Having worked as a finance manager at Link Ethiopia for 18 months, I was finally on my way to Ethiopia – from spreadsheets to reality. As a hard bitten traveller (ahem), a putative Masters graduate in Development Management and a Link Ethiopia veteran, you may have expected that I knew what I was letting myself …
Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil, and Ethiopia’s biggest export. This video is a great resource – meet some Ethiopian coffee farmers, learn about the importance of coffee to Ethiopia, and about an initiative to help farmers get more back from their work. See the video here: http://vimeo.com/35764583
Bahir Dar is one of the most visited towns in Ethiopia. Nothing more than a sleepy waterside village (its name means “Sea Shore”) in the early part of the twentieth century, it later came to the notice of Emperor Haile Selassie because of its stunning position on the southern banks of Lake Tana and its …
This is certainly the greatest festival in the Ethiopian calendar and this year the Gondar authorities added to the celebrations by launching the first Carnival in Ethiopia alongside the more traditional festivities. Here is an edited extract from the circumference.org website which tells about Timkat in Gondar. “Gondar, one of Ethiopia’s largest cities, springs to …
At the end of September, Addis Ababa, “new flower”, lived up to its name: fresh daisies lined the streets, strewn in piles in markets, heaped on to minibuses, gathered in bundles on the backs of white-robed women. The occasion was Meskel, a festival named for this flower and for the cross, both of which feature …
Ethiopia is beginning to welcome a much greater number of tourists these days, all keen to appreciate the wonders of this characterful land. And one thing that they always ask is – what drinks are available? In this international world of ours, we are hardly going to surprise you if we say that certain bottled …
The world’s earliest illustrated Christian book has been saved by a British charity which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery. The incredible Garima Gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day. Beautifully illustrated, the …
In the north of Ethiopia, high on the plateau at nearly 1800 metres above sea-level, lies the wondrous Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile, site of a number of ancient island monasteries and home to numerous varieties of exotic bird- and plant-life, as well as crocodiles and hippopotamuses in plenty. This huge lake, visible …
First of all, test yourself! Can you name the five countries that are the immediate neighbours of Ethiopia? And if you can do that, can you name them in order, starting with the most northerly and progressing in a clockwise direction? Well ….. were you right? The most northerly neighbour of Ethiopia is Eritrea. Eritrea …
Enkutatash is the first day of the New Year in Ethiopia. It occurs on 11th September according to the Gregorian calendar, which is 1st Meskerem on the Ethiopian calendar. Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days …