A Comprehensive Guide to Travel in Eritrea, Africa’s Best Kept Secret

For David and me, the allure of travel is the way it allows us to understand places different from where we’re from – and the more different a place, the more we gravitate toward it. The less available information around a destination, the better, and travel in Eritrea allowed for new discoveries around every hairpin turn – whether in the form of a well-preserved piece of Italian colonial fascist architecture, or a fast food restaurant with the freshest, most refreshing guava smoothie I’ve ever had the opportunity of tasting.  With the following article, I hope to provide some perspective on what to expect in Eritrea from a logistical standpoint so you can enjoy discovering Eritrea without having to stumble through the same roadblock we did when we visited in January 2018.

A quick note: I mention several specific places in Asmara throughout this article.  Those listed are included in a comprehensive map at the bottom of the article.  When you get bored, skip on down to the bottom!

There are several pitfalls for the traveler visiting Eritrea, though, and due to the lack of information available online, it’s easy to lose precious time on the ground dealing with political bureaucracy or chasing windmills on Google Maps.  There are a host of Eritrea travel posts online, but many (even those published as recently as a year ago!) are already hopelessly out of date.  Surely, like the others written before this one, this post will become obsolete as Eritrea liberalizes its tourism policies – primarily due to the thawing of Eritrea’s relationships with the nations encircling it.

The most notable of these thawing relationships is, of course, that with neighboring Ethiopia.  The two were intertwined in a bloody guerrilla war for decades (from 1961 to 1991) followed by an equally brutal war over border territories from 1998 to 2000 – the latter of which only officially ended in July 2018.  President/Dictator Isaias Afwerki visited Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, for the first time in over twenty years, and has tentative plans to visit the USA in coming months.  What this means for the tourist interested in traveling to Eritrea is manifold: archaic visa application procedures could be lifted, land borders between neighbors could be opened, and the general attitudes of locals in both nations toward members of the other could become less antagonistic.

Getting in to Eritrea

First off, you’ll need a visa.  The Eritrean visa process is notoriously arduous and powers that be behind it fickle.  I have written an exhaustive (and considering the lofty word count, perhaps exhausting) article on how we obtained our tourist visas to Eritrea here.  Note that if there is an Eritrean diplomatic mission in your home country, you will need to apply through that office – meaning, if you’re American or from one of the nations listed in this article, you won’t be able to pick up a visa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, or another nation if you’re already traveling in the region.

Not an easy sticker to obtain

Also, for the time being, the Eritrean government is no longer issuing tourist visas on arrival.  Foreign tour companies operating in Eritrea have frequently used this procedure in the past, eliminating the painful visa application process. It’s yet unclear when or if Eritrea will lift this new restriction

What to Pack for Travel to Eritrea

Eritrea is located near the equator, so the weather doesn’t vary too much.  Temperatures can vary, however, between the cities of Asmara, located at 2000m of altitude, and Massawa, at sea level on the coast of the Red Sea.  Your best bet is to pack lighter clothes for the day, and warmer clothes for night time.  Temperatures in Massawa can reach 40C at their peak, while temperatures can dip to 10C at night in Asmara (particularly in the winter, when we visited), so pack accordingly.  For two guys from the Pacific Northwest, the weather was very pleasant, especially as we were coming from the rainy season in Seattle, which generally spans  October through June.

Long sleeves and pants in muggy Massawa

Eritrea is a modest culture, meaning no tank tops or short skirts.  We wore long pants exclusively, and short sleeves only occasionally.  It’s also not a bad idea to dress up a little bit – you’ll find local Asmarinos dressed to the nines, often in full suits and jackets.  While I would never wear a suit on vacation (I can barely get it up for a job interview), a nice pair of slacks and a linen shirt will help you not look like a total schmuck.  Light dresses and scarves will be useful for ladies.

