7 Christmas Day (Genna)
January 19 Epiphany (Timkat)
January 21 Eid Al Adha*
March 2 Victory of Adwa Day
March 25 Good Friday
March 27 Easter
April 21 Prophet's Birthday*
May 28 End of Military Regime
September 11 Ethiopian New Year (September 12 in Leap Years1)
September 27 Finding of the True Cross (September 28 in Leap Years)1 
November 3 Eid Al Fitr*

Easter dates (and all other Christian feasts) follow the Orthodox old calendar

*Muslim Feasts
Weekend Sunday

 
Electricity

220V or 240V, 50 Hz is the specification available in Ethipia.

Time

Ethiopia is 3 hours ahead of GMT.

Weight and Measures

The Metric system is used.

Customs and Duties

Duty free allowance of 100 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250 gms tobacco, 1litre of spirits and gifts items upto Birr10

Post & Communications

Postal services are slow but generally reliable. The country code for Ethiopia is 251. The area code for Addis Ababa is 01, for Axum it is 03 and for Gondar it is 08. One can send and receive faxes at the International Telecommunications Centre in Addis Ababa. You can also make international calls, although as almost anywhere in Africa, these are expensive.

English Language Media

Foreign newspapers like the International Herald Tribune, Times and Washington Post are available at the airport, the Hilton and the British Council library.