"You're going where?!" my father asked when I told him of my plans to go to Colombia. The Colombia he knows of, the one from the 1980's, is filled with cocaine, street violence, and Pablo Escobar's thugs. The country's days as a dangerous destination are gone, but its stigma ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Ethiopia
Not-so Dangerous Destinations
"You're going where?!" my father asked when I told him of my plans to go to Colombia. The Colombia he knows of, the one from the 1980's, is filled with cocaine, street violence, and Pablo Escobar's thugs. The country's days as a dangerous destination are gone, but its stigma ...Classic Trek: Semien Mountains, Ethiopia
Ethiopia is home to one of the more spectacular, yet lesser known, classic treks of the world. The Semien Mountains, found in the northern part of the country, offer amazing scenery, dizzying heights, and unique wildlife, with treks that can range anywhere from one to two ...Lost city found in Ethiopia
One of Africa's most interesting countries has just got a new site to visit.
An ancient Muslim city thought lost for a thousand years has recently been discovered. A team of French archaeologists have found the location of the medieval trading center of Gendebelo.
While ...Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia
The news wires have been aflame for the past couple of months with reports of the amazing new fossil called Ida, which has been hailed as the fabled "missing link" just as Lucy was when it was excavated in Ethiopia in 1974. Journalistic hyperbole aside, they're remarkable ...Ethiopian stowaway lands in Dulles - will be sent back home
Baggage handlers at Dulles International airport got quite the shock when they noticed a arm sticking out from the bags in the hold of an Ethiopian Airways 767. The arm belonged to a stowaway, who was naturally suffering from dehydration. For some reason, stowaways are ...Archeological adventures in East Africa
Ethiopian Airlines has teamed up with the Tanzanian Tourist Board to offer a unique travel experience to East Africa, in which travelers will go on an archeological adventure that will send them in search of the Lost Ark and to the depths of the Olduvai Gorge, believed to be ...Ten Great Unknown Treks
Every adventure traveler knows about the Inca Trail or the Annapurna Circuit. They're amongst the best known hikes in the world, and the amount of traffic on those trails reflects that. While they both offer amazing scenery and a great travel experience, that experience can ...Ethiopian Airlines Offering Free Tickets to Africa
Traditionally speaking, flights to Africa can be amongst the most expensive you'll find, and there are seldom deals to be found when flying there. But right now, Ethiopian Airlines is running a "buy 1, get 1 free" promotion that makes it more affordable than ever to make the ...Tour d'Afrique Off and Running!
The 2009 edition of the Tour d'Afrique got underway last Sunday, with cyclists setting out from Cairo, Egypt on a 7317 mile long race to Cape Town, South Africa. In between they'll pass through the Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, ...Bollywood Reaches the Ends of the Earth
Is Indian musical cinema challenging Hollywood's world-wide pop culture dominance? Perhaps not in most places, but the 4-hour, song-and-dance-filled melodramas have fans in some pretty unexpected parts of the world. Shashank Bengali, the East Africa correspondent for ...Why wait a year for your next New Year's Eve?
How was New Year's Eve in your neck of the woods?
If you were a little disappointed with how it turned out, don't wait a full year before your next opportunity for end of year shenanigans. Just hop on a plane/train/taxi or chartered donkey and head overseas to intercept ...Holy Ethiopian City Harar Hopes to Become Tourist Hub
I've never heard of Harar, Ethiopia, but maybe I should have because it's the fourth holiest city in Islam, behind Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. More importantly, it's possibly the birthplace of coffee. Last year, the city was named a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the ...Let's Party Like It's 1999
Well, the year 2000 actually if you're a Coptic Christian living in Ethiopia. According to the calendar of the ancient Coptic Church, September 12 2007 is actually New Year's Eve 1999. Based on the ancient Egyptian calendar the Coptic Calendar was replaced by the Gregorian ...Budget Travel's 10 Best Undiscovered Locations
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It's that time of year again when Budget Travel reveals its Best Places You've never Heard Of. Every year the editors of this fine magazine interview 10 travelers and ask them to "reveal the places they've recently discovered." The underlying theme here is that these are ...Lucy, the First Human, Is on Tour
Lucy, the first known human, is on tour. Her bones made a debut on Friday at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in an exhibit called "Lucy's Legacy: The Treasures of Ethiopia." The exhibit, slated to appear in 9 other venues in the United States over the next few years, ...Culture Clash: Ethiopia
The subtitle for this photo reads: "a female member of Mursi tribe in Southern Ethiopia." I wonder what she's listening to.
Sometimes referred to as "aggressive models," the Mursi people are a tribe of cattle herders and sorghum-farmers in eastern Africa. Evidently, it's ...Mega, as in the Biggest Ever, African Adventure Trip