We try to pack as few clothes as necessary when we travel, and typically end up doing laundry on the road.  Without reliable running water in our hotels, we found a laundromat adjacent to the Central Market that turned our dirty clothes around in 24 hours at about 15 Nakfa ($1 USD per piece).  Laundry service is available at some hotels, but by no means all, for similar (if not slightly inflated) prices

Be sure to bring extra batteries and/or a heavy-duty power bank for those with lots of electronics.  Many hotels’ power outlets are more for show than actual use, so any additional power you can pack will be useful in case you find yourself low on juice.  Outlets are the European standard two-round plugs.

Unless you need to edit photos while on the road, leave your computer at home. I am an old, so I do most of my writing in paper notebooks, and can’t recommend this enough in Eritrea.  Practice your cursive!

In Eritrea, functioning internet is practically non-existent, but more to come on that later.

Flights to Eritrea

The traveler visiting Eritrea has four reliable options to choose from: either from Cairo on Egyptair, Dubai on flyDubai, Istanbul on Turkish Air, or Addis Ababa on Ethiopian.

EgyptAir has a daily flight to Asmara International Airport landing at around 2:30am.  This was the option we took, as we were flying from Athens, as it was the quickest and most economical way to get there from Athens.  That said, it wasn’t particularly cheap, costing around $400USD per person one way.

FlyDubai also has daily flights from Dubai that arrive at a more respectable 6am.

Turkish Air flies from Istanbul on Thursdays, Saturdays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, and is the most expensive option.  That said, this route has the most award availability if you collect miles on the Star Alliance network.

Ethiopian, the best connected airline in Africa, now flies between Addis Ababa and Asmara twice daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  Due to proximity, the flight is the shortest and also the cheapest, with one way fares hovering around $160USD.

Eritrean Airlines also flies between Addis and Asmara, but online booking is unavailable, and the only thing resembling machinery of the airline we saw was in the form of a rusting mobile stairway at Asmara’s infamous tank graveyard.

Fly Eritrean!

For my travel hacking readers, I’m sure you’ve identified by now that there is nary a One World or Sky Team option for getting to Asmara.  It’s served frequently by Star Alliance partners Turkish, EgyptAir, and Ethiopian, and lone ranger flyDubai.  In general, I’ve found flights getting into non-francophone or lusophone Africa to be poorly served by Sky Team and One World, but hopefully this will change as demand for international flights to the region increases.  If you’re a collector of United Airlines miles, a particularly good option is to take advantage of their free leg option between two cities in the same region (when flying on a round trip or open jaw ticket).  This, I just learned, is called the “Excursionist Perk”, and you can read about it here.

Once in, you’ll likely be met by the agency who has helped you to obtain your visa, who will then transport you to your hotel.  Unfortunately, upon our 2:30am arrival from Cairo, our ride was nowhere to be found.  And while finding yourself in an empty airport parking lot in the ungodly hours of the morning your first time in Africa can be a bit intimidating, we were able to find a ride into town for 200 Eritrean Nakfa (around $18USD).

Getting around Asmara

Getting around Asmara is a breeze IF you have a map.   We had downloaded Google Maps of the city’s environs when we had readily available wifi in the Cairo Airport, and our phone’s GPS functioned in the city just fine.  Most of the places you’ll want to see are an easy walk within Asmara’s central core, save the Tank Graveyard.  The two tourist sites furthest from one another (the Fiat Tagliero building in the southwest of the city, and the Medebar Market at the northeast) are less than 3km/1.75miles apart from one another, so walking is very doable.  In general, you should plan to spend at least two to three days in Asmara – the city is lovely, with streets lined with bougainvillea trees and spectacular pieces of architecture.

Taxis are available, but we never needed one.  We arranged transport back to the airport through the travel agency who helped us with our visas, Asmara Grande* (the website wasn’t working while I was writing this article, but I have included a photo of their business cards below), for 300 Nakfa ($20USD).  If you are inclined to take a taxi around Asmara, a fare within the city should cost no more than 75 Nakfa. We also switched hotels a number of times, but all were easy walking distance from one another – I’m going to talk more about hotels in a separate post, because, whoa boy, that’s…something else.

