Review of Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Mogadishu in Economy

Intro

Welcome to the very first review on the internet of flying an airline to Mogadishu. Due to how obscure the destination is, this will be written slightly differently from one of my standard reviews.

Following an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Dakar to Addis Ababa, and a relatively sleepless night at the Ethiopian Airlines Skylight Hotel, it was finally time to embark on my mission to Somalia. 

There are a number of reasons why I chose to visit Mogadishu.

1. I am attempting to be the youngest man to visit every country in the world. 
2. I have long been fascinated by Somalia through stories and movies. I always said one day I would visit 
3. At the time I went, Mogadishu had been doing a lot better safety-wise, so I saw a window of opportunity. 
4. I thoroughly enjoy off-the-beaten-path destinations 
5. Countless more reasons

The night before was a rough one. Nerves filled my body, wondering if my mission to visit every country in the world was worth it or not. Wondering if I would make it home to see my family again. Obviously, it's quite mentally challenging to visit a place where the only information you have is from the media, and we know that the media is not always accurate. But is is my choice and I made the decision. Spoiler: it is not one I regret. 

Routing

So, what happened? Here is the story.

Addis Ababa Airport

I was sleeping for 2 hours when staff from the hotel came banging on my door as I was just about to leave. For peace of mind, I messaged my family members, took a couple of deep breaths, and exited my room.

The bus was waiting outside to pick up departing passengers, and within minutes, I was in the main terminal of Addis Ababa. 

A quick stamp of the passport, and I was on my way to the departures area. Sick from the iron ore and coughing up blood, the first order of business was getting some cough medicine. 

And, of course, some food. The one aspect I thoroughly dislike about the Addis Ababa airport is how expensive the food is. 25 USD for some chicken tenders and fries is mental. 

8:00 am soon came about, and it was time to head over to the gate. From my experience, we were one of the lucky ones, as most 737s are assigned to remote stands. Today, we had a gate. 

When I arrived at the gate area, the first aspect that came to my attention was that the plane was in an all-white livery. Ethiopian Airlines flies twice daily flights from Addis Ababa to Mogadishu with these fully white liveries, and they also fly to the likes of Port Sudan, Juba (as I just flew), Kinshasa, and the more off-the-beaten-path destinations. 

Boarding

Boarding commenced at 8:30 am for our scheduled 9:00 am departure. I scanned the area to see the community of people traveling to Mogadishu today and saw a couple of people of caucasian descent. That was fantastic until I realized they all had UN passports. From what I observed on the ground and on the plane, I would be the only Western tourist on the flight to Mogadishu today.

Stepping up to the plane, the mandatory 5 touches of the fuselage for good luck was in order. I realized that this was the point of no return. After all of the months of planning and hard work, the time had now come.

Strolling past the business class cabin, which has certainly seen better days, I quickly found my seat in economy. 

The flight was filled to the brim with not a single seat open in economy and very few open in business class. As I settled into my seat, two Somalis sat next to me, striking up a conversation in the local language.

The Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 offers a decent amount of legroom as well as a sturdy tray table. 

The flight to Mogadishu is unlike one I have ever experienced. Boarding was wrapped up by 8:45 am, and the doors were closed 5 minutes later. However, we ended up pushing it back to 9:15 am, and my guess is that they wanted to minimize the time the plane spent on the ground in Somalia.  

The Flight

Taxiing past one of the four Ethiopian Airlines 777-300ERs, I finally realized, "holy s**t, I am actually going to Somalia. Am I st*pid? Crazy? Adevntrous? All of the above? The only one I am certain of is crazy".

We began our backtaxi as I checked my texts for the last time until I would be back in Ethiopia. 16 minutes after pushback, we rolled out of Addis Ababa in fashion. 

For those unfamiliar with the situation in Somalia, one of the reasons I booked the trip is that, at the time, Mogadishu, or Xamar, had been doing a lot better in the years past. Unfortunately, two attacks took place in the capital some weeks after I left… Somalia is known to be a bit safer towards the South compared to the North, and thus, our routing took us more toward the Kenyan border (at least what I think).

