Ethiopia Is A Land Of Wonder

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

This is the land of the fabled Queen of Sheba, home of the Ark of the Covenant, the birthplace of coffee. 'Lucy: the world's oldest known almost-complete hominid skeleton, more than three million years old, was discovered here.

Ethiopia has so much to offer visitors: the Historic Route, covering the ancient town of Axum, with its amazing carved obelisks, Christian festivals and relics, including the Ark of the Covenant; Gondar, with its castles and palaces; Lalibela, with its remarkable rock-hewn churches; Negash, one of the earliest holy Muslim centres from the Prophet Muhammad Era with the Negash Amedin Mesgid; the walled Muslim city of Harar and Lega Oda, near Dire Dawa where you can see cave paintings considered to be thousands of years old.

Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile, is the largest lake with 37 islands and the Monasteries like Kibran Gebriel and Kidanemhiret dating back to 14th century. The Great Rift Valley lakes, many with national parks, is home to a wealth of bird and animal life. The high, rugged, Simien Mountains in the north and the Bale mountains in the southeast are also home to some unique wildlife and rich flora, and are ideal for trekking, whilst some of Ethiopia's fast-flowmg rivers are becoming famous for white-water rafting.

There are eleven national parks and four sanctuaries where 277 species of wildlife and more than 850 species of birds can be seen. The Simien Mountains National Park is registered by UNESCO as a world heritage site and is home to three of the endemic mammals, Walia Ibex, Gelada Baboon and Abyssinian Wolf. Ras Dashen, the fourth highest peak in Africa with an altitude of 4,620 metres, is also located within the National Park.

Other National Parks include Bale Mountains and Abijatta-Shalla in Oromia, Nech Sar, Mago and Omo National Parks in the south and Yangudi Rasa in Afar, Gambella National park in Gambella, as well as Awash in both Oromia and Afar Regions.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's friendly and safe capital city, has so much to offer, too, with its first-class hotels and restaurants, museums and palaces, and good shopping, which includes the Mercato - Africa's largest open-air market.

Ethiopia is a mosaic of people with more than 80 languages, different lifestyles, costumes and cultural dances. People's livelihoods vary from pastoralists and farmers to factory workers, business people and academics.

Ethiopia has been called 'the land of a thousand smiles'. Visit us and you can be sure of a great welcome, a memorable holiday, and the experience of a lifetime.

 Some less known but amazing facts of Ethiopia:

• Ethiopia is the cradle of human kind

• Coffee is Ethiopia’s gift to the rest of the world

• Ethiopia has its own Alphabet, Numeric and Calendar

• Ethiopia has never colonized

• Ethiopia is the second country to accept Christianity as official religion

• Ethiopia has 9 UNESCO registered world heritage sites

• Ethiopia is mentioned many times both in the holy Bible and holy Qur’an

• Ethiopia is the land of the great long distance runners

• Ethiopians are the pioneers to use a tool before 2.8 million years ago

• Ethiopia is the fourth largest biodiversity zone in the world

• Where the original Ark of the Covenant is found

• More than 70% of Africa’s maintains found in Ethiopia

• The source of the great blue Nile river which contribute 85% of the Nile river

• Preserves the piece of true cross on which Jesus Christ is believed to have been crucified

• The Great Rift Valley which is the only geographical feature of planet earth visible from the moon, cuts Ethiopia in to two crossing the country from top to bottom

• The single tallest monument ever erected by humanity in the BC is found (Axum)

• Ert’ale is one of the few places on planet earth where one can see active, live, continued and dramatic volcanic eruption

• Has more unique species of flora than any other country in Africa

• The sun dictates the Ethiopian time, when you get up early in the morning you start by counting one and you end up at twelve when the day ends, and start counting again from one when the night begins and end at twelve o’clock just before the sun rises in the morning. The Ethiopian midday and midnight is six o’clock.

• Is the only country in the world that prophet Mohamed declared to be free from jihad.

• Overview of Ethiopian history which plays important role in growth of tourism:

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. What are believed to be the oldest remains of a human ancestor ever found, which have been dated as being some five million years old, were discovered in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia. This beats the discovery of "Lucy", a 3.2 million year old skeleton, who was unearthed in the same area in 1974.

The Greek historian Herodotus, of the fifth century BC, describes ancient Ethiopia in his writings, while the Bible's Old Testament records the Queen of Sheba's visit to Jerusalem where "she proved Solomon with hard questions". Matters clearly went further than that because legend asserts that King Menelik - the founder of the Ethiopian Empire - was the son of the Queen and Solomon.

Remains of the Queen of Sheba’s palace can still be seen today in Axum, in the province of Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Axum is also home to many other extensive historical sites, including the home of the Ark of the Covenant, brought there from Jerusalem by Menelik.

Missionaries from Egypt and Syria reached Ethiopia in the fourth century and introduced Christianity. In the seventh century, the rise of Islam meant Ethiopia was then isolated from European Christianity. The Portuguese re-established contact with Ethiopia in the 1500s primarily to strengthen their control over the Indian Ocean and to convert Ethiopia to Roman Catholicism. A century of religious conflict followed resulting in the expulsion of all foreign missionaries in the 1630s.

This period of bitter conflict contributed to Ethiopian hostility towards foreign Christians and Europeans which persisted until the twentieth century and was a factor in Ethiopia's isolation until the middle of the nineteenth century.

From the 1700s, for roughly 100 years, there was no central power in Ethiopia. This "Era of the Princes" was characterised by the turmoil caused by local rulers competing against each other. In 1869, however, Emperor Tewodros brought many of the princes together, and was a significant unifying force. He was succeeded by Emperor Yohannes, who built upon the efforts made by Tewodros, as well as beating off invasion attempts by the Dervish and the Sudanese.

Emperor Menelik II reigned from 1889 to 1913, fending off the encroachment of European powers. Italy posed the greatest threat, having begun to colonise part of what would become its future colony of Eritrea in the mid 1880s. In 1896 Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa, which remains famous today as the first victory of an African nation over a colonial power.

In 1916, the Christian nobility deposed the sitting king, Lij Iyassu because of his Muslim sympathies and made his predecessor's, (King Menelik 11 1889 - 1913), daughter, Zewditu, Empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen (1892-1975) was appointed regent and successor to the throne.

Zewditu died in 1930, after which the regent - adopting the name Haileselassie - became Emperor. His reign was interrupted in 1936 when Italian forces briefly invaded and occupied Ethiopia. Haileselassie then appealed to the League of Nations, but that appeal fell on deaf ears and he fled to exile in the UK, where he spent five years until the Ethiopian patriotic resistance forces with the help of the British defeated the Italians and he returned to his throne.

