BAG TIME

Young street hawkers in Addis Abeba seem to pick different items for different times of the season. Who makes or coordinates this decision? And how come they all seem to carry the same items? No one knows for sure, but backpacks are the pick of the week.


BAG TIME

Young street hawkers in Addis Abeba seem to pick different items for different times of the season. Who makes or coordinates this decision? And how come they all seem to carry the same items? No one knows for sure, but backpacks are the pick of the week.

[ssba-buttons]

In-Picture

UNCOVERED WILDERNESS

The long-shuttered plot at Mexico Square finally breathes again as fences come down, revealing a vast open space once hidden from public view earmarked for Abyssinia Bank's future headquarters. The site now stretches bare and sunlit, drawing curious passersby, midday loungers, and a lone umbrella-shaded onlooker. In a city of concrete and congestion, even temporary emptiness feels like a quiet revolution. It now showcases a wilderness in the middle of the busy streets of Mexico...


In-Picture

GO SEEK

Minalesh Tera, one of Addis Abeba's busiest and most chaotic markets, draws hundreds if not thousands daily in search of cheaper essentials. Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds navigate narrow, dusty paths between makeshift stalls, where vendors hawk everything from onions and engine parts to plasticware and traditional remedies. It's a sensory overload and a lifeline rolled into one, an open-air maze where the practical meets the unexpected, and affordability drives the city's daily grind...


In-Picture

TERMINAL TREASURES

From left: Jantirar Abay, Deputy Mayor and Head of the Industry Bureau; Ayderus H.M. Farag, CEO of Alfarag Trading PLC; and Getaneh Adera, Acting CEO of Ethiopian Airports, chat during the opening of Alfarag's refurbished duty-free shops at Bole International Airport on June 18, 2025. The two stores, located in Terminal 2's Departure Hall, span 1,000sqm. Alfarag, established in Dire Dawa in 1923, became Ethiopia's first private duty-free retailer in 2003...