Tourists Don’t Visit this Secretive African Dictatorship 🇪🇷

Harry flies from Jeddah to Asmara with Kieran to see Eritrea, the “North Korea of Africa”: no ATMs, almost no internet, indefinite military service, state-only media, and one ruler since independence in 1991. What they find is the calmest, cleanest, safest-feeling city of Harry’s fifteen African countries — an Italian-built time capsule of art deco, vintage Fiats, cafés, and pizzerias. They rent bikes from a former Olympic cyclist, charm the Medebar recycling market, reward an eloquent shoe cleaner, tour the permit-only tank graveyard from the 30-year war with Ethiopia, struggle heroically with an internet café, buy an elaborately gift-wrapped national football shirt, and hunt down $1 draft beer. Harry’s verdict: kind people carrying on with dignity under heavy restrictions — he’d go back without hesitation.

Obs: the description recommends the guide Phil (eritreavisit.com), whose tour arranged the permits.

Key moments

• [00:00] The setup: previously a near-closed country — the visa used to cost $1,000 — now opening up since the war ended.
• [01:36] Immigration takes nearly two hours; Kieran surprises Harry on arrival (“here for the pizza”).
• [03:51] The Crystal Hotel: $60 a night, no air-con but clean, a bidet (grazie, Italy), and one of the country’s only wi-fi connections.
• [06:37] The history: prized location near the Suez Canal; Italian colonisation, British administration, UN federation with Ethiopia, annexation, and a 30-year independence war that killed over 300,000 — followed by one-man rule since 1991, indefinite military service, and state media. Harry, fresh from North Korea, rates it similar but less tightly controlled.
• [09:15] The Fiat Tagliero station — the art deco landmark of a city frozen in time.
• [10:03] Renting bikes (200 nakfa a day) from a legendary Eritrean cyclist whose father raced the 1964 Tokyo Olympics — cycling is the national sport.
• [12:41] The London test: bikes left barely locked outside a market, both still there — locals call it the safest city in Africa.
• [13:20] Schoolkids with flawless English (all lessons are taught in it) dream of being professors, presidents, pilots, engineers, doctors.
• [16:47] Medebar market: chili-scented lanes where everything is recycled and hand-made from scratch — metalwork, stoves, spades — with a striking number of women working.
• [22:38] Why so quiet: Asmara has only 600,000–1 million people (from video – unverified), cinemas are dying, and a sports hall bans filming — a reminder of the invisible rules everywhere.
• [25:06] The shoe cleaner: 12-hour days, four children, proud veteran family — “if you come after 2 years, everything is changed; the war is over, we start to develop our country.” Harry rewards him generously.
• [29:10] The tank graveyard (permit required): rusting Soviet T-series tanks — the USSR funded Ethiopia with $4 billion (from video – unverified), while underfunded Eritrean fighters captured, repaired, and turned the tanks back on them.
• [31:50] Pizza is genuinely the local food; a large “ziggney” (spiced meat) pizza runs 160 nakfa, $8–10 (from video – unverified) — verdict: a disappointing five out of ten, wrong pizzeria.
• [36:04] Buying the national football shirt (200 nakfa) from a five-language shopkeeper who gift-wraps it like Christmas and gives him an Eritrean flag.
• [38:28] The internet reality: first African nation online, never upgraded since — an internet café costs 15 nakfa an hour, a speed test won’t even load, and most sites need a VPN. Harry gives up.
• [45:47] The beer quest: no beer before 7pm at the grand Italian cinema café; carbonated-only water (the country skips still water to save plastic); finally, calm bars full of Premier League fans and draft beer at about $1 a pint.
• [48:44] Walking home at night with a pizza box and a camera, feeling completely safe — his closing case that Eritrea is nothing like its headlines.

Extracted pages

• Place: Asmara
• Country: Eritrea
• Person: Kieran
• Tip: Travel with a local guide