To the unknowing, Ethiopia is synonymous with drought, famine and war, but to those blessed to have savoured its wonders, Ethiopia is nothing less than Denkenesh (you are wonderful), the Ethiopian Amharic name given to Lucy, the four and a half million years oldest, most complete hominid skeleton ever found in the world. The discovery of the remains of Lucy in the Awash valley, makes Ethiopia the region from where the earliest upright walking hominids originated from. Ethiopia is therefore the tree where Man was born. Maybe Darwin was onto something ... And the more recent discovery of the remains of the Kibbish Man who lived about 150,000 years ago in Ethiopias mid-west, contributed strong evidence that he was the immediate ancestor of anatomically modern humans, with DNA similar to us. Rich in history, wildlife, and cultural traditions, the relative obscurity of Ethiopia surprises those who are brave enough to travel in this country. Every place you go rewards you with a sense of adventure and discovery. The landscape in the north is littered with rock hewn churches, mighty castles, and isolated monasteries. Lalibela was built to be a replica of Jerusalem. There are deserts and desolate volcanic regions where the inhospitable landscape is almost Martian like. Yet the Afars live here, mining salt, and sending the salt out on camel caravans of hundreds of camels at a time. In the Bale Mountains, the last sanctuary of upto 500 almost extinct Abyssinian wolves who live there hunting rodents, one might think one is in Europe, with its vast rolling landscape of farmland cultivated with grain. And in the Kaffe region, there are huge tracts of land covered with coffee plants. Ethiopia is the only place in the world where coffee grows wild, and where all the the worlds coffee plants originate from. And if you venture further south into Ethiopias South western belley, you will encounter more than 80 different tribes who are still living life much like their ancestors did hundreds of years ago, herding cattle, and engaging in tribal customs which will shock you. They occasionally steal each others cattle and this ends in skirmishes in which people are killed. Other interesting facts - Suri men walk around stark naked. Their women cover their bottom half and they dont believe in washing between their navel and their knees. Women wear plates in their lower lips while men wear them in their ear lobes. Both scar their bodies, as scarification is regarded as beautiful. Hamer women allow themselves to be whipped till they bleed, in order to prove their love and loyalty to their men. And their men jump naked over cows in a coming of age ritual. Fresh cow dung are often rubbed over the body and face as a beauty aid. And hands are often washed in fresh cow urine before milking. They regularly drink the blood of their cows, often mixing the fresh blood with milk. And you wouldnt believe what they do to stimulate cows to produce more milk. Wait till I post photos of the process. And then there is one tribe that often rob graves to eat the corpses ..... and there are a lot more that will fascinate you ... Travel in Ethiopia can be tough but it will be enormously satisfying .... and you wont have to worry about hordes of tourists, yet ... Here are some ....normal .... faces of Ethiopia
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 10:55:08 +0000
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