Haileselassie then reigned until 1974 when he was deposed and a provisional council of soldiers (the Derg, meaning committee) seized power and installed a government which was socialist in name and military in style. Fifty nine members of the Royal Family and ministers and generals from the Imperial Government were summarily executed. Haile Selassie himself was strangled in the basement of his palace in August 1975.

Major Mengistu Haile Mariam assumed power as head of state and Derg chairman after having his two predecessors killed. His years in office were marked by a totalitarian style government and the country's massive militarisation financed and supplied by the Soviet Union and assisted by Cuba.

The brutality of the regime over a period of 17 years - aided by droughts and famine - hastened the Derg's collapse.

Insurrections occurred throughout Ethiopia, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. In 1989, the Tigrayan People's Liberation front (TPLF) merged with the Amhara and Oromo liberation fronts (EPDM & OPDO) to form the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In May 1991, the EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa forcing Mengistu to flee to Zimbabwe.

In 1991, the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was set up from the EPRDF and other political parties in the country with an 87 strong Council of Representatives and a transitional constitution.

Meanwhile, in May 1991, The Eritrean People's Liberation front (EPLF), led by Isaias Afworki assumed control of Eritrea after 30 years of struggle and established a provisional government. This ran Eritrea until April 1993 when Eritreans voted for independence in a UN monitored referendum.

In Ethiopia, President Meles Zenawi and members of the TGE pledged to oversee the formation of a multi-party democracy. The election for a 548 member constituent assembly was held in June 1994. This assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December 1994. Elections for the first parliament were held in 1995 and the government was installed in August of that year.

People & Culture:

Ethiopia is a land of hospitality, where the favorite beverage – coffee –was born. The traditional cuisine is unique with different parts of the country having their own special delicacies. On the other hand, the music and dances have distinctive characteristics and are tremendously varied in style and content.

The country has more than 80 different languages and great cultural diversity. It is not without reason that the great historian, Conti-Rossini, characterized Ethiopia as a rich cultural mosaic.

Three thousand years before the birth of Christ the ancient Egyptians sent expeditions down the Red sea in quest of gold, ivory, incense, and slaves, they called this territory ‘The Land of Punt’. Although this term was used for both sides of the Red Sea, most of the goods seem to have come from the Ethiopian area. Today Ethiopia is a rich cultural mosaic due to its eighty different languages and dialects and as many, if not more, cultural variations. Semitic languages are spoken in the North and much of the centre of the country, including Tigrinya, Guraginya and Ethiopia’s official language, Amharic. All are derived from the ancient Ge’ez which today only survives in church liturgy and literature.

The Tigray

The Tigray people who inhabit this region speak a Semitic language called Tigrinya, a descendant of Ge'ez, the ancient tongue of Ethiopia. Though they have experienced frequent and severe famine conditions, they remain hardy and resilient farmers ¬wherever soil conditions permit. Teff, wheat, and barley (where teff won't grow) are the main crops, together with beans, lentils, onions, and potatoes. Irrigation and terrace farming are used on the steep slopes, but because firewood is scarce dung is burned for cooking rather than put on their fields. Large numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats are also kept, their hides and wool going into leather products and warm blankets and cloaks. Livestock, which is kept safe at night in a separate courtyard with a high stone wall, grazes the pasturelands by day - causing serious overgrazing in an almost barren land.

The Tigray houses are usually square and stone built, though some are round, with flat roofs of wood covered with sod and wide overhanging eaves. Outside, stone steps lead to the roof where the family goats are kept at night. Sometimes there are added towers and grain stores. The interior is simply a large single room with a central post and a fireplace hollowed from the earth floor - the smoke escapes from a broken water pot that serves as a chimney. More 'modern' homes have tin roofs with gable ends.

The Amhara

The people of this area are the Amhara, speaking Ethiopia's official tongue, Am¬haric. Most belong to the Ethiopian Ortho¬dox Church, but several Muslim settle¬ments were established in the Simien in the sixteenth century, so the region today con¬tains members of both religious groups.

Most people in thus area are farmers, with the Muslims sometimes supple-menting their income by trading. Barley and oats are the crops grown in the higher altitudes, with teff a little lower down. Life is hard and their inefficient farming meth¬ods have caused them to move higher and higher up the mountain slopes into areas less suited for cultivation. But still they re¬tain a distinct pride and independence. They are suspicious of strangers, especially those who dispense largesse and conde¬scension. Yet they will respond to over¬tures of genuine friendliness and respect with a hospitality that knows no bounds.

The staple item in the Simien Amhara diet is barley, from which they make injera, the flat, spongy, sourdough pancake that is the basis of most Ethiopian meals. They also make an unleavened bread (dabbo) from barley, they eat roasted barley (kolo) for snacks, and the Christians even drink barley in the form of tella and korefi, mildly alcoholic beverages. Meat is generally eaten only on holidays, of which there are many throughout the year, but pork is forbidden to both Christians and Muslims. Sheep, goats, eggs, and chickens are the usual sources of animal protein.

The Amhara house consists of a circular wall of thin poles stuck into the ground, with cross withies laced to them that are then plastered with a mixture of mud, dung, and teff straw, which is applied in layers. When it hardens, it provides a weatherproof barrier, which lasts for many years. However, many houses, especially in the mountains, are stone built. The conical thatched roof is supported by one central pole. There are small storage areas for cooking utensils, and the main area serves as sleeping and living quarters. There are no windows or chimneys - the smoke escapes through the thatch. Although it is quite small, the Amhara house still manages to accommodate the farmer, his wife, and unmarried children - and for a short time even married children, until they have their own house. As the farmer becomes wealthier, this sar bet, as it is called, gives way to a rectangular korkoro bet with tin roof.

There is no marketplace in the Simiens, but items like sheep, chickens and eggs, local bread, and various grains are available for sale. The price is negotiable and you are expected to bargain. You can also buy hats, baskets,' and items of jewellery typical of the area. Shammas and gabbis, the homespun cotton shawls worn by both men and women, are usually available only on special order.

The Oromo

As you pass through the small Arsi area and into Bale, which is largely bordered by the winding Wabi Shebele River, you'll no doubt meet members of the predominant ethnic group in this area: the Arsi Oromo.

The Oromo are divided into six main groups and about 200 subgroups, in each of which you may find slight variations on the dominant cultural structure. The gada sys¬tem - or government by age-groups - is universal throughout the groups.

The people vary considerably in physical type but on the whole tend to be tall and handsome. The men wear the typical Ethiopian white toga, called a waya, and, in addition to clothing made of cotton, the women often still wear leather, decorating the skins with embroidered beadwork, and wear lavish bead, copper, and heavy brass jewellery.

