Service
Location Scouting and Recce in Ethiopia
Photographic scout packages with access, light, travel-time and permission notes for every location, delivered before you lock a schedule.
Short answer
Film Ethiopia scouts locations across all of Ethiopia's regional states and delivers a photographic recce package before you commit to a schedule. Each location report includes wide and detail stills, GPS coordinates, sun path and best shooting window, drive times from the nearest base, access and vehicle notes, power and mobile coverage, permission requirements and likely fees, plus two alternatives in the same travel radius. Remote scouting for locations you have already identified can be turned around in a few days without you flying in.
Scout before you schedule, not after
Ethiopia is deceptive on a map. Two locations that look ninety minutes apart can be a six-hour drive on a road that fails in the rains, and the church you want will be closed for the saint's day that falls in the middle of your shoot week. A schedule built from satellite images and stock photography will break on day two.
Our recce reports are written for a first assistant director, not for a tourist brochure. They tell you when the light lands on the face of the rock, whether a five-tonne truck can reach the ridge, where the nearest fuel and clinic are, which local authority controls access, and what it will cost.
What is in a scout package
- Wide, medium and detail stills, plus video walk-throughs where useful
- GPS coordinates, altitude and a pin you can drop into your own map
- Sun path, golden hour times and the best shooting window for the location
- Drive time and road condition from the nearest crew base and airstrip
- Vehicle access, parking, unit base and generator placement
- Mains power, mobile and data coverage, and nearest medical facility
- Who controls access, what permission is needed and the likely fee
- Ambient noise, crowd pressure and control considerations
- Two comparable alternatives within the same travel radius
Remote scouting and director recces
If you cannot travel, we scout on your behalf and deliver the package digitally, then walk you through it on a call. If you can travel, we plan and run a director and DoP recce: flights, vehicles, accommodation, local permissions for the recce itself, and a schedule that lets you see the maximum in the minimum number of days.
We also keep a library of stills and reference footage from previous shoots across the country, which often answers a question in an afternoon instead of a week.
Location Scouting and Recce in Ethiopia
Questions producers ask
How quickly can you scout a location in Ethiopia?
Can you scout without us travelling to Ethiopia?
Do you cover the whole country?
Related services
Often booked together
Filming Permits in Ethiopia
We identify, apply for and hold every permission your shoot needs: federal media authorisation, regional approvals, heritage and national park access, church and community consent, and press accreditation.
Drone Permits and Aerial Filming in Ethiopia
Aerial permissions, security clearances, no-fly assessment, licensed local pilots and in-country drone equipment, planned as a dedicated workstream with a ground-camera fallback.
Customs Clearance for Film Equipment in Ethiopia
Manifest preparation, temporary import and carnet guidance, clearing agent appointment, Bole airport attendance on arrival and departure, and re-export reconciliation.
Start a production
Tell us what you are trying to shoot
Send dates, regions, crew size and a paragraph about the film. You will get an itemised, honest answer within one working day — and we will tell you if something is not going to work.