Ethiopia

Practical tips

Best time

Altitude governs everything: much of the country sits above two thousand metres, so the climate is temperate despite the tropical latitude, and nights are cold. There is a long rainy season mid-year and a dry season that is the travel season. The Danakil lowlands are among the hottest places on earth.

Languages

Amharic is the federal working language and is written in Ge'ez, a distinctive abugida unlike any other script in use. Oromo has more native speakers, and there are Tigrinya, Somali, Afar and dozens of others. English is the language of secondary and higher education and is widely spoken in cities.

Etiquette

People eat from the same platter with the right hand, and feeding someone else by hand — gursha — is a gesture of affection, not an oddity. Cover shoulders and knees in churches and remove shoes at the door. Coffee is a ceremony with its own pace, and refusing it refuses the visit. The rest of the practical guide is in preparation.

What to see & culture

Places

The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, carved downward from a single block; the castles of Gondar; the stelae of Axum; the island monasteries of Lake Tana; the Simien mountains with their gelada baboons; and the Danakil depression, with acid lakes and salt flats.

Culture

One of the few African countries never colonised, with its own alphabet, its own thirteen-month calendar and a clock that counts hours from sunrise. The Ethiopian Orthodox church is among the oldest in the world, and coffee — the plant — originates here, which is why the ceremony matters as much as it does.

Food

Injera, a slightly sour teff flatbread, is plate, cutlery and side dish at once, covered with wot — meat or pulse stews, more or less fiery depending on the berbere. The Orthodox fasts, many and long, produced an entire vegan cuisine that is available all year.