The Arsi Oromo are true herdsmen. Their beasts have ritual status and are surrounded by all manner of beliefs and superstitions.

On the more practical side, cow dung is used for fuel, milk pots, floors, and walls; diet consists of meat, milk, blood, butter, and cheese as well as barley bread. Ownership of cattle is a status symbol: a man who owns more than a thousand is entitled to wear a crown.

Oromo houses are built by the men, al¬though the women help with the thatching. There are three main types of dwelling (mana); the first two are the more usual, cir¬cular structure. Their main difference is in the shape of the roof, one being steeply domed, the other much flatter with an over-hang.

The third type is also domed, but the rafters are planted in the ground and form both the walls and the roof. Other Oromo ridicule this type of hut, saying that the Arsi live in 'birds' nests'; most houses are finished with an ostrich egg or pot at the apex.

The Arsi Oromo are one of the most southern of the Oromo groups, extending east into Harerge and south into Bale on both sides of the Wabi Shebele River.

The Afar

Hostile and fierce, proud and individ¬ualistic, the Afar use the camel as their beast of burden but also keep sheep, goats, and cattle on the edge of the Afar (Danakil) region or in the vicinity of the Awash River, where coarse grass grows. This grass is not only for grazing - it is used for making the woven mats that cover the small round huts in which the women and children sleep.

The Afar women dress in long brown skirts and adorn themselves with gaily beaded necklaces and brass anklets, while the tall, dark, and bearded men wear a cotton cloth like a toga across the shoulder and usually carry a huge forty-centimetre (16-inch) knife - their universal weapon and tool. Men also carry rifles and belts full of bullets.

In the few fertile areas near the A wash River, the Afar are able to grow maize, tobacco, dates, and cotton, as well as support vast herds of livestock. Most of them live on a diet of meat and milk, sharing their food with each other as they share everything else they possess within their clan. However, interclan competition and rivalry is often fierce.

The nomadic hut in which they live is made of an armature of boughs bound with palm fibre and covered with mats, and is owned by the women. This is the only piece of property not held in common. The huts are placed in groups, usually surrounded by a hedge or wall to protect their animals from rival clans and other ethnic groups. When on the move, the hut is loaded on camels by women, who will erect it in a new location later. The women also collect the wood and water, prepare the food, grind the grain (when there is any), weave the mats and milk containers, and look after the herds.

Occasionally one will see a more perma¬nent type of Afar dwelling, called a dabou, in areas of sandstone or pumice. Two-and-¬a-half metres (eight feet) high with thick walls and thorn and rubble roofs, these houses are inhabited by clan elders and others not involved in herding.

The Sidama

The Sidama people who inhabit these boats playa major role in Ethiopia's coffee export trade but are especially known for their beautiful beehive-shaped woven houses. Bamboo is used for the framework, which is then covered with grass and enset leaves as the rainy season approaches. A small front porch shades the entrance. Inside, the families have the right side of the house and the calves the left. Furniture is simple, usually just wooden bedsteads and stools. Near the main hut, a fence of woven bamboo or euphorbia surrounds the vegetable plot. The men build the huts and grow vegetables with their wives help, and the women go to market, clean, and cook.

The Wolayta

In this part of Ethiopia east of the Omo River, hundreds of stone monoliths bear viitness to the long-time habitation of this area by early humans, and the people who live here today are very likely from fairly early stock. Light-complexioned with regular features and short stature, the Wolayta belong to the vast Orne to language group.

These people belong to either the Muslim or the Christian religion, although traces of the old pagan religions still survive in places, together with ancient near-forgotten Christian traditions difficult to distinguish, celebrated in temples hewn from the rock, similar to those found in Tigray.

The Wolayta cultivate most of the cereal crops as well as cotton, en set, and tobacco. Their huts are large and beehive-shaped, built in the midst of gardens, with one or more ostrich eggs perched atop the roof as fertility symbols. Viewed from inside, the plaited structure and concentric rings of the roof framework appear wonderfully intricate and neat. These astonishingly roomy houses are divided into several compartments by screens of bamboo. The cattle, sheep, and goats who share the house are not only safe from predators but provide a form of 'central heating' on chillier nights.

The Dorze

The inhabitants of this village are known as the Dorze, one of the many small segments of the great Orne to language group of southern Ethiopia. Once warriors, they have now turned to farming and weaving to earn a living. Their success in the field of weaving has been phenomenal and the Dorze name is synonymous with the best in woven cotton cloth. Chencha, in fact, is famous for the fine cotton gabbis or shawls that can be bought there.

Each amazing Dorze bamboo house has its own small garden surrounded by enset, beds of spices and cabbage, and tobacco (the Dorze are passionate smokers). The main house is a tall - up to twelve metres (39 feet) - bee-hived shaped building with an aristocratic 'nose', which forms a reception room for guests and is usually furnished with two benches. The vaulted ceiling and walls of the spacious and airy houses are covered with an elegant thatch of enset to form a smooth and steep unbroken dome.

When a Dorze house starts to rot or gets eaten by termites, the house is dug up. Bamboo is sewn round it to keep it in shape, and everyone rushes to help carry it. With poles poked horizontally through the building, men, women, and children all join in the effort - with a fine complement of singing - to move it to its new site. A house lasts for about forty years and is then abandoned.

The Konso

To the south of Konso and Yabello the area is inhabited by the Konso people. Except for trading with the neighbouring Borena for salt or cowrie shells, outside influence had, until recently, virtually passed by the Konso. A pagan society, they erect eerie wooden totems replete with phallic symbols over the graves of the dead and have numerous cults based around the breeding and veneration of serpents. The Konso have adopted a complex age¬grading system similar to that of the Oromo. (See 'The People: Proud of Their Ancient Heritage', Part One.) Sacred drums, symbolizing peace and harmony, are circulated from village to village according to a fixed cycle and are beaten in rituals that mark the transition from one age-grade to the next.

The cornerstone of Konso culture, how¬ever, is a highly specialized and successful agricultural economy that, through terrac¬ing buttressed with stone, enables these people to extract a productive living from the none-too-fertile hills and valleys that surround them. The stone shoring em-ployed in these extensive and intricate ter¬races is echoed in the dry-stone walls that surround most Konso villages and that protect low-lying fields from flash floods and marauding cattle. Stone is also used for grinding grain, sharpening knives and spears, making anvils and constructing dams. It is as much a part of Konso life as soil.

