---
type: Place
title: Addis Ababa
description: Ethiopia's capital of around six million — Mercato, the market that supplies the country, where nobody wants to be filmed and the coffee is the best Harry has drunk.
tags: [addis-ababa, ethiopia, markets, coffee, khat, mercato]
coordinates: {lat: 9.0000, lng: 38.7500}
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
---

# Addis Ababa

The capital of [Ethiopia](/countries/ethiopia.md), around six million people,
and where Harry starts a journey north. Much of the population has arrived from
the regions looking for work; a great many of the people he meets are portering
goods through the market because they didn't find any.

The country has over 80 tribes and over 80 languages, and Addis is where they
meet.

## Mercato

The market, and by Harry's description the lifeline of the city and therefore
of the country — everything sold in Ethiopia passes through it. Secondhand
clothes at the edges, then porters, then depth.

**Expect hostility to the camera.** Harry is told to stop filming repeatedly,
within thirty seconds of arriving and several times after. Nobody threatens
him; people shout and walk on. His method, which works every time:

- Don't delete anything and don't argue.
- Turn the camera on yourself and say so.
- Smile, greet them, wish them a good day, keep moving.

His own summary is to kill them with kindness, and he notes that one man drew
attention to himself by objecting when he wasn't being filmed in the first
place.

## Why the city looks like this

Two things Harry keeps returning to:

- **Ethiopia was never colonised.** The Italians tried and were defeated,
  making it the first African nation to beat the colonisers, which he thinks is
  part of why the culture and the look of the people are so distinct — you can
  usually tell an Ethiopian, or an Eritrean, since the two were one country.
- **The streets are unusually well planned.** Wide two- and three-lane roads,
  very little traffic on a weekday, and a metro. He contrasts it with African
  capitals that grew faster than their streets could take.

Christianity reached Ethiopia before it reached Europe, and Christian and
Muslim populations live alongside each other here in a way he says works better
than in some places. Ethiopian Airlines, which he rates the best airline in
Africa, is why he has passed through so many times.

## Khat

Legal in Ethiopia and grown locally. A stimulant leaf, chewed and held in the
cheek — you can see the bulge on regular users — with an effect after twenty or
thirty minutes that Harry compares to drinking ten coffees. He has chewed it
before in Yemen and Somalia.

Sellers may switch to dollars and push the price when they see a foreigner.
Harry pays and declines to make a thing of it.

### The khat market

A separate place from Mercato and the hardest place in the city to film. A
seller explains the etiquette rather than just refusing: **ask before you
photograph, and don't photograph what you haven't bought.** See
[when people don't want to be filmed](/tips/when-people-dont-want-to-be-filmed.md).

Harry's read on the market as a whole: people match whatever energy you bring
into it.

## Coffee

Ethiopian coffee is what he rates best in the world, and the street version —
served from a stall by the roadside, around 30 birr — is what he means. He
drank it at four in the afternoon on top of khat and no food, and reported the
consequences.

**The coffee ceremony** is the version to seek out: incense lit, beans roasted
and brewed in a jebena — the traditional clay pot — and served slowly. Harry
paid 25 birr including the ceremony, in a shack, and his conclusion is that the
best coffee in the world is not in a trendy café.

## Raw beef

A delicacy, and worth understanding before refusing it. The tradition dates
back centuries: fires gave away a position in wartime, so meat was eaten raw.
It is now associated with courage and strength rather than necessity, which is
why it is offered to visitors as a test.

Half a kilo runs 1,500 birr, cut to order — the chest is the cut Harry was
given. Eaten plain it is chewy and completely unseasoned; the way to eat it is
torn into bread with berbere, chilli and mustard, at which point he says it
works. His honest verdict is that he's glad he tried it and prefers his steak
cooked; the cooked version of the same meat he rates nine out of ten.

## Shopping for a gift

Religious items are widely sold; a cross necklace for a priest ran 2,500 birr.
Goats are an acceptable gift, though not available in the city — Harry had to
go to Dessie for the livestock market, which runs on specific days only, and
paid 5,000 birr after being asked 10,000.

## Harry's tips

- Turn the camera on yourself in Mercato and be pleasant. Deleting or arguing
  makes it worse.
- Drink the street coffee, not the café coffee.
- Ask what a thing costs before you're seen wanting it. Prices move to dollars
  quickly.
- Do the coffee ceremony, not just the cup. 25 birr, and it's the best coffee he
  has had anywhere.
- Eat the raw beef with the bread and the sauces, not on its own.
- Look behind the football stadium. The tea stalls ringing it aren't on Google
  Maps and are where the locals drink.

## Source

- [I Entered Ethiopia's War-Torn Rebel Zone 🇪🇹](/videos/m2C5dBQhHTk.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2C5dBQhHTk
- [Surviving Ethiopia's RAW Meat Sidequest 🇪🇹](/videos/zsSqvrJ5i0o.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsSqvrJ5i0o