Ethiopia

Independent for three millennia,

Ethiopia has survived dynamic historic changes and is the birthstone of great indigenous civilizations. Today's Ethiopia was once in control over the entire East African territory. At that time it was a world-famous influential powerhouse with absolute control over the Red Sea, Indian Ocean trade routes and South Arabian countries.

Ethiopia is a country of variety, extremes, uniqueness, freedom, colorful culture, religions, legends, natural beauty and much more. On the map of East Africa, Ethiopia is easily found in the area called the horn of Africa. Covering a total area of 1,112,000 sq. km., and shares boundaries with Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Ethiopia provides great combination of attracting destinations, a country with one of the richest histories on the African continent, a land of contrast and surprises, of remote and wild places, has climate and scenery as pleasant as that in southern Africa. Have birds and animals as interesting as anything in east Africa. Have tribal groups as fascinating as any in West Africa and, Ethiopia turns out to be a country far richer than many imagine.

- Historically and culturally: Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world and with the longest archeological record of any country on earth. It is also credited with being the original home of humanity with the discovery of fossilized remains of hominid species, Stone Age paintings and evidence of cereal cultivations at different archeological sites. Ethiopia is the land of queen of Sheba, the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, cradle of mankind (Lucy was discovered here). The historic route covering the big four in the northern circuit includes the ancient town of Axum with its carved monuments, Christian festivals and relics; Lalibela, with its wonderful rock hewn churches, Gondar with its palaces and castles; Bahir Dar and Lake Tana, on the shore of the lake providing an ideal place to explore the lake, its medieval monasteries and Blue Nile Falls; the walled Muslim city of Harar and the railway town of Dire Dawa in the Eastern part of the country.

- Religiously: it was one of the countries adopting Christianity and establishing good relations with Islam in earlier time. The arrival of Christianity was a turning point in Ethiopian history. Christianity was to have an enormous influence on the country's social and cultural life including its art and literature. Currently almost half of the Ethiopian population is orthodox Christian. Followers of Islam avoiding persecution in Arabian Peninsula arrived in Ethiopia in the 7th C AD. They were given good protection and hence good relations between the two major religions continued. .

- Naturally: Ethiopia's elevated central plateau covering half of its surface area and supporting over half of its population is the most extensive fertile land in east Africa. The highlands have a remarkable biological endemic species including large mammals such as Red fox, mountain Nyala, Walia Ibex, Gelada Baboons, Menelik Bush Buck. Simien Mountain ranges is one of Africa's largest ranges studded with at least a dozen peaks topping 4000m mark. This includes Ras Dashen (Dejen) the highest peak in Ethiopia and the fourth highest in Africa. Bale mountain Ranges are peaked by mount Tullu Demtu the second highest point in Ethiopia. The main attractions of both mountain ranges are wild scenery, Endemic species of flora and fauna. The country has also Deserts stretching from the base of the central plateau to the Kenyan, Somali and the Red Sea boarder but they are sparsely populated and have negligible impact on the life of most Ethiopians. Most of these deserts are unlikely to be visited by tourists but some such as The Danakil region (off the beaten track destinations) is emerging as one of popular attraction sights in Ethiopia. The deserts also do support many species of fauna and flora.

- The Great Rift Valley Lakes: is home to a wealth of bird and animal and plant life. The high rugged Simien Mountains in the north and the Bale Mountains in the southeast are also home to some unique wild life and rich flora and are ideal for trekking while some of the country's fast flowing rivers are becoming famous for Rafting.

-National Parks: the country has nine national parks and four sanctuaries where most of the 277 species of wild life and more than 850 species of birds can be seen. The simien mountain national park is registered by UNESCO as a world heritage site and is home to three of the endemic mammals. Ras Dashen (Dejen) the highest in Ethiopia and the fourth highest peak in Africa with an elevation of 4620 is also located within the national park. Other national parks include Bale Mountains, Abijatta Shala, Nech Sare, Mago, Omo, Yangudi Rasa, Gambella and Awash. 

-World (UNESCO) Heritage Sites:

1. LALIBELA - 8th wonder of the world.
2. AXUM- Historical & Archeological Site.
3. GONDAR-The Camelot of Africa (Castles)
4. SIMIEN MOUNTAIN National Park- The only natural site registered.
5. HARAR- the Walled Town.
6. TIYA- Archaeological Site.
7. LOWER AWASH VALLEY-Archaeological Site.
8. LOWER OMO VALLEY- Archaeological Site.
9. KONSO- Cultural Landscape.

Ethiopia Alphabet

In Ethiopia there are about ninety individual languages spoken. Most people in the country speak Afro-Asiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches. The former includes Oromiffa, spoken by the Oromo people, and Somali, spoken by the Somali people; the latter includes Amharic, spoken by the Amhara people, and Tigrinya, spoken by the Tigray-Tigrinya people. Together, these four groups make up about three-quarters of Ethiopia's population. Other Afro-Asiatic languages with a significant number of speakers include the Cushitic Sidamo, Afar, Hadiyya and Agaw languages, as well as the Semitic Gurage, Harari, Silt'e and Argobba tongues.

Additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by Omotic ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Among these idioms are Aari, Bench, Dawro, Dime, Dizi, Gamo, Gofa, Maale, Hamer and Wolaytta.

Languages from the Nilo-Saharan phylum are also spoken by the nation's Nilotic ethnic minorities, who are concentrated in the south western parts of the country. These tongues include Nuer, Anuak, Nyangatom, Majang, Surma, Me'en and Mursi.

The Semitic languages of Ethiopia are related to both Hebrew and Arabic. The Ethiopian languages of this family are derived from Ge'ez, the language of the ancient Axumite Kingdom, which was also the language of the country's literature prior to the mid-nineteenth century, as well as part of most present-day Ethiopian Orthodox Church services.

The principal Semitic language of northwestern and centre of the country is Amharic, which is the language of Gondar and Gojam, as well as much of Wollo and Shewa. Moreover, Amharic is also the official language of the modern state, the language of administration, and the language of much modern Ethiopian literature.

In terms of writing systems, Ethiopia's principal orthography is Ge'ez. Employed as an abugida for several of the country's languages, it first came into usage in the 6th and 5th centuries BC to transcribe the Semitic Ge'ez language. Ge'ez now serves as the liturgical language of the EthiopianOrthodox Church.

Why Best Destination in Africa?

Ethiopia has a unique place in Africa & also one of the best recommended and emerging destinations of Africa. It’s because:- 

• Ethiopia is a multilingual society with around 80 ethnic groups.
• Ethiopia is the cradle of mankind and one of the oldest locations of human life known to scientists and is widely considered the region from which Homosapiens first migrated to the Middle East and points beyond.
• Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history, alongside Rome, Persia, China and India.
• The origin of the coffee bean.
• Africa's largest continuous mountain ranges and the largest cave in Africa at Sof Omar.
• Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.
• Ethiopia is one of the founding members of the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Organization of African Unity, with Addis Ababa serving as the headquarters of the African Union.
• Ethiopia almost the only African country to have escaped European colonialism has retained much of its cultural identity which has ensured that its culture has remained remarkably intact, unpolluted and undiluted by outside influence. And also retains its own particular language, script, food and drink, clock, churches and saints.
• Ethiopia has its own calendar (Julian calendar is still in use when the rest of the Christian world adopted Gregorian calendar in 1582)
• Ethiopia is still being visited by a very few. A trip here will afford the traveler a real sense of discovery. Ethiopia is Africa's best kept-secret.