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Ethiopia: A Tourist Paradise and Land of Hospitality
Ethiopia is old beyond imagination. It’s culture and traditions dated back over 3000 years. According to legend, Emperor Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, brought the Ark of covenant from Jerusalem to Axum, where he established one of the world’s longest known, uninterrupted monarchical dynasties till 1974. Ethiopia’s history encompasses legend and tradition, mystery and fact, from powerful and religious ancient civilization. The well trodden path through Ethiopia’s fascinating historic places takes you through a magnificent, scenic world of legendary names such as Lalibela, Axum, Gondar, Debre Damo, Bahir Dar, and Harrar, etc. Here is a past comes alive in this fascinating land in the form of strange and beautiful, castles, churches, monuments and ruins.
Ethiopia is indeed a land of extremes, a land of remote and wild places. Some of the highest, most rugged and inaccessible places on African continent are found here, such as the jaggedly carved Simien Mountains with Walia (Abyssinian) Ibex, Simien red wolf and Gelada baboon – all endemic to Ethiopia. The Awashi National Park with its mineral hot-springs, extraordinary volcanic formations, and an endemic subspecies like Beisa oryx, the Nechisar National Park – home of endemic swayne’s hartebeest, the Mago National Park with its mammal species total 81, including hartebeest, giraffe, roan antelope, elephant, lion, leopard and a rare black rhino, the Omo and Bale National Parks with its rich wild lifes as well as the forbidding but fascinating Denakil Depression – which is 120 meters below sea level and noon-time temperatures soar to above 50 are all found in Ethiopia.
A journey to the southern part of Ethiopia is as much a ‘pilgrimage’ to naturalists as a trip to north is to historians. The remarkable Great Rift Valley is home to marvelous string of lakes, like Abiatta and Shalla lakes, are best known for their bird life like flamingos, white necked cormorants, herons, storks, spoonbills, ibises, white pelicans. In addition, a chain of national parks and Kaleidoscope of colorful cultures adds much to the appeal of this region.
Ethiopia has more than 80 different Ethnic groups and different languages and great cultural diversions. It is not without reason that the great historian, Conti-Rossini characterized Ethiopia as a rich cultural mosaic. The character of this intriguing land – Ethiopia, with its diverse people and language is, indeed, a Land of Hospitable People. Everyone who spends time in Ethiopia wants to return.
COME TO ETHIOPIA.