25 minutes after takeoff, the crew came around to hand out meals and a drink of choice. Physically quite sick, as well as a touch nauseous from nerves, I just asked for a bottle of water. Side note: I had no idea Somalia was a dry country before going.

Somehow, I must have dozed off, as I woke up with the whole cabin chatting loudly as I saw the first sight of the beautiful Somali waters. I've been to a lot of beautiful places on the beach in my life, but the water in Somalia is the most beautiful in the whole world.

Interestingly, the cabin was very noisy, with people talking and laughing most of the flight. It wasn't a problem at all, in fact was awesome to see. But here I was, a nervous Geedi (traveler in Somali) around, laughing and smiling. A stark contrast.

I mean, this water is unbelievable… 

The next interesting part that I noticed is that we passed over the Mogadishu airport to the South at a flight level of 12,000 feet. Following that, we made our final approach over the ocean instead of land. I have to assume, and I could be very wrong, that is so the pilots can get a visual of the on-the-ground situation as well as ATC clearing the Max 8 to land. 

And for safety as well I presume.

Arrival

This is it: from all the movies and stories I've heard about Somalia, I was landing in the capital city of the Pirate Capital of the world (just the way media puts it, its actually quite the opposite as I'll show you). It's time.

The final approach to Mogadishu was like none I have ever experienced. Waves crashing upon the turquoise water. One moment, you are over the most gobsmacking ocean, and the next, the edge of the 10,000-foot runway comes into sight. 

BEAUTIFUL

Touching down on the sole runway, you could see the hundreds of aircraft in line to take off. I'm joking; there are few flights a day into Mogadishu apart from the number of UN and WFP planes, as you can see partially in this picture below. 

Visa

Somalia is visa on arrival for those wondering. But you must have an invitation letter. 

For obvious reasons and not wanting to cause any suspicions, I did not take any pictures of the airport on arrival. I did it in the next report, so stay tuned for that.

Stepping off the plane through the remote stand, I was greeted by the basking sun of West Africa. It was a beautiful day to be alive, but I knew that this next part would be crucial.

I had heard a report online that immigration would often take Western passports away and demand money for the return (more media fed). However, due to my invitation letter and the person who arranged the tour, this was never an issue as he seemed well-connected with the staff. I paid 42$ for the visa and 18$ for the "government fee" (as shown on the receipt). "Government fee", sureeeeeeeee it is.

My guide met me after immigration, and we made our way out of the Mogadishu airport with no issues whatsoever. Stepping into a 125,000 USD Japanese imported bulletproof Toyota Hilux, this would be a trip to remember.

Tourism Bonus

I have not properly written about this for my blog yet, and I will share more of a tourism bonus on the return flight, but wanted to share a quick look into Xamar. 

It is mandatory for all Western visitors to have armed escorts. My bulletproof vehicle featured a guide, a driver, and two policemen sitting in the back of the truck. 

Nearby to the airport is what is called a "green zone". This is where every embassy is (but the Turkish) and is controlled with checkpoints every 200 meters or so. The checkpoints are ran from foreign armies such as Uganda and Kenyan to name a few. 

The security holdup outside of the Mogadishu Airport…

It's perhaps the most fortified place I have ever been in my life. Each checkpoint can take up to 10 minutes as the army goes through each car head to toe. 

Outside of the green zone is a different world as you are now in the world filled with the real Somalia and the hustle and bustle of Mogadishu. Extreme corruption is the bad side, but there is also a beautiful side to Xamar. Tuktuks fill the streets as people are trying to get to work, fisherman come in to sell their fish, and kids are playing football on the beach. 

Someone once told me the saying, "the nicest places get dealt the Sh***iest hands" and this is prime resemblance. In front of you is the most beautiful ocean I've ever seen, and look the other direction is a building that has once suffered attacks (not the lighthouse). 

Stay tuned for the next tourism bonus of Somalia as I visited the largest fish market in the country, had had an amazing lunch on the beach, got pulled over by police twice in 30 minutes, and went swimming in the saltiest ocean ever!!

Although it might be a while until I get there, as I have to now write about my experience in Somalia! Hope you enjoyed this FR into a country which is rarely seen 🙂🇸🇴.