Axum

Axum is one of the most culturally significant places in Ethiopia. As with much of Ethiopia, exploring this town is to walk the tightrope between facts and legends, and no doubt the local guides will try and sway you towards the latter. That’s all part of the fun.  …

Bale Mountains National Park

Ethiopia’s most important biodiversity hotspot, Bale Mountains National Park supports a rich mosaic of high-altitude habitats including lush evergreen forest, stands of giant bamboo, pastel-shaded moorland, and sheltered river valleys swathed in fragrant juniper-hagenia woodland. Nominated as a tentative UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in …

The Paleontological site of Hadar

Hadar is one of the iconic places of Ethiopia with paleontological discoveries. The Hadarpaleontological discoveries include partial skeletons of Australopithecus afarensis, a key species in human evolution. Major paleontological work began at Hadar in the early 1970s and was led by the American anthropologist Donald …

Danakil Depression

Set at the juncture of three tectonic plates, the Danakil is one of the world’s lowest-lying places, set mostly below sea level, and it officially ranks as the hottest inhabited place on earth, with an average daily maximum of 41°C. Much of the region comprises …

Lower Omo Valley

Centered on the pretty green town of Jinka, South Omo is Ethiopia’s most culturally and linguistically diverse administrative zone, supporting 16 different ethnic groups who all staunchly keep to their unique traditional costumes, customs and beliefs. The Mursi, inhabitants of South Omo are remarkable for …

Gondar

Dubbed the Camelot of Africa, the city of Gondar — the capital of Ethiopia from 1636 until the mid 19th century — combines a modern veneer with an architectural sensibility harking back to the Middle Ages. The city’s physical and architectural centerpiece is Fasil Ghebbi, …

Gheralta

Hidden away in the mountains like ancient treasures, the churches in Gheralata are described as ‘’ the greatest of the historical-cultural heritage of the Ethiopian people’’. The Gheralta Mountains chain is found deep within the northern high plateau of the Tigray region. The geography of …

Negash

The town of Negash or sometimes referred to as Al Nejash is Africa’s first Muslim settlement. During the prophet Mohammed period when the Quraysh Arab Merchant chases the prophet and his family, the prophet advised his daughter Rukiya and her husband Uthman along with their …

The Semien Mountains National park

Ethiopia’s premier trekking and walking destination, the 412km2 Simien Mountains National Park was inscribed as a Natural World Heritage Site in 1979, whereupon UNESCO lauded it as “one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes, with jagged mountain peaks deep valleys and sharp precipices dropping some …