Asmara Grande Travel contact information

*PLEASE NOTE: Google Maps currently has Asmara Grande listed in a very incorrect location.  At the bottom of this post, I’ve curated a map of places important to travel in Eritrea, and the correct location is listed there.  When in doubt, reach out to either Tekeste or Sara at the contacts in the photo above.

Getting out of Asmara

Tourists are not allowed to use public transportation outside of Asmara.  We were told the furthest we could go on a public bus (wihtout a permit) was Dekemhare, an Italian-built town about 40km south of Asmara, but that public transportation to the main tourist haunts of Massawa and Keren was not permitted.

Here’s the catch, to visit any of these places, you’ll need to have a permit from the Eritrean government.  The tourist office that issues these permits is located on Harnet Avenue (almost directly across from the Cinema Impero – see map at the bottom of the post), and the process may seem simple enough.  But don’t be fooled,  I’ve read and heard accounts of a simple permit to visit Massawa taking a week or more when applying as an independent traveler.  We had our good friends at Asmara Grande do the legwork for us.  After confirming our Massawa trip with them, they took copies of our Eritrean visas and passport photo pages, and  permits lined up when we were picked up the next morning.

To get to these places, you’ll also need to hire a car and driver.  You may also hire a guide if you wish – we were recovering from some painful veterinarian bills at the time, so we skipped the guide.  Asmara Grande coordinated our transportation.

The places outside Asmara you’ll most likely visit are the cities of Keren and Massawa.  Together with Asmara, these three make up the holy trinity of Eritrean travel destinations.

We had planned on visiting both, but we lost a day trying to get our bearings in Asmara (as well as trying to get a hold of the Asmara Grande office), and therefore had to skip Keren, known as Eritrea’s cultural heartland.  For travelers in Eritrea, it’s best known for its Monday livestock market, where you can commune with camels.  Keren was also the site of an impressive battle in the African theater of World War II.

Just your typical, run of the mill permit to travel between cities in Eritrea

We did, however, manage to make it to Massawa, which was absolutely lovely.  It seems the only option for accommodation is the Grand Hotel Dahlak (which, coincidentally, is where Tiffany Haddish stayed on her trip to the town just a week before our arrival) – costing 900 Nakfa, or around $60USD per night.  Nightly accommodation can be as low as $50USD per night, the difference being presence of A/C.  Considering we were moved twice to different rooms to try and find one with A/C (but to no avail), we should have taken the cheaper alternative.  I’ll keep my other cheeky comments about the Grand Hotel Dahlak for my upcoming post on the accommodation situation in Eritrea.  The hotel’s website is here, but take the tariffs more as rough estimates, as they change with the direction of the winds.

Our private car to Massawa from Asmara cost $200USD one way.  If we hadn’t stayed the night, it would have been $200 total to get to Massawa and back, but we wanted to spend the night, so ended up paying $400 total on transport between the two cities.

Our whip from Asmara to Massawa.

Also, pack your dramamine.

Some folks choose to go even further afield to the Dahlak archipelago, an unspoiled group of islands in the Red Sea known for pristine diving and Whale Sharks.  As we were traveling alone, the cost was prohibitively expensive to get there (as in, $800 or more to hire the boat and driver), but if you have the cash lying around, I’m sure it’s an incredible experience.  Tour groups often include the Dahlak Archipelago on their itineraries (the more people in the boat, the cheaper it is to get there).  Exorbitant costs aside, they sure look nice.

Language in Eritrea

Tigrinya is the de facto official language of Eritrea, and it is written in the Ge’ez script also used by Ethiopian Amharic.  The script is similar to some Hindi scripts, in that each character is comprised of a consonant that is altered with additional strokes to form a complete consonant-vowel syllable.  If you’re a language nerd, I highly recommend this article on the structure of Ethiopic languages’ writing system.