The material is just as evident in the beautiful small stone and wood houses, tightly packed with roofs touching and overlapping in their crowded compounds. The Konso are experts on wood of all kinds and know the durability of the massive timbers that keep a house standing for eighty years or more. Inside each house there is a short wooden entrance tunnel, causing the visitor to enter on hands and knees - and permitting the occupant to decide whether it is friend or foe.

The Konso men build the houses, spin and weave, and carve wood and ivory. The women do the gardening and, sur¬prisingly, stone walling.

Konso industriousness finds its vehicle in a cooperative ethic that enables farmers to enlist the support of communal work parties from their own and surrounding villages to build walls and terraces, and to sow and harvest the principal crops - sor¬ghum, potatoes, and cotton. Konso weav-ing, also a communal activity is highly productive and the thick cotton blankets (called bulukos) for which this region is fa¬mous are much prized throughout Ethio¬pia.

Not all of Konso life is dominated by hard work. Evening is a particulaI9time of relaxation, when young men and women sing and dance to a hypnotic stamping rhythm, forming fluid circles and squares punctuated with warlike leaps and bounds and much provocative shaking of the hips and breasts.

With the all-weather road - and various missions passing through Konso, tile people are no longer so isolated. One sign of assimilation occa-sionally -seen is Konso ploughing their fields with oxen, as is done in other parts of Ethiopia. The Konso also meet up with the neighbouring Borena to trade for salt or cowrie shells.

The Borena

The Borena, probably the most traditional of all Ethiopia's Oromo groups, are semi nomadic pastoralists whose lives revolve exclusively around the million or so head of cattle they own. They live to the east of the Konso on the low hot plains of the southern savannah. They work all day and every day in the long dry season just to keep their vast herds watered every three days, calculating precisely the number of men needed to haul the water and the number of cattle a well will support, which may be as many as 2,500.

The famous wells are an extraordinary feature of the culture. Approached by a long cutting, slanting down to ten metres below the surface of the earth, just wide enough for two columns of beasts to pass each other is the top of the well and the drinking troughs. Every two metres down there is a stage where the men and women toss the water in giraffe-hide buckets to the person above them. The deepest well recorded has eighteen stages.

The Borena people have semi-permanent villages or family groups of huts that are attached to the same well. The houses they live in, more permanent than the true nomadic hut, are made of grass over a wooden framework, often with the lower part of the walls reinforced with a screen of branches. They remain sur¬prisingly cool in the heat of the day. Around the houses are the cattle enclosures, built as protection against lions.

Tall, thin-lipped, and graceful with el¬egant manners, the Borena are essentially peaceful people who believe that angry words are dangerous and violence un¬thinkable.

The Borena and the Konso are just two of the fascinating peoples who live in the wildernesses of southern Ethiopia. For an even more kaleidoscopic sampling of the colourful cultures and people of this area, you must travel back to Konso and head west, into the remote Omo Valley.

The Anuak

The indigenous Anuak people are mainly fisherfolk in this region, and the crops they do grow - such as sorghum - do not reach their full potential because of the extremely basic methods of cultivation employed.

There are few large villages, as people prefer instead to group together around a mango grove in an extended family compound of no more than five or six huts. These buildings, used solely as sleeping quarters, have floors of polished, compact mud, extremely low doorways let into walls decorated with engraved patterns depicting animals and magical symbols, and thatched roofs - often of many tiers for better protection against tropical downpours and blazing sun - that sometimes extend down almost to ground level.

During daylight hours the majority of family members stay in the open air, fishing, attending to the chores in the fields, or simply lounging in the shade of the leafy mango trees and smoking long pipes of heady aromatic tobacco.

The women, naked to the waist, wear elaborate bead necklaces and heavy ivory and bone bangles above the elbow, and have their hair closely cropped, sometimes shaven.

Both men and women indulge in a further decorative fancy, common among all the Nilotic peoples of Ethiopia and Sudan, of having the front six teeth of the lower jaw removed at about the age of twelve. This is said to have been originally a precaution against the effects of tetanus, or 'lockjaw'.

As the track meanders along the course of the Baro further and further to the west of Gambella, the town's modernizing influence fades and you'll find yourself among people who have rarely seen foreigners and whose contacts with the influences of the industrial era are remote in the extreme.

Only since the late 1970s have govern¬ment-established schools begun to reach the children of this area and, for the major¬ity of the population, the twentieth century still remains just a distant rumour.

The Baro, at this point, is a beautiful river, rich in bird life - geese, egrets, ibises, kingfishers, and pelicans - and decorated with the greens and purples of floating water-hyacinth. Fish stocks are plentiful, both in the river itself and in the pools and lakes that flooding creates in the near reaches of the surrounding country¬side.

The Nuer

Past the sizeable settlement of Hang, the Anuak give way to their cousins, the Nuer, who are primarily cattle herders, though they also fish.

Nuer are more social in their habits than the Anuak and live together in villages of several hundred at widely spaced intervals along the river banks.

They are comely people, with long, handsome faces and extremely dark, satiny complexions. Both men and women favour a style of decorative cicatricing, which raises the skin of chest, stomach, and face in remarkable patterns of bumps and cica¬trices.

Other forms of personal ornamentation include heavy bone bangles, bright bead necklaces, and spikes of ivory or brass thrust through a hole pierced in the lower lip and protruding down over the chin.

Bright-eyed, intelligent, and endlessly curious, the Nuer are very far from merit¬ing that ill-judged epithet 'primitive', but theirs, undoubtedly, is a simple culture, un¬complicated by the need to adapt to rapid changes and uncluttered by the pressures, phobias, and anxieties of the modern world.

In the evenings, these gentle, charming people bring in their scattered herds from grazing grounds on the surrounding plains to camps established on the banks of the Baro River. Nuer love of cattle is legendary, often expressed in poems and songs of great beauty extolling the virtues of favour¬ite beasts.

The Bench

Another interesting group in the region is the Bench (formerly known as the Gimirra), who lived in semi-isolation in the heavily forested rainy Kaffa highlands. They were once a large kingdom of indus¬trious cultivators, also known to the an¬cient world as 'great warriors and more esteemed than any of the black nations'. Tragically, their culture was virtually wiped out from the fifteenth to the mid¬twentieth centuries, when they were perse¬cuted, sold into slavery by the thousands, tortured, mutilated, and hunted down like animals in the forests - many groups suf¬fering extinction in consequence.

Gimirra means 'honey collector' or 'tree climber', and they once inhabited a land rich in wildlife, cultivated fields and an abundance of honey. They appear to have provided a vital source of slaves for the great neighbouring kingdom of Kaffa, whose people sold them to Europe and Arabia. Other than that, little is known of them, as those who survived have seemingly forgotten their heritage.

