Visit Ethiopia: 9 Reasons to Add It to Your List

The conundrum of Ethiopia is its genuine fascination and yet its shortlist of travel destinations is so small it barely registers. But neighbouring countries have stolen the spotlight on the East African safari conversation, and Ethiopia has something that’s arguably even more interesting: a country defined by its own alphabet, its own calendar, and thousands of years of unbroken history, all nestled in landscapes from lush highland plateaus to some of the most extreme on the planet. If you’re considering travelling to Ethiopia here are 9 reasons that make it worth much more than you give it credit for.

1. Experience a safari that few people have attempted!

Avoid the overcrowded jeep safaris of the traditional safari route. Three to four hours from Addis Ababa, you will find Awash National Park, which offers Rift Valley wildlife like beisa oryx, warthogs, gazelles, kudus and crocodiles, as well as volcanic landscape around the dormant Mount Fentale and the roaring Awash Falls. It’s established, but still not that well known internationally, and as the oldest national park in Ethiopia, you can enjoy its tracks without having to fight for a space to view the scenery from every vantage point. It is also one of the best birdwatching destinations in the country and has more than 400 species recorded, so if you have binoculars along with your camera, you can enjoy birding here too.

2. It’s a species found nowhere else in the world.

Almost all safaris offer you a range of the same common animals. Ethiopia is different. Its unique topography, from Rift Valley lowlands to Afro alpine moorland has evolved a unique assemblage of endemic animals not found anywhere else. The Ethiopian wolf is the most endangered canid in the world, and feeds in the highlands of the Bale and Simien Mountains. Found nearly exclusively in Ethiopia, the gelada baboon has a prominent red chest patch and assembles in troops of hundreds. If you’re into ticking species you can’t find anywhere else, few countries offer this much.

3. It is its Trekking Rivals Anywhere in Africa.

The Simien Mountains UNESCO World Heritage Site is a multi-day trek through rugged peaks and dramatic escarpments, often compared to the Grand Canyon. Unlike other high altitude trekking areas, what makes this place so special is the wildlife associated with the trek, the possibility of spotting a distant Ethiopian wolf and the possibility of finding gelada troops grazing metres away from the trail. Further south, the Bale Mountains and the Sanetti Plateau at high altitude on the plateau have no quite as thrilling and still have a good chance of seeing the wolf, if not as good.

4. Architecture that looks impossible until you see it in person.

The 11 churches of Lalibela were carved out of solid volcanic rock in the 12th- and 13th-century, one of the most astounding architectural achievements in the world. These churches are not like many ancient sites which appear lifeless and frozen in time – they are still in use today and a major religious festival makes them more of a living, breathing place than they would otherwise be.

5. A Calendar and Culture That Runs On Its Own Clock, Literally.

Ethiopia has its own calendar, 7 – 8 years earlier than the rest of the world, and its own system of time-keeping, as well as its own script, Ge’ez. It is a minor fact that tells a great deal about the country: Ethiopia grew up mostly in isolation, and they fought successfully against all the European colonialists, notably at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. For tourists, this means a culture that is truly unique rather than an extension of something more familiar.

6. Coffee, The Way It Was Always Meant to Be Experienced.

It is a generally accepted fact that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and no other place can offer you as much experience of it as this. The traditional coffee ceremony involves roasting the green beans over a fire, grinding the beans with a hand mill and using a clay jebena pot – a relaxed ritual of hospitality that can take up to an hour and includes three cups of coffee. It’s not about the drink so much as the break it provides, a real chance to see life as it happens in Ethiopia, which you can only get in much of the world.

7. Landscapes that feel like a different planet.

The Danakil Depression is a place for the extreme travellers. It’s one of the hottest and lowest places on the planet and offers an out-of-this-world electric yellow and green sulphur springs, vast salt flats to the horizon, and the rarely visited and accessible lava lake of the Erta Ale volcano. It’s a strenuous journey, both physically and logistically: The landscape here is quite different from the vast majority of the planet, much more like the imagined alien terrain, than anything normally associated with East Africa.

8. Cultural Diversity – Lived, Not Performed.

In the deep south of Ethiopia, a distance from which no sea stretches out its arms, live an incredible variety of original communities such as the Mursi, the Hamar and the Karo, with different traditions, ceremonies and body art handed down through the ages. These are traditional practices that are a part of everyday life as opposed to staged cultural activities at other destinations. Responsible visiting, often with the help of a tour guide who genuinely values the diversity of culture, is a rare and valuable opportunity to experience cultural diversity which is becoming increasingly difficult to find elsewhere in the world.

9. It’s Where the Human Story Effectively Begins

The Afar region of Ethiopia is home to ” Lucy,” one of the most important early human ancestors ever found, which was discovered in 1974 and changed our perception of human evolution. Mix that with the huge stone obelisks of the ancient Aksumite Empire at Axum and the imperial castles of Gondar, and Ethiopia has a rare thread that stretches from the very beginning of human history to centuries of unbroken visible civilisation – not just limited to museum exhibits, but alive and well in the country’s living landscape.

A Case for Visiting Ethiopia Now!

Curiosity is a virtue that is increasingly being valued in Ethiopia. It’s not a place to just check off on the list, but a place that puts ancient history, rare wildlife, extreme landscape and true cultural depth all into one trip and without all the crowds at the more heavily marketed places. This is a country that can’t help but overwhelm the few who come with expectations of any kind, from the animals of Awash National Park to trekking in the Simien Mountains to the proper cup of coffee.

Make a travel plan to Ethiopia.

These 9 reasons might make you want to visit Ethiopia, and we can customize your trip to fit your interests, be it wildlife or trekking, history or culture. Contact us today to begin planning!