| Ethiopia Travel & Tour Information
Margaret
Nydel from United States
A
unique, unparalleled experience!!!!
I
have loved
Ethiopia
for a long time. It was wonderful to return and see the changes. I
arranged the trip through Fest
Ethiopia
.
As
we all know,
Ethiopia
is unlike any country in the world, and has been Christian since
the fourth century.
The
Amhara and
Tigre
people of the north are Semitic -- they originated in southern
Arabia
, and also claim to be descended from Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba. Their national symbol is the Lion of Judah, and their
language is very close to Arabic. The north is filled with
antiquities, fabulous mountain scenery, and the amazing rock-hewn
churches. Lake Tana, the source of the
Blue Nile
, has ancient monasteries on all its islands. And Ethiopians say
that they have the Ark of the Covenant -- I actually met the monk
who is the one-and-only person allowed seeing it. This all ties in
with the Solomon-and-Sheba tradition.
But,
for me, this is the most important part: The South, Recently
opened up to tourists, and it is completely unlike the Semitic
north. The government has put in (still poor) roads, and now it is
possible to visit, with a four-wheel drive vehicle, African tribes
which are authentic, with many having had no previous contact with
the modern world.
The
people live in huts, grow grains and keep vast herds of cattle.
They dress beautifully, in beads, headdresses, feathers, leather
skirts, and they paint designs on their bodies with white chalk.
Women and men do their hair in many creative ways. One of the
tribes is the one where women place large disks in their lower
lip. Many groups do scarification, and some pierce their chin with
a thorn. The boys are naked and girls wear a little grass skirt.
And none of this is for tourists! The villages are beautiful, the
people serene and proud, and the children are, of course,
exuberant. Some children dance in the road when they see a vehicle
coming.
Some
greeted us on stilts, with their bodies covered in white chalk
designs.
There
are about 30 ethnic groups in the
Omo
River basin
, which borders on
Kenya
-- the two countries share
Lake Turkana
. I think that as soon as the government gets good roads built and
can offer these people modern medical care and education (many die
of malaria each year), this way of life will end. Certainly there
are no authentic tribes like this left in
Kenya
. Anyone who is interested in African ethnography should visit
this area, probably within about five years! This was a delightful
discovery; I didn't know what to expect.
I
think that maybe the only other place you could see traditional
African life like this might be in some place difficult or
dangerous like, for example, the central Congo. I had an
excellent, knowledgeable guide from Fest
Ethiopia
and a very good driver. The entire trip followed a well planned
itinerary, and was adapted to my requests. I hope to return and
see other regions. This was a unique, unparalleled experience. A
traveler will find nothing else as informative and dramatic. Fest
Ethiopia
was responsive with information and arrangements, and I will
recommend them to others.
Dr.
Margaret Nydel, Visiting Associate Professor at
Georgetown
University
|
|
Rena,
Oded, Uri & Ariella from Israel
I
will never forget Lalibela and the people we met there ...the sweet
children that adopted us and followed us all around.
We arrived in Lalibela on a Saturday and saw the long March to the
Market and it was so beautiful and also sad because we understood
how far the people had to work and carry. learn
more |
