Considerations
Currency
The currency used in Eritrea is the Nakfa. The Nakfa is pegged to the dollar, at a rate of $1 USD to 15 Nakfa. At the time of writing (01/2020) £1 GBP will return around 19 Nakfa, and €1 EUR will return around 16 Nakfa. Denominations of the Nakfa are notes of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100, and cents of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50.
All foreign currencies can be exchanged within Eritrea. This can either be done at the Commercial Bank of Eritrea, or at official exchanges such as the Himbol exchanges, which can be found in Asmara airport and larger cities.
If you are bringing foreign currency exceeding the value of $10,000, this must be declared upon entry.
Electricity
Eritrean plug sockets have a standard voltage of 230V and are compatible with C and L type plugs. C type plugs are known as the standard European type plug, and L type plugs are like the European plug but with an extra pin in the middle of the two outer ones.
Water
It is not recommended to drink any water that is not purified bottled water. Whilst most places will do this already, make sure that at restaurants any water served is from a freshly opened bottle.
Language and Greetings
The most widely spoken language in Eritrea is Tigrinya. Arabic and English also widely spoken and there are some that still speak Italian, mainly amongst elderly groups.
Typical greetings include: “Selam”, which technically means “peace” but is commonly used as the equivalent way of saying “hello”. You might also hear and say “kemey alogha” or “aloghi” for females, (pronounced keh-may, alo-ha/he) which is Tigrinya for “how are you?”, in response you might say “tsebuk” (tse-bok), which means “good”. Yes is “u’weh” (oo-weh) and “no” is widely used. Goodbye can be said in a number of ways, but “ciao” is acceptable. Handshakes are perfectly acceptable ways to greet and some small talk is always a polite way to start conversations. More common terms can be found here.
Religion
Eritrea is fairly evenly split between Muslim religions and forms of Christianity and despite the differences in these two religions, both groups live together very peacefully. Please make sure to respect these religions at all times whilst in Eritrea.
Photography
We understand that there are many beautiful things to see in Eritrea, and we encourage you to capture these moments and keep them as memories, but there are a few guidelines when it comes to photography. You should avoid taking photographs of government buildings or other official sites. If you are a professional journalist, writer or researcher etc… you need to obtain formal permits from the Ministry of Information to take photographs. And like anywhere, not everyone likes to be photographed. Therefore, if you are taking photos of people please be sure that they are comfortable with this, if you are unsure then ask.