It has been said that one of Ethiopia’s best assets is its coffee and that the coffee from the region is better tasting than any you’ll find elsewhere in the world.
Gourmesso’s fairtrade & bio-pods specialize in coffee from the region and should be reserved for a truly great after-dinner Ethiopian experience. Such an experience might be eating Amharic (often vegetables cooked with very spicy meat dishes). Amharic is usually in the form of a wat, or thick stew, served with injera, a large sourdough flatbread on top of it, made of fermented teff flour. Another classic dish is Shiro, a pleasing chickpea powder dinner (sometimes also with lentils and broad beans) which is slow-cooked with Ethiopia’s popular — and somewhat spicy red berbere sauce.
The food and drink tastes of Ethiopia are surely reasons to go, you’ll be treated to food tastes that you cannot dream of, and you’ll be treated with the hospitality you’ve not seen elsewhere. Ethiopia – located in the Horn of Africa and bordering Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, and Sudan – is a widely populated country with over 102 million people living there. There are many places to see if you travel to the country and lots of excursions you can go on.
Day trips are a must: some of the greatest nature and wildlife trails can be seen in a day away from the hustle-bustle of the cities and some trips include the Debre Lebanos Monastery starting out from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Other day trips include a tour of the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes – on the Eastern side of Africa, which stretch from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south – and the Wenchi Crater Lake day trip – where you can hike or ride along the mountain trail in the beautiful Lakelands.
Other places to see include the Simien Mountains National Park, the historic Church of St George in Lalibela, or the statue of Bob Marley in Addis Ababa. Also, in Addis Ababa, Tigalchin Memorial is a treat monument to see. Other sacred sites include the Fasiladas Bath Timket, near Gonder. This is a 17th-century royal bath structure.
The more interesting historical places to visit though, including museums in the land of the ancients – for some of the oldest evidence for modern humans have been found in Ethiopia, little skeletons found known as ‘Hominids’. In 2009, the oldest Hominid skeleton was found in the Ethiopian desert. The female skeleton, known as ‘Ardi’, is 4.4 million years old and is one of the markers for the birth of civilization. Hominids are all fossil species closest to modern humans than to chimps and bonobos, they are our closest living relatives.
It is not only the Hominids that the country is proud of in its heritage – its coffee beans are almost as old. The legend of coffee being first discovered in Ethiopia is that a goat-herder first saw his goats getting frisky after eating the coffee cherries. The goat herder saw the advantage of consuming the beans and humanity has been drinking coffee ever since.
seems so astonishing and definitely worth visiting, When’s the best time of the year to explore it?
The best time to visit Ethiopia if you are concerned about rain could be the dry season (from October to February). However, you’d be missing some of the most interesting festivals that take place in the rainy season and other things. Your choice!