Steps to getting your driving licence

Getting your Ethiopian driving license is an activity where your patience may be stretched, but as long as you go into it with the expectation that 'this is Africa' and things take time and many fees will need to be paid along the way then you'll probably come out of it ok! Here's how it worked out for us:


Step 1: Go to the British Embassy to have your UK driving licence authenticated. Fail this step as they claim the right person is not there on a Monday.

Step 2: Go and get passport photos done so the day doesn't feel like a complete waste of time!

Step 3: Return to the British Embassy the next day to try again. Meet a very nice couple waiting to get a marriage licence so they could get married that same afternoon! Pay some money to get some official looking stamps to say your licence is genuine.

Step 4: Head to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (past a few people with guns who want to body search us all, apart from Joshua) to have our British Embassy authentication stamp authenticated!! Pay more money, get some Ethiopian stamps to say the British Embassy stamp really was genuine.

Step 5: Take a ton of paperwork and an Amharic speaker to the Transport Office, pay more money and leave on the promise they will prepare the licence.

Step 6: Collect your license (or have someone go and collect them for you!). Oh yes, we did it! Now just for the terrifying part - the SIM driving test and actually venturing on to the streets of Addis...