Ethiopia aka: Ityop'iya

Ethiopia is a beautiful place to visit. The people are warm and welcoming with A+ hospitality. You should go!!!

After traveling around Africa for a month and being bombarded by at least one tout ever time we venture outside our room, we were totally taken back by the the locals – not only are they incredibly friendly, but they stand up for the tourists!

Extraordinary place, friendly people, and qat growing… well, on trees…

I’d like to go on a mission trip to africa =D

Lots of Black History here. I would LOVE to visit even other parts of Africa.

I worked on a documentary about a few Ethiopian women afflicted with a terrible disorder – obstetric fistula. It was heartbreaking…but they were hopeful and absolutely beautiful.

Was only able to do the northern circuit in the month I was there, but it was fantastic!

Did a community based trek with TESFA in the Wolo Highlands (between Lalibela and Bahir Dar) that was extraordinary. Many locals had never heard of the USA. Kind of nice.

http://www.community-tourism-ethiopia.com/index.htm

Lalibela is great itself, but I also really enjoyed Tigray and the churches north of Wukro.

Talk about exotic. I’d like to go back and see the rock churches.

Ethiopia would not be an easy place to go, but the landscape looks fantastic in documentaries. I’d like to see the mountains and the holy sites.

I visted Ethiopia in January 2005 for Gena (Ethiopian Christmas) and Timkat (Baptism of Christ). These celebrations give an awesome peek into Ethiopian spiritual practice. I was also able to travel along the historic root to Axsum, Bahir Dar, Gondar and Lilibela. For Black Christians, this should be a required pilgrimage! Ethiopia and ethiopian history features so prominently in the Bible’s African story.

Ethiopia though, is a land of stark contrasts – wealth and poverty, modern and ancient – all exist side by side. I was lucky enough to be able to explore different sides to Ethiopian life in the month that I was there. I had an eclectic mix of expatriate, local, urban, rural, rich, poor and even 12 Tribe Rasta “guides” to show me certain aspects of Ethiopian life that might not be readily accessed by the average tourist.