Today, as they climb back to life, they are gradually losing the marks of distrust branded on them by decades of brutality. They are quite musical, and playing a set of pan pipes is one of their more cheerful pastimes.

The great forests have been much depleted by farmers and coffee merchants, but enset, tef barley, and millet are grown in their place as agriculture is once again widely practised. Bees still have a special significance to the Bench, who remain great honey gatherers as well as hunters.

Their villages are strikingly picturesque, with each homestead having its charac¬teristic elevated field-watching huts. The tree Euphorbia amphiphylla, used as a hedge, lines the pathways, and the same wood is used for the rafters of the houses, which are quite small with very low entrances. The thatched roofs are steeper than most and have a distinctly oriental look. Most interesting is the mural decoration used in the homes, a unique remnant of their lost culture. Walls are covered with mortar, which is modeled in light relief in simple designs with a triangle motif and co loured in orange or vermilion, charcoal, and cinders.

The peoples of the region often con¬verge in the regional capital of Jimma, forty-four kilometres (27 miles) south-east of Agaro. One of the most important settle¬ments in the west of the country and Ethio¬pia's most important coffee-collecting centre, it is a large urban town with many modern institutions. These include an air¬port, well-frequented shops and hotels, a cinema, a college of agriculture, an insti¬tute of health sciences, and an agricul¬tural research station.

The Gurage

The area east of the Gibe River for hun¬dreds of years has been the homeland of one of Ethiopia's most remarkable and in¬dustrious peoples - the Gurage. Of mixed Semitic and Hamitic stock, they probably migrated here from further north in the long-forgotten past. They have made them-selves at home in the southern highlands and have evolved a uniquely vigorous and self-reliant economy.

The basis of this economy is the 'false ba¬nana' tree, known throughout Ethiopia as enset. Its cycle of growth determines the rhythm and special nature of the Gurage lifestyle, providing both their staple food¬stuff and the materials from which their homes are constructed. Each house, tall and spacious with a high thatched roof, stands in its own garden of up to ten hectares (25 acres).

Around the house are rows of enset trees, the youngest plants further away followed by increasingly older and taller layers radi¬ating inwards. Specific holes are reserved for trees of a specific age and the plants are rotated from hole to hole as they mature until, at the age of eight to ten years, they are ready to be cut down.

The bark and fibres of the felled tree are taken away to be used for building and rope-making, and the massive vegetative bulb is dug up, shredded, and then reburied, wrapped in leaves in a new line of holes close to the house. Here it ferments into a thick cheesy paste, which the Gurage use in unleavened form to bake into the grey, sour-flavored waffle bread that con¬stitutes the basis of their diet.

Beyond the enset plantation most Gurage farmers grow cash crops including coffee, chat (a mild stimulant popular in much of the Horn of Africa), tobacco, and eucalyptus trees (for firewood). These crops produce substantial revenues for the Gurage who, rendered self-sufficient for their staple food by the wonderful properties of enset, often become very prosperous.

This prosperity is reflected in their well-¬furnished circular houses, which are sup¬ported by an imposing central mainstay and are divided within into sleeping, living, and cooking areas, with a large section to one side where the family's cattle and goats are kept. Mats and carpets cover the earth floor of the main living quarters, colourful bas¬kets hang in precise rows along the walls, and beautifully fashioned pottery is ar¬ranged around the hearth.

Mixed communities of Muslims and Christians, the Gurage live in what must surely be one of the most pleasant parts of Ethiopia. Their villages stand surrounded by grassy commons and meadows where horses graze beside thatched dwellings and where carpenters skilfully prepare the wicker frames of new homes.

The Omo Peoples

The lower Omo is home to a remarkable mix of small, contrasting ethnic groups ¬not only the Burne and the Karo, but also the Geleb, the Bodi, the Mursi, the Surma, the Arbore, and the Hamer, to name but a few. Lifestyles are as various as the tribes themselves. The Burne and Karo mingle with the pastoral Geleb and the . transhumant Hamer. The Mursi and the Surma, meanwhile, mix basic subsistence cultivation with small-scale cattle-herding - lives of harsh simplicity uncluttered by the pressures of the modern world.

Lacking any material culture and arte¬facts common to more 'civilized' peoples, these tribes find unique ways in which to express their artistic impulses. Both the Surma and the Karo, for example, are ex¬perts at body painting, using clays and lo¬cally available vegetable pigments to trace fantastic patterns on each other's faces, chests, arms, and legs. These designs have no special symbolic significance but are cre¬ated purely for fun and aesthetic effect, each artist vying to outdo his fellows.

Cicatricing, on the other hand, which is also popular amongst most of the peoples of the lower Omo, does contain a number of specific symbolic messages. For example, Mursi warriors carve deep crescent incisions on their arms to represent each enemy that they have killed in battle.

Elaborate hairstyles are another form of personal adornment. Hamer women wear their hair in dense ringlets smeared with mud and clarified butter and topped off with a head-dress featuring oblongs of gleaming aluminium; Geleb and Karo men sculpt and shave their hair into extrava-gant shapes, with special ochre 'caps' of hair usually containing several ostrich feathers.

Jewellery tends to be simple but striking colourful necklaces, chunky metal wristlets and armlets, shiny nails app¬ended to skirts, multiple earrings, and so on.

The insertion of wooden and terracotta discs into the ear lobes is a widespread custom, and Mursi and Surma women also progressively split and stretch their lower lips to make room for similar discs there, too. Though these 'lip plates' may appear bizarre to outsiders, the Mursi and Surma regard them as signs of beauty - generally speaking, the larger the lip plate the more desirable the wearer.

At certain seasons, a visitor may be lucky to chance on colourful and dramatic traditional ceremonies. Periodically young men of both the Mursi and the Surma tribes engage in ritual stick fighting. These duels are conducted with the utmost vigour since the winners, and those judged to have shown the greatest bravery, are much admired by nubile girls.

Another important event, seen by few tourists, is the Hamer 'jumping of the bull' ceremony. In this rite of passage, youths are required to jump onto the backs of a line of thirty or forty cattle, run the whole length of this formidable obstacle, jump down onto the other side and then repeat the entire procedure three more times without falling. Finally they walk out of the arena through a special gateway, after which they are judged to have passed from boyhood to manhood.

A trip along the wild and wonderful Omo River offers many opportunities to meet the colourful local people, as well as experience 'getting away from it all' such as you've never known before.

