Usually, Ethiopia is a very safe and calm country (2003). People are very nice and their hospitality great. Less murders and burglaries happens in Addis Ababa than in peaceful Copenhagen. We were actually only warned once, and that was against pickpocketing on the Merkato - Africa's biggest open market.
Update 2025: There has been unrest in the country in recent years, so always consult the authorities' travel recommendations.
There ain't that many tourists here, eventhough the country has a lot of great treasures to watch. As Lonely Planet says it: "Go today and explore the continent's best-kept secret before its too late". It might be a bit more challeging, but extremely more rewarding than an ordinaire package holiday.
Ethiopia and Eritrea had drawn a new border in 2002 that might lead to disputes. Keep yourself informed before going there by reading the travel recommendations from e.g. Great Britain Foreign Ministry. Don't get too scared, they tend to be very careful giving recommendations.
We used Ethiopian Airlines and what we can tell is: The airplanes are great, when airbone the company is truly professional, but their planning is very African. Always remember to confirm your flight 2-3 times and at least the day before departure. Be in the airport 2-3 hours before normal check-in.
Ethiopian Airlines provides a very favourable round-trip program. If you stop over in Addis Ababa, you can continue your roundtrip to Hong Kong, Frankfurt or Washington for only a small extra fee.
Medicals
We brought: Imodium (against diarrhea), Paracetamol (bring extra, you will be able to help a local), Diamox (againt altitude sickness), Malarone (against Malaria), mosquito repelleant, plaster and bandage.
Economy
By person the trip was about EUR 870 for air-tickets including four domestic flights. Additionally we used some EUR 225 on a 6-day trip, which included a 3-day hike with transportation to the Simien Mountains National Park.
We also used some EUR 200 to pay guides, as help to beggars and buying souvenirs. We stayed for free in Addis Ababa by Jørgen, but hotels and fair restaurant food are very cheap and for EUR 45 a day you should do well.
Sustainability
Ethiopia is a poor, but very proud country that never was colonized. Only few streets in Addis Ababa are named, they live in the year 1995, have 13 months yearly. The clock goes 6 hours behind: at 6am its zero, at noon its six, at 6pm its 12. And then over againg. The mainly spoken language is Amharic, with an very unique alphabet (see the banner above, I have spelled Ethiopia in Amharic).
On your trip you will meet a lot of poor, handicaps and kids that begs for money. It is therefore a good idea to have a lot of coins to spare, so you can help a lot of people a little. Healthy kids should really be at school. Give those who really needs and help avoiding young kids to buy liquor or cigarettes. If you are going to the rural countrysite, it would be a nice thing to bring pens, as the kids need them when going to school.
The relief agency "Save the children" are represented by US, UK, Norway, Sweden and Denmark in Ethiopia. They all work together in project providing basic schooling for little kids. Eventhough public schools are free, very few of them are present in the rural ares. The parents often can't understand why their children should leave work to attend school. This is where Save the children does the difference, as well in Aids information and working against female circumcision. Support the organisations that helps the wonderful people in this nice country.
References
Here you'll find some of the Internet sources we used in our planning and underway.
Lonely Planet: Maybe the best guide books in the world. Unfortunately their success lead to the fact, that every tourist visits the same places.
Bootsnall.com: An English written site for backpackers with lots of advices and stories from travellers all over the world.
Ethiopian Airlines: Use their site to find a travel agent. We used Express, as they have offices in Denmark and Addis Ababa.
Save the Children: One of the important relief agencies in Ethiopia. Save the children US, UK, Denmark, Sweden and Norway works together providing basic schools, informing about AIDS and working against circumcision.