I am an avid proponent of basic language learning, having learned young toddler level Russian, Georgian, Armenian, and Albanian in the past few years.  Tigrinya, however, was not this type of language.  Of all the languages I’ve learned or attempted to learn, Tigrinya is the most alien to my brain and tongue.  I mean, watch this.

I mean…that was nice, but maybe not for me.

I did, however, learn “hello” and “thank you” – my bare minimum when visiting a new place.  “Hello” is an easy enough “selam,” while it took me a few days to really wrap my mind around Tigrinya’s four syllable “thank you”.  I won’t try to romanize it here, but this is what it sounds like.

Food and Drink in Eritrea

Ordering food can be quite complicated in Eritrea.  While snack bars (you’ll see them most often referred to as “fast food” in Asmara) are ubiquitous, deciphering a menu written in Ge’ez script (used in both Ethiopian Amharic and Eritrean Tigrinya) is nearly impossible.  Many of these fast food restaurants will have portions of the menu translated into English, but typically only those dishes most familiar to foreigners – think hamburgers, sandwiches, and spaghetti bolognese.  At a fast food restaurant in Asmara, these mains will typically cost between 40 and 100 Nakfa (around $3-7USD).

I haven’t included any specific fast food places we ate at in the map at the bottom of the post, but that’s not because they weren’t delightful.  On the contrary, we found the people we met working there to be some of the kindest in the country – which is tough when everyone in Eritrea is so amazingly welcoming.  The decor was always impeccable (many disco balls) and each had their own uniforms in brightly dyed fabrics.  The reason why I don’t include these places on the map is because we came across them on our wanderings throughout the city, and I couldn’t find my way back to one if my life depended on it.  You’ll be similarly rewarded by stopping in whichever place you find calling your name while meandering Asmara’s side streets.

We ate the majority of our meals at fast food joints while in Eritrea, and actually had a harder time finding traditional Eritrean cuisine.  In Seattle, where we live, there is a lively Ethiopian and Eritrean population, and can easily find restaurants that serve dishes consisting of lentils (birsen), injera (traditional flat sourdough bread), and hamli (sauteed dark greens with onion).  The two restaurants where we found the most reliable Eritrean cuisine with English translations were the New Fork Restaurant and the restaurant on the premises of the Crystal Hotel.

The next time I’m in Eritrea, I am going to ask someone to write out the names of some traditional menus in Ge’ez script so I can purposefully seek out the Eritrean dishes I know and love.  We also ate exclusively pescetarian on this trip, but I imagine the tibsi (sauteed meat with onions) and zigni (mixed meat cooked with spicy berbere) are as delicious as the traditional veggie dishes we ate most frequently.

In Massawa, there is an abundance of fresh fish.  On our single night there, hotel staff directed us to a restaurant in the old town (located on an island connected to the mainland by a man-made causeway) that served fish seasoned simply with pepper and lemon, with sides of mild berbere as a dipping sauce.  A meal for the two of us and some friends we’d made in the hotel cost 300 Nakfa total ($20USD).  Our meal in near total darkness, save some flickering neon here and there, in Massawa’s crumbling old town remains a highlight of our time in Eritrea.

Our restaurant in Old Massawa

Drinks-wise, Asmara lager beer is present at all hotel bars and most fast food restaurants in the city.  Our favorite “bar” was the outdoor parking lot cum terrace at the Hamasien Hotel, where I spent many afternoons drinking fabulously cold beer and writing observations about our travels, fancying myself a low rent Ernest Hemingway or Paul Bowles.  Beers typically cost between 20 and 30 Nakfa ($2 USD or less), regardless of your restaurant or bar choice.  Fanta and Coca Cola are also everywhere.

Another option that we did not take advantage of nearly enough were fresh fruit shakes.  Two doors down from the Crystal Hotel was Dave’s Cafe, where we drank shakes made with the freshest fruits imaginable.  My favorite was guava, and it set us back a mere 25 Nakfa ($1.60USD).