Ethiopia adopted a new constitution that established the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) in 1995.The federal government is responsible for national defense, foreign relations and general policy of common interest and benefits. The federal state comprise nine autonomous states vested with power for self-determination. The FDRE is structured along the lines of bicameral parliament, with the council of Peoples’ Representatives being the highest authority of the federal government while the federal council represents the common interests of the nations, nationalities and peoples of the states. Members of both councils are elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term.

The federal state is headed by a constitution president and the federal government by an executive prime minister who is accountable to the council of peoples’ Representative. Each autonomous state is headed by a state president elected by the state council. The judiciary is constitutionally independent.

The Federal Democratic Republic is composed of state which are delimited on the basis of settlement patterns, language, identity and consent of the peoples concerned.

Government Structure

The House of People's Representatives

The house of people's Representatives came into being on August 21, 1995 when the newly elected MPs met, to set up this highest authority of the Federal Government.

According to Article 54/1 of the constitution of the FDRE, members of the House of people's Representatives are elected by the people for a term of five years on the basis of universal suffrage and by direct, free and fair elections held by secret ballots.

With the exception of region 5, a nation-wide election was held on May 14, 2000 while in region 5 the election was conducted on August 31, 2000. Nevertheless, election held in region 7 and some parts of region 9 has been repeated due to different reasons on June 25 and July 31, 2000 respectively.

In the election, candidates of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) won 481 seats, other parties got 46, while Private Candidates took 13 Seats in the parliamentary polls.

Regional States

The land area of Ethiopia is estimated at about 1.1 million square kilometer and the current population is approximately 79 million, of which more than 84 percent live in rural areas. Ethiopia is a Federal Democratic Republic composed of 9 National Regional states: namely Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz, Southern Nations Nationalities and People Region (SNNPR), Gambella And Harari and two Administrative states (Addis Ababa City administration and Dire Dawa city council).

The national regional states as well as the two cities administrative councils are further divided in eight hundred woredas and around 15,000 kebeles (5,000 Urban & 10,000 Rural).

Constitution

In May 1991, the military Derg regime was overthrown. After seventeen years of civil war, the people of Ethiopia saw the dawn of a new era; Ethiopians for the first time in history were members of one community with the same destiny.

The democratic groups of Ethiopia convened a conference in Addis Ababa between 1st-5th July 1991. The participants discussed and approved a Transitional Charter which laid down the principals for the transition period.

The process of democratisation was not an easy one as there was no culture or tradition of democracy in the country. During the transition period two interlinked and fundamental steps were taken to guarantee the rights of nations and nationalities to determine their own affairs:

• A Constitution was drafted and ratified.

• Power was devolved to the regional states.

Under the Constitution, the federal arrangement guaranteed the rights of the federal states to determine their own affairs.

TOP DESTINATION & ATTRACTION OF ETHIOPIA

 Lalibela: Eighth Wonder of the World

hewn churches daring back to the 12th century. Even if the fame of the Seven Wonders of the World has been outworn and the word "wonder" itself has been misused too often, the visitor will rediscover its true meaning, when faced with the rock churches of Lalibela.

Ever since the The small town of Lalibeia in northern Ethiopia is famous for its 11 rock first European to describe Lalibela, Francisco Alvarez, came to this holy city between 1521 and 1525, travelers have tried to put into words their experience, prais¬ing it as a "New Jerusalem", a "New Golgotha", the "Christian Citadel in the Mountains of Wondrous Ethiopia".

 Harar: Railway to the Sea:

Although is largely desert and low-lying savannah, Harerge's northern reaches are mountainous and fertile, and it is there where the country's only stretch of railway bisects the tip of the zone, leading from the nation's capital to the port of Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden.

This railway, which plays an extremely important role in the modern Ethiopian economy, carrying a large share of its imports and exports, was first conceived by the Swiss craftsman Alfred Ilg, who arrived in the country in 1877 to take up the post of technical adviser to Emperor Menelik. It was a mammoth undertaking and fraught with problems.

For every kilometre of line, more than seventy tonnes of rails, sleepers, and telegraph poles had to be transported ¬not to mention sand, cement, water, and provisions for the workers. The terrain was difficult: two large viaducts and many smaller earthworks had to be built within the first fifty or so kilometres of line, and others further inland. To minimize cost, a narrow gauge of only one metre was adopted, but expensive iron sleepers had to be used in view of the presence of termites, which could be expected to consume anything made of wood.

 Gondar: The Camelot of Africa

748 kilometers from the capital of Ethiopia is Gondar, served daily by Ethiopian airlines, with some good hotels. The oldest of Gondar’s many imperial structures is the impressive 17th century palace of Emperor Fasilidas. Many other fascinating historical buildings and relics can be seen in the area.

Gondar, once the Ethiopian capital, was home to a number of emperors and warlords, courtiers and kings.

Gaze down fromthe balconies of the many castles and palaces to imagine the intrigue and pageantry that took place back in the 17th and 18th centuries of this great city.

The graceful city of Gonder, founded by Emperor fasilidas, become the capital of the Ethiopian empire around 1635.This settlement, which become fasilidas principal headquarters, grew into an important town, and remained Ethiopia’s capital, and most popular city, for over tow centuries.

 Axum - Mysterious Monoliths

Axum is renowned for the world’s tallest monoliths, or obelisks, which experts say were erected to mark the passing of some ancient royal personages.

Set amid a smooth grassy plain, in contrast to the jagged peaks and maze of ravines which virtually isolates it from the outside world, Axum has a history that goes back more than 2,000 (possibly 3,000) years. It was the centre of one of the first christianiy to adopt Christianity as a state religion.

The extensive traces of noble buildings with large stone foundations are found here side by side with the ruins of even more impressive structures, temples, fortresses, and rich palaces. The relics of bygone eras protrude everywhere through the soil. Even today, long-buried hordes of gold, silver and bronze coins are sometimes exposed by heavy downpours of rain.

 Semien Mountains National Park

"The most marvelous of all Abyssinian landscapes opened before us, as we looked across a gorge that was clouded amethyst to the peaks of Simyen. A thousand thousand years ago, when the old gods reigned in Ethiopia, they must have played chess with those stupendous crags, for we saw bishops' miters cut in lapis lazuli, castles with the ruby of approaching sunset on their turrets, an emerald knight where the forest crept up on to the rock, and, jar away, a king, crowned with sapphire, and guard¬ed by a row of pawns. When the gods exchanged their games for shield and buckler to fight the new men clamoring at their gates, they turned the pieces of their chessboard of a mountain."

In Simyen they stand enchanted, till once again the world is pagan and the titans and the earth gods lean down from the monstrous cloud banks to wager a star or two on their sport.

