ETHIOPIA, AFRICA - TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATION & SAFARI GUIDE

TRAVEL READING ON AFRICA:

Ethiopia Travel Guide

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country (after the independence of Eritrea in 1993) situated in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea on the north, Sudan in the west, Kenya in the south, Djibouti in the northeast, and Somalia in the east. The second-most populous African nation, Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world, and the only African nation to have enjoyed continuous sovereignty throughout and beyond the Scramble for Africa, excepting a brief occupation in World War II.  Often regarded as the "Cradle of Humanity" for the peerlessly ancient traces of humanity unearthed there, Ethiopia is also the second oldest Christian nation, having maintained its Christian character since the 4th century AD.

Paradise Lost   by Susan Scharfman

Since the murder in 1975 of the emperor, strangled in the basement of his palace, Ethiopia has seesawed from absolute rule by a God-King, to Marxist/Military totalitarianism to the present Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia with a Constitution. Though tribal blood feuds do exist in parts of the country, the U.S. has an embassy in Addis Ababa, and you can check the State Department's travel alerts.

The Last Emperor

A tiny man with a title larger than himself, "Emperor Haile Selassi I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia" proclaimed himself the direct descendant of Menilek I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Each Christmas Day, the emperor opened his palace to foreign embassy bigwigs for tea and sweets while his pet lions strolled around the gardens. I got to go only because I was taking photos for an official brochure. Can you imagine tea with Haile Selassi? I lived near the palace and went to bed each night to the screech of peacocks and the roar of those noisy cats.

To experience the geological diversity of the land you only have to fly into the 8,000-foot high capital. The mountains and plateaus seem to rise up to meet you. Eucalyptus forests, high canyons, steep gorges, scrub desert and ice-cold lakes are secret untamed places for hikers, climbers and happy campers. You'll find yourself eating Injera and Wat with your fingers. Injera is baked from a sourdough batter and placed on your tabletop like a gigantic pancake. Wat is the stew that's served in the middle of the Injera. You tear off a piece of Injera and use it to scoop up the fiery stew (chicken, meat or vegetables). You don't want to find yourself on the other end of a meal. At the Sudanese border, the Baro River teems with crocodiles. Sadly, I lost a friend there. See http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2001/0101/101cllook.html

Hyena Man

The Blue Nile Falls

Swooping low on the first run, I nearly lost my breakfast, but I asked him to do it again for a closer shot. Staring up at me through the tree branches of the surrounding rainforest was the white-fringed face of a silky black and white long-tailed monkey. Hunted to near extinction for its beautiful coat, the Colobus Monkey, the only kind of its species without a thumb, is an endangered acrobatic marvel of grace and elegance.

Mist from the thundering waters creates a rainbow bridge to the sun. I was snapping photos when bullets began tearing through the fuselage, zapping Walt in his bottom. We couldn't see the shooters but we knew they wanted the Cessna. Despite terrible pain, the seasoned pilot wasn't going to let them have it. Shouting obscenities over my prayers, he managed to hold on to the faltering plane while the floorboards soaked up his blood. We arrived in Bahir Dar with Walt's pride as wounded as his anatomy. After medical attention and a few belts of Jack Daniels, the bush pilot was on cloud nine.

Rock Churches of Lalibela

Ethiopian Airways' hotshot pilots take off and land on postage stamp plateaus. A short flight from Addis is the tiny town of Lalibela whose airport terminal, in my time, was a tin roofed hut. Never mind. Hidden under ground are eleven monolithic churches carved from rock. Built in the thirteenth century, the churches are holy places of Ethiopian Christian pilgrimage. I had to crawl down into the subterranean spaces on my hands and knees. Once inside, I was in the Middle Ages. A priest with a torch stood in the darkness guarding an altar and religious wall paintings. He looked like he'd been standing there for 500 years! Monks tell you the Ark of the Covenant is similarly hidden in a monastery in the ancient city of Axum, where Queen Sheba stayed in the 10th century B.C. Someone should tell Steven Spielberg.

"Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul"®

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Ethiopia: Ancient Churches, Semitic Culture, and the Amharic Language  by Jacob Lumbroso

Ethiopia however, is probably known for its historic place in early Christianity. The town of Lalibela, for example,  is among Ethiopia's holy cities and is renown for a series of beautifully constructed rock-hewn churches. As a sacred site, Lalibela is second only to the city of Askum.  The most famous of these churches is Bete Giryorgis.

The overwhelming majority of the population are members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and of Amhara ethnicity. The layout of Lalibela is argued to reflect that of buildings in Jerusalem. This is partly attributable to the residence of Gebre Mesqel Lalibela in Jerusalem in his youth.  Gebre eventually rose to rule Ethiopia in the late 12th and 13th centuries CE.

The fall of Jerusalem to Muslims in 1187, is the second reason that Lalibela reflects patterns of Jerusalem. Biblical names are found throughout the region. The first European to see these churches was the Portuguese explorer Pêro da Covilhã  followed by the explorer Franscisco Alvares in the 1520s. Roughly three hundred years passed until Gerhard Rohlfs, another European explorer visited Lalibela somewhere between 1865 and 1870.

Lalibela is home to 12 rock-hewn churches. They include Bete Medhane Alem, home to the Lalibela Cross,  Bete Maryam, Bete Golgotha (known for its arts and said to contain the tomb of King Lalibela), the Selassie Chapel, the Tomb of Adam, Bete Giyorgis, arguably the best preserved church, Bete Amanuel, Bete Merkorios, Bete Abba Libanos and Bete Gabriel-Rufael.

The Ethiopian connections with Jerusalem and Semitic culture are further highlighted when remembering that Semitic languages, of which Amharic is one, represent a family of languages spoken by more than 300 million people across the Middle East, North Africa, and the horn of Africa. After Arabic, Amharic is the second most spoken Semitic language in the world.

The Amharic language is spoken by the Amhara, an ethnic group in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The Amhara comprise approximately 30 percent of the population, with about 27 million speakers. An additional 7-15 million people speak it as a second language. It has been the working language of government institutions, the military, and of the Ethiopic Orthodox church.

In addition to Ethiopia, Amharic is also the language of some 2.7 million emigrants. The largest population of émigrés live in Egypt, Israel, and Sweden.

Increasing numbers of Ethiopians and Eritreans have also emigrated to the United States. The Amharic language is also spoken in Eritrea by some Eritreans as a vestige of past years when Eritrea was part of the Ethiopia.

About the Author:- Jacob Lumbroso is a world traveler and an enthusiast for foreign languages, history, and foreign cultures. He writes articles on history and languages for http://www.thelanguagechronicle.com and has used Pimsleur courses to learn various languages.