Shopping in Eritrea

As the “kitsch” in the title of this blog implies, I’m a shopper.  Eritrea had a vast number of souvenirs to be found for the hoarder with a sharp eye.  For a traditional souvenir, your best bet is in the Central Market, where there are two blocks that specialize in serving the errant traveler her kitsch fix.  The first is located two blocks directly north of the Central Mosque between Gonder and Baro streets.  There you’ll be able to find more traditional African crafts of dubious origin (giraffe carvings, etc.) as well as more Eritrea-specific gifts like coffee sets for traditional coffee ceremony, and dried gourds painted with national colors.  A jebena (Eritrean/Ethiopian coffee pot) can cost anywhere between 20 and 60 Nakfa (generally $4USD or under).  We came home with…a few of these.

A bit further west you’ll be able to find shops selling religious paraphernalia, of which I am always a fan.  We picked up a glow in the dark Jesus and a Eritrean Orthodox noisemaker to bring home with us.

Medebar Market, which I wrote about in my previous post about architecture in Asmara, is another great place to search for goodies.  While the market itself is very utilitarian, selling mostly tools made from recycled scrap metal, there are gems to be found.  My husband found a traditional pair of shida, a rubber sandal made from recycled tires, made famous as the official shoe of Eritrean freedom fighters, for under 100 Nakfa ($6-7USD).  It’s entirely possible that you may not find anything that strikes your particular fancy there, but the architecture of the building and the resourcefulness of the people working at Medebar make it worth the trip.

If you’re keen on books and posters, your best bet is the Awghet Book Shop, with two locations: One in the base of Bahti Meskerem Arena (at the eastern terminus of Harnet Avenue) and one in Asmara International Airport’s departures hall.  There you can find posters depicting members of the various indigenous tribes of Eritrea, postcards and shirts emblazoned with the most famous photo from the Eritrean War for Independence, and posters of the Ge’ez alphabet for your most frenemies’ children (good luck with them ABCs!).  There is also a comprehensive selection of literature about Eritrea, published in every language you can imagine.  Seriously, they had a technical guide to wounds and injuries sustained during the Eritrean War of Independence in POLISH.

Both store outlets claim to accept Visa and Mastercard, but I think it’s an Eritrean attempt at irony or something, as your plastic won’t be accepted anywhere in country.

Post in Eritrea

Asmara’s main post office is conveniently located just north of the Catholic Cathedral in a picturesque square cohabitated by the Central Bank and Albergo Italia (arguably the nicest – and spendiest – digs in town).  An international postcard stamp costs 10 Nakfa, and will arrive to its destination quite quickly!  Quickly here is, of course, relative – our postcards from Eritrea arrived to the USA about a week prior to those we had sent from Albania.  From Asmara to the Seattle was under three weeks door to door.  To Europe, this time is even less.

The architecture in the interior is striking.  We arrived on our last day just after closing, but the groundskeeper was kind enough to let us in to take some photos.  Even if you’re not sending anything, take a detour to see its lavish interior consisting of art deco elements mixed with frosted stained glass ceilings.

If you do want to send a postcard from Eritrea, you’ll have to go on a wild goose chase to find one.  We found a stationery shop just east of the Ambassador Hotel that had a few (we bought them out, and I’m not sure they had product to restock after we left).  At the post office, we found signs of postcards past in the form of empty display racks.  It may be that postcards as we knew them in Eritrea are currently extinct.

Money in Eritrea

Eritrea is strictly a cash economy, and there are only a precious few places in Asmara that will change your dollars.  Officially you are only able to change your money at Himbol, the state’s official money changer – theoretically so there is record of all money coming in from outside the country.  You will not be able to purchase Eritrean Nakfa before entering the country, and theoretically not allowed to take any out upon your departure (more on this later).  The official exchange rate is 15 Nakfa to one US Dollar, and you’ll have to present your passport when you exchange.

There is some talk on the internet of unofficial money changers, operating both in the Central Market and on Harnet Avenue.  Speaking with folks who’ve been in country the past year, these appear to no longer be around, maybe due to crackdown by the government, but more likely due to the fact that there is simply no demand for foreign currency.  Eritrea is an extremely poor country, one of the poorest in the world in fact, and your everyday Eritrean is unlikely to be able to afford to purchase more stable foreign currencies with any regularity.  Purchasing from these fabled money changers (or from anywhere outside of the Himbol Exchange offices) is strictly illegal.  Don’t try to do it – there’s definitely no HBO at an Eritrean prison.

Some hotels, however, may take your USD, but as the exchange rate is official, there are no arbitrage opportunities to be sought by seeking different rates from different places.

Formal policy in Eritrea used to be that one declare all purchases in the form of receipts upon departure of the country – a way for the nation to balance its checkbooks, I suppose.  Not knowing if this was still the case when we were there, we kept all of ours (see  photo above), but weren’t asked by any immigration agents to show them at the airport before our flight out.

Internet in Eritrea

Whenever you pay for use at an internet cafe, you’ll be given one of these slips.
The internet will not work.

N/A.

Seriously, there is almost no accessible internet in Eritrea, and literally none outside of Asmara. Internet penetration by household is lower in Eritrea than any other nation in the world, including North Korea.  Generally there is some internet to be found at hotels – typically each has an adjacent internet cafe where one can purchase one day’s worth for 100 Nakfa.  This said, good luck finding a signal.  I successfully posted to instagram once while in country.

That said, not having internet ended up being exactly what we needed.  Not to pontificate too much, but ubiquitous connection is both a blessing and a curse, and not having the ability to open social media or check emails with any regularity allowed us to really sink our teeth into Eritrea.  When out at restaurants and coffee shops, the sounds of conversation filled the air, rather than the silence characteristic of smartphone addicts, ourselves included.

It’s best to think of your trip to Eritrea as a forced digital detox.

Things to See and Do in Asmara

Rather than go into detail here of all of the various sights to see in Asmara, I’m rather going to list some of my favorites.  Part of what’s so exciting about travel in Eritrea is the ability to discover things that aren’t yet listed in travel publications, and I’m sure you’ll discover a host of your own hidden treasures on your trip there.

For me the primary draw of Eritrea was in its preserved Italian fascist architecture.  I’ve written a fairly detailed post about our favorite buildings here.  The core of the old town of Asmara was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Summer 2017 largely due to its well-preserved buildings built during Italian occupation in the first half of the 20th century.  Here’s a small sampling:

Cinema Impero – We didn’t see any films while in Eritrea, but it’s worth noting that the only thing playing during our week in the country was an episode of “Game of Thrones.”  I imagine distribution of HBO programming is a few years behind in Eritrea.

Medebar Market – Yes, the same place where you can pick up a pair of sandals mentioned previously.  Built in 1912, it’s one of the oldest Italian buildings in the city.

Fiat Tagliero Building – Without a doubt the building for which Asmara is best known.  When we went, it was deserted.  I don’t anticipate this will last for long.

For many, experiencing a traditional coffee ceremony is a must.  Our daily coffee ceremony took place at the nearest café, which you can find scattered throughout the city.  Our favorite was in the lobby of the Cinema Dante building, which also happens to be the oldest Italian cinema in the city.  But you needn’t be too picky of venue to find a great espresso – even the smallest of fast food shops will be equipped with a top of the line, Italian made coffee machine.

No Starbucks here, Becky.

Tank Graveyard – Asmara

The real joy of travel in Asmara and the whole of Eritrea was just wandering aimlessly through its streets, smiling and exchanging conversation with its residents.  Tourists are still tiny in number in Eritrea, so much so that by our third day in Asmara, people on the streets were addressing us by name.  I’ve experienced gracious hospitality all over the world, but never to the scale that we received in Eritrea.