 Tiya Ancient Stones

The Stele site of Tiya in Gurage Zone is registered in the UNESCO world heritage list as world heritage sites in 1980. Tiya is distinguished by 36 standing stones or stelae. They are marking a large, prehistoric burial complex of an ancient Ethiopian culture.

The site contains more than 40 ancient stelae. The largest of which stands up to 3.9m high. They form only one cluster and are intriguing and mysterious. Almost nothing is known about the monoliths carves or their purpose. Most of the stones are engraved with enigmatic symbols, notably swords. French excavations have revealed that the stelae mark mass graves of individuals aged between 18-30 years.

 Lower Awash

Just over the bridge, turn right to follow a dirt road to the archaeological site of Melka Konture. (It is best that you check with the Antiquities Administration in Addis first.) Since 1965, geologists and archaeologists have had a compound here, set up to excavate this area at the entrance to the gorge where, two million years ago, the earliest ancestors of mankind had a home. They left behind tools, as well as traces of meals and shelters. In the lowest levels pebble tools have been found and, in the higher levels, men of the Middle and Late Stone Age have left many examples of beautiful two-edged hand-axes, obsidian scrapers, and sets of 'bolas' - the round stones used together in nets to throw at animals. Fossilized bones of hippopot¬amus, rhinoceros, elephant, and various antelope have also been found here.

If you walk upstream along the banks of the river, some of these Stone Age tools can often be seen, particularly in the dry washes. Remember, however, that collect¬ing of Stone Age artefacts is prohibited, and local citizens help to enforce this re¬striction.

 Konso Cultural Landscape

Konso Cultural Landscape is a 55 square km arid property of stone walled terraces and fortified settlements in the Konso highlands of Ethiopia. It constitutes a spectacular example of a living cultural tradition stretching back 21 generations (more than 400 years) adapted to its dry hostile environment. The landscape demonstrates the shared values, social cohesion and engineering knowledge of its communities. The site also features anthropomorphic wooden statues - grouped to represent respected members of their communities and particularly heroic events - which are an exceptional living testimony to funerary traditions that are on the verge of disappearing. Stone steles in the towns express a complex system of marking the passing of generations of leaders.

The cultural properties including the traditional stone wall towns (Paletea), ward system (kanta), Mora (cultural space), the generation pole (Olayta), the dry stone terracing practices (Kabata), the burial marker (Waka) and other living cultural practices are reasons for the precipitation of the Konso cultural landscape to be listed on UNESCO world heritage sites list. All the necessary requirements have completed including, field studies, data collections, nomination file/document and management plan of the Konso Cultural Landscape.

 Wildlife: Uniquely Ethiopian

Ethiopia was long isolated from the rest of the world by its geography. An extensive montane fortress with a healthy, temperate climate and fertile soils surrounded by arid seas of semi-desert enabled it to thrive with little contact from the outside world. A civilization evolved in these mountains that subsisted on nature's bounty and sub¬jugated the fertile highland plateaus over the ages.

There is little agreement amongst bota¬nists as to what the 'natural' vegetation was really like. The same is true of the wildlife. However, vestiges remain at the extremes of altitude and climate. The ex¬tremes consist of the highest, coldest heights in the Simien and Bale mountains, and at lower altitudes wherever cultivation was not possible. In recent times even these natural barriers have been pushed back - by the sheer weight of people sur¬viving as the result of widespread avail¬ability of medicine, by new methods of managing the land, by the demand for natural resources, especially firewood and charcoal, and by new strains of crops capa¬ble of withstanding either cold or aridity.

The origins of the geology of Ethiopia can be dated quite accurately. Around forty million years ago lava began to spill out of the crust of the earth, not as eruptive volcanic action, but a massive outpouring over some twenty million years, forming an extensive blanket of lava some two to four kilometers (1.5 to 2.5 miles) deep and 700,000 square kilometers (270,300 square miles) in extent. Towards the end of this time a second process began - the earth's crust weakened and split, forming the Great Rift Valley. The massive block of lava was split from north to south, through Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and south¬wards - and continues to widen at a rate of several centimeters a year. It is nowhere more evident than in the Danakil Depression - already more than 100 meters (328 feet) below sea level.

The two highland islands formed by this rift rise some 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) above the surrounding lowlands in most places, but at their extremes they are over 4,000 meters (13,120 feet) high. They form extensive plateaux that, in the more massive western block, have been shaped and worn by countless rivers, forming escarpments and ambas (open, steep-sided, and flat-topped volcanic plugs bordered by deep valleys), which mostly defy passage, whether human or animal.

Within these vertical kilometers can be seen a microcosm of Ethiopia, from desert to semi-arid to montage conditions; from the sun's glare and baking heat of the can¬yon's depths, to the mists, frosts, and even snow and ice of the highlands. This is the backdrop to the natural world in Ethiopia and what has survived the upheaval of the earth's crust, millennia of inclement wea¬ther, 8,000 years of glaciations, centuries of man's wresting a living from the soil, and long isolation by the surrounding sea of aridity from any similar forms of life and similar conditions.

Ethiopia has received much publicity over the years about its land degradation caused by loss of forests and natural vegetation. Though little is known about the true nature of the original plant cover, areas of natural habitat do exist, giving examples of the richness of this country. As in the animal world, many of the plants are endemic, and much has yet to be discovered. A 'Flora of Ethiopia' project is documenting the plants of the region.

Endemics

Some species endemic to Ethiopia are among the ones commonly seen in and around Addis Ababa, such as the stinging nettle (Urtica simensis) and the tall Erythrina brucei tree. The large yellow flowered senecio, Solanecio gigas, is commonly seen as a hedge in towns and villages. In the Asela area a globe thistle is endemic: Echinops ellenbeckii with its large red balls of flowers. Echinops longisetus, also red-flowered and endemic, can be seen in Bale. The smaller, blue-flowered Echinops kebericho is seen only in the grasslands of Shewa and Gojjam.

Around September and October much of the highlands are coloured yellow by daisies collectively called the meskal flow¬ers (adey abeba in Amharic), as they flower at the time of Meskal, or the Finding of the True Cross, celebration. Many of these are Bidens species, and six of them are en¬demic. In Bale carpets of flowers are seen, many being endemic. One of these is the small bushy Alchemilla haumannii. This is interspersed with a bright yellow-green herb, the endemic Euphorbia duma lis. Large areas may be populated with red-hot poker plants, Kniphojia joliosa, and the sky¬line at high altitudes is broken by endemic Lobelia rhynchopetalum, whose leafy ro-settes stand two to three metres (6.5 to ten feet) high before sending up a spike of flowers - reaching six metres (20 feet) at times. -The endemic Plectocephalus varians looks rather like a Scottish thistle at first but is soft to the touch.

