"The Ethiopia Travel Company"
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Woven ceiling of a resturant in Lalibela
About Ethiopia
The calendar is eight years behind, the clock runs six hours ahead. The script is indecipherable, the language a mouthful, the word for thank-you (a-me-se-ge-nal-lo) runs to six syllables. The distances are vast and the terrain relentlessly challenging. At times the cultural divide feels cavernous, yawning as wide and unbridgeable as the Great Rift Valley. In short, Ethiopia is a country where a knowledgeable guide really can mean the difference between the trip of a lifetime and a daily assault on the senses.
But for those in search of the new and dynamic, there are few countries that boast cultures as unique and landscapes as peerless. Click on the links below to find out more about Ethiopia's landscapes, wildlife, people and history.
(Source: CIA Factbook)
Population:
Area:
Capital:
Languages:
Religions:
GDP per capita:
Literacy:
Exports:
94 million
1.1 million km²
Addis Ababa (pop. 2.83 million)
Amharic (official), Oromo, Tigrayan, Somali
Orthodox Christian, Muslim, other Christian, animism
$1,300
39% (in 2012)
Coffee, khat, gold, leather
history
people
landscapes
wildlife
Perhaps more than anywhere else in Africa, Ethiopia's rich past is conspicuous at every turn. Home to some of the earliest evidence of early humanity, it is a country of castles and emperors, folklore and faith. Central to its story is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, fountainhead of a unique version of Christianity that has some of the most devout adherents on earth.
Take a trip to Ethiopia's National Museum in Addis Ababa and you can see where it all began: with a replica of the diminutive Australopithecus skeleton affectionately known as 'Lucy', who trod Ethiopian soil 3.2 million years ago. In a country with such a long history of habitation, it's perhaps little wonder that today's Ethiopia boasts a diverse tapestry of cultures and tribal identities.
From the soaring peaks of the Great Rift Valley to the baking, volcano-studded lowlands of the Danakil Depression, Ethiopia boasts some of the most dramatic scenery in the world. Crumpled and sculpted over millennia by the Great Rift Valley, it's a place where a simple two hour bus journey can present you with a relentless series of jaw-dropping views.
The isolated plateaus of the Ethiopian highlands are a veritable evolutionary laboratory for unique wildlife. Several of the species here, including the walia ibex, Simien wolf, can be found nowhere else. Granted, it's not the place to come for African megafauna - no lions or elephants frequent these prairielands. But the animals that are here provide ample compensation.
