New Year celebration
Today is New Year’s eve according to the Ethiopian calendar. All over the city, people are preparing to celebrate the start of 2005. Live goats and sheep are on sale … Continue reading
Back in Addis after Meles’s death
I arrived back in Addis very early on Saturday morning, the day before Meles Zenawi’s state funeral. I came back to a country in mourning. Everywhere vigils were organised and … Continue reading
Death of a Ruler
When I started writing this blog I took the deliberate decision not to write about politics, but concentrate instead on Ethiopia’s amazing cultural heritage so often overlooked in other publications. … Continue reading
Adopted!
Ethiopia is currently one of the most popular destinations for international adoption, particularly in America where the number of Ethiopian babies and children adopted is on the rise from year … Continue reading
The novelty is wearing off….
After living in Ethiopia for ten months now, the novelty is slowly wearing off…I have been infected with amoeba for the second time in four months, not knowing what I … Continue reading
Is coffee really from Ethiopia?
According to an Ethiopian legend, coffee was discovered by a little shepherd boy called Kaldi from the Kaffa region in the South-west. While he was sitting under a tree, minding … Continue reading
The lost tribes of Israel
Gondar was once the magnificent capital of the 17th century Ethiopian Empire, as mentioned in a previous post, but it was also the home of the Jewish people of Ethiopia, … Continue reading
The former imperial city of Gondar
The city of Gondar, north of Lake Tana, was once the prestigious capital of Ethiopia, founded by King Fasilides around 1635. Before his reign, the emperors of Ethiopia had no … Continue reading
The mystic islands of Lake Tana
Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, is also an important centre for the Ethiopian Christian Orthodox, going as far back as the 17th century when Abyssinia (Northern Ethiopia … Continue reading
Bahir Dar and the Blue Nile falls
Bahir Dar is a pleasant town on Lake Tana, the largest lake in northern Ethiopia. It is also the regional capital of the Amhara region, but it is most famous … Continue reading
Salambo in Addis 