 Familiar Flowers

A visitor used to European plants will find many familiar flowers in the highlands, some even the same species as those growing in more temperate climates. St. John's wort (Hypericum spp.) can grow as the familia small herb in grassland or as a bush or tree, the large yellow flowers being seen in the dry season. There is only one rose indigenous to Africa, Rosa abyssinica, and its sweet foliage and creamy white flowers can be smelt and seen in many areas in the dry season. The tiny pimpernel flowers of Europe will be seen in short grass areas of the highlands. Anagallis serpens is a pale pink colour, but there are also red and blue species. Heathers of the genus Erica, which cover large areas at high altitude, will grow to form substantial trees ten metres (33 feet) tall if left undisturbed.

On the high plateaus at 4,000 metres (13,120 feet), clumps of white and mauve gentians (Swertia spp.) of many varieties bespeckle the ground, many of these yet to be named scientifically. Carpets of small blue lobelia and mauve and pink clovers carpet the sides of the roads. There are many different species of yellow-flowered everlasting flowers, Helichrysum spp., and groundsels, Senecio spp. One of the most common is Helichrysum splendidum, whose grey bushes cover large areas of the high rabica, bursting into yellow flowers before the beginning of the rains. Alchemilla or lady’s mantle plants cover the ground profusely, many species intermingling in the rich sward found here.

Visa and Immigration requirements

Visa applications may be obtained at Ethiopia diplomatic missions located in Abidjan, Accra, Beijing, Bonn, Brussels, Cairo, Dakar, Djibouti, Geneva, Harare, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Lagos, London, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Pyongyang, Riyadh, Rome, Sanaa, Seoul, Stockholm, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Tripoli,'yienna, and Washington DC.

Visas are required for all visitors to Ethiopia, with the exception of nationals of Djibouti and Kenya. Visas should be applied for well in advance of any trip as applications can take time to process.

Except in the case of a few nationals, passen¬gers in transit in Ethiopia holding confirmed on¬ward bookings within 72 hours can obtain transit visas on arrival for a fee of Ethiopian birr 20. However, in this case, passports are held at the airport until departure and a pink-coloured re¬ceipt card is issued.

Any visitor intending to take up work or residence in Ethiopia must have a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and a resident permit from the Department of Immigration in the Ministry of the Interior. A visitor on a tourist visa cannot take up work or get a work permit. It is best to have all formalities cleared before you enter Ethiopia and come in on a working visa.

Health requirements

All visitors (including infants) are required to pos¬sess a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate. Vaccination against cholera is also required for any person who has visited or transited a cholera¬infected area within six days prior to arrival in Ethiopia. Your doctor may also recommend gamma globulin shots or refresher vaccines for typhoid and polio before you go. Hepatitis, typhoid, meningitis, and other communicable diseases do exist in the country, but most tourists will run lit¬tle risk of coming in contact with them.

Malaria is endemic throughout the country ¬even at altitudes as high as 2,000 metres (6,560 feet). Visitors should begin taking a recommended chloroquine-based prophylactic two weeks before their arrival and continue taking them for six weeks after their departure. Medication for chlo¬roquine-resistant malaria is also a wise precaution, especially when in a malarial area.

Bilharzia (schistosomiasis) is common through¬out Ethiopia but is easily avoided by drinking treated water - tap water in Addis Ababa is treated and safe to drink - and by not swimming in lakes and rivers, with the exception of lakes Langano and Shalla, which are known to be bilharzia free.

International flights

Ethiopia is served internationally by Ethiopian Airlines, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Egypt Air, Kenya Airways, Puntavia (Air Djibouti), Saudia, Sudan Airways, and Yemenia.

Ethiopia's major point of entry by air is Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport, which is modest but does provide full passenger facilities - currency exchange, postal services, banking facilities, telephones, a duty-free shop, gift shops, and a restaurant and bar service.

Taxis and rental cars are available at the airport for transport into Addis Ababa.

Air fares

The usual range of fares is available: first, business, and economy class; excursion fares, bookable any time for stays of between fourteen and forty-five days; an APEX fare, bookable one calendar month in advance, allowing for stays of between nineteen and ninety days. The price of cheaper APEX fares varies according to the season. Stopovers en route are possible when arranged with the airline for all but APEX fares. Reductions are available for children.

Departure tax

As of mid-200l, the airport departure tax was US$ 20, payable in any convertible currency. Travel¬ler's cheques are not acceptable. On local flights, there is a 'boarding charge' of 10 birr for residents and non-residents.

Arrival by rail

The sole point of entry into Ethiopia by rail is at Dewele on the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. Arrivals undergo full customs and immigration checks.

Arrival by road

There are six 'official' points of entry by road into Ethiopia from the country's neighbours. Moyale serves as the border post from Kenya, Sudan has border controls to Ethiopia at Humera and Metema, Dewele is the point of entry from Djibouti, and Rama and Zala Anbessa from Eritrea. All have full customs and immigration checks.

Visitors intending on driving their own vehicle into Ethiopia should first obtain the necessary permit by writing to the Ministry of Transporta¬tion and Communication, PO Box 1238, Addis Ababa.

Customs

Besides personal effects, a visitor may import duty-free spirits (including liquors) or wine up to one litre, perfume and toilet water up to half a li¬tre, and 250 grams (half a pound) of tobacco (up to 200 cigarettes or fifty cigars).

If you are carrying a video camera, laptop computer, or any other pieces of sophisticated electronic equipment, it is usually entered in your passport to ensure that you take it with you when you go and do not sell it while in the country. You do not need to declare still cameras, small shortwave radios, calculators, and similar small electronic devices. Professional journalists and photographers must report to the Ministry of In¬formation to get a permit.

Permit is given for temporary import of certain articles - such as trade samples or professional articles - which must be produced on departure or duty will have to be paid.

Visitors may import up to Ethiopia birr 10 and an unlimited amount of foreign currency, provid¬ing declaration of such currency (on the appropri¬ate blue-coloured form) is made to Customs on ar¬rival. This currency declaration form will be re¬quired by Customs on departure.

Permit is required for export of antiques and wildlife products from the appropriate authorities.

Domestic air services

Ethiopian Airlines operates a comprehensive net¬work of regular daily flights between Addis Ababa and Axum, Bahar Dar, Dessie, Dire Dawa, Gondar, Humera, Jimma, Lalibela, and Makale, as well as several other flights each week to many other towns. The airline flies to forty-three air-fields and an additional twenty-one landing strips within the country. Charter companies also offer flights to all main airports and to many landing f