Friendly folks around every corner!

I’ve listed many other points of interest in the map at the bottom of this ever-expanding post, but I encourage you to pick a direction, and walk.  Any way you choose, you’ll be met with smiles and friendly people, happy to converse over a cup of coffee.

Leaving Eritrea

David and Daniel (our driver from Asmara Grande) at the Asmara Airport prior to departure

Leaving the country can be nearly as onerous as entering.  Our flight on EgyptAir departed after 2am, and when we arrived to the airport at around 11pm there was already a long queue to get inside.  For the EgyptAir flight, the airport opens at midnight – if you’re looking to spend your remaining Nakfa, there’s a bar and restaurant across the street from the airport.

There is a sign outside of the airport declaring that leaving the country with any Nakfa is illegal.  We had about 700 left (around $40USD), and when we went through the first security checkpoint, asked an agent if we could spend it inside.  Apparently, there is no issue with this, so long as the amount you have is less than 1000.  As currency collectors, we were thrilled.

Developing world rules apply for check-in at Asmara International, so get in there and hold your own in the mass of folks as you inch toward the counter.

Getting through security is the tougher bit.  You non-checked bags will be thoroughly searched before you are able to go to the departure gate.  Despite having any number of items that could be construed as blunt instruments, the man searching my bag chose to fixate on a wooden spoon I had purchased at the market that same day.  Displaying to me how he could use the object as a weapon, I pleaded with him – “It’s a gift for my mother!” “She’s the cook in my family and would so love to have such a gift from your country!”  I had almost gone the route of saying, “Dude, my laptop could do a lot more damage as a weapon,” but thankfully reconsidered my choice of words.  He allowed me to keep my spoon which, to this day, I have not given to my mother.

We spent much of our remaining Nakfa at the airport outlet of Awghet Book Shop, and departed on our plane to Cairo without incident.  And yes, we managed to take a few notes home.

Map: Useful Places and Points of Interest in Asmara, Eritrea

Ethical Considerations of Travel to Eritrea

I struggled quite a bit prior to our trip about whether travel to Eritrea was a morally sound choice.  I read voraciously about the situation in Eritrea, and there are numerous reasons why fellow travelers might have trepidation about visiting.  For one, the country has been ruled by a merciless dictator for decades.  Isaias Afwerki and his regime control all information coming in and out of Eritrea – to the point where reputable news outlets have difficulty confirming or denying events taking place inside the secretive nation.

Case in point, in October 2017, there were reports made of protests in Eritrea followed by a military crackdown that caused the deaths of 28 civilians (or more).  I happened to be corresponding with another American on the ground in Asmara at the time, who claimed to see no such protests, despite staying in the center of the city.  The government ended up issuing this statement about the protests, months after the fact.  Truth of the matter is, misinformation is spread easily in the Horn of Africa.  Immediately after the event in October 2017, David and I decided to wait and see what further events happened in Eritrea before making our final decwill ision to visit.

Luckily for those who haven’t yet been to Eritrea, the situation is improving – the easing of border tensions and establishment of diplomatic relations with its neighbors will mean more visitors from abroad.  This, in turn, means Afwerki’s regime will have more and more trouble keeping its atrocities behind closed doors (not to mention make it harder for other nations to turn a blind eye to them, as we are so fond of doing in Africa).  Yes, there is still forced undefined/indefinite military conscription in the nation, and Eritrea still ranks high in the share of refugees attempting escape abroad – but with Eritrea getting more press and visibility growing, I have high hopes that the dire situation of these wonderful, most welcoming people will improve at a rapid clip.

Now is the perfect time to visit Eritrea – while it’s still shrouded in mystery but becoming more open to outsiders.  Make sure to go informed, so you can gain the most out of your experience there.  The more you know, the better you’ll be able to spread the proverbial gospel about this most fantastic country, not just about the its amazing food, architectural wonders, and markets – but about the plight of this fledgling nation’s people and its struggle for true freedom.