Best Time to Visit Ethiopia

General Information and Location

Ethiopia is an independent state in East Africa, the largest inland country in the world with around 97 million inhabitants. According to current statistics, the capital Addis Ababa alone is home to at least 3.5 million people.

Ethiopia is three times the size of Germany and almost 5 times bigger than United Kingdom. Half of the country’s surface is above the 1200-metre mark, Addis Ababa is located at about 2370 metres in the highlands.

Ethiopia’s highest elevation is Ras Daschän (4533 metres). Neighbouring Somali Highlands in the south-east of the African Rift Valley has further mountains with more than 4000 metres of altitude.

Ethiopia is a genuine multi-ethnic state with over 85 ethnic groups and languages. Throughout its eventful history, Ethiopia has been the object of many decades of Italian expansion plans, especially from the neighbouring colony of Eritrea.

For a long time it was possible to resist these attempts at conquest, but in 1936 Italy succeeded in invading. However, since the army never controlled the entire country, Ethiopia still considers itself to be the only African country that was never colonised.

After Addis Ababa, the largest cities in Ethiopia today are Dire Dawa, Adama (the former Nazret), Bahir Dar, Gonder and Mek’ele.

Climate in Ethiopia

Ethiopia not only has enormous differences in altitude, but consequently also has regionally differing climatic conditions. Basically, the country can be divided into three climate zones. Below 1850 meters is a tropical-hot zone with high temperatures and very little rainfall.

Between 1850 and 2500 metres above sea level there is a large, temperate zone with quite high temperatures and increased rainfall, especially between June and September.

These include the capital Addis Ababa at an altitude of around 2,400 metres. Above 2500 meters it becomes not only significantly cooler, but also increasingly humid in all mountain regions of Ethiopia. In the area above 4000 metres there is seasonal frost and snowfall.

Nevertheless, the weather in Ethiopia – more than in other regions of Africa – is often unpredictable and marked by strong extremes. In the recent past, for example, there has been both torrential rainfall and prolonged periods of severe drought.