https://www.scmp.com/rss/322344/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com In the middle of the departure hall stands a sign. On it is an arrow pointing to the right – “Domestic” – and one pointing to the left – “Cross-border”. Djibouti-bound passengers turn left. Since January, the new Addis Ababa to Djibouti City railway line has been carrying passengers between the Ethiopian capital and the coastal capital of its diminutive but strategically important neighbour. The 728km line is a joint venture involving the governments of the two countries and China, which built... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2177559/board-chinese-built-ethiopia-djibouti-train-lesson?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2177559/board-chinese-built-ethiopia-djibouti-train-lesson?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Dec 2018 08:00:45 +0000 Lying far to Ethiopia’s east, near the border with Somaliland and Somalia, and surrounded by dusty plains and low hills, Dire Dawa’s slow-burn delights are easily overlooked. Nearby Harar, with its ancient walled inner sanctum and hyena men, hogs the limelight – not entirely unjustifi­ably – and most visitors immediately return to Addis Ababa, the national capital, 500km to the west. What they are missing is a surpri­sing mix of Arab, French, Italian and Greek architecture, a rare international... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2135218/chinese-railway-draws-tourists-dire-dawa-ethiopian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2135218/chinese-railway-draws-tourists-dire-dawa-ethiopian?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Mar 2018 02:45:00 +0000 Not that long ago, Djibouti was known for little more than French legionnaires, atrocious heat and being at the other end of a railway line to Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia. English novelist Evelyn Waugh was appalled by its “intolerable desolation”, declaring it a “country of dust and boulders, utterly devoid of any sign of life”. Nowadays, however, this tiny republic of about 900,000 people on the Horn of Africa has grand plans to establish itself on the global stage. And international powers are... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2099090/will-djibouti-poised-between-timeless-past-and-flashy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2099090/will-djibouti-poised-between-timeless-past-and-flashy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jun 2017 07:30:56 +0000 Rather surprisingly, as a Briton, I feel at home in Hargeisa, the ram­bunc­tious capital of Somaliland, a country that doesn’t legally exist. It is partly because the locals gather for tea and a slice of cake in the afternoon, but also because I find myself being hailed by Somalilanders with distinctly London accents. “What brings you here, mate? Good to see ya!” proclaims one returned diaspora man, leaning out of his car window. Glorious past: Ethiopia abounds in sacred sites and places of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2029380/welcome-limbo-somaliland-country-never-was?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2029380/welcome-limbo-somaliland-country-never-was?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Oct 2016 07:00:30 +0000 In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, just beyond the front door to the home of 88-year-old British historian Richard Pankhurst, hangs a black and white photo of his mother, Sylvia. The famous suffragette is wearing an elaborate Edwardian dress with sleeves to her wrists, beneath a simple heading: "Votes for Women". On a wall in the sitting room hangs a tapestry that reveals a side to Sylvia Pankhurst - daughter of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst - that is less well known than her... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1925790/sylvia-pankhurst-suffragette-patriots-grave-ethiopia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1925790/sylvia-pankhurst-suffragette-patriots-grave-ethiopia?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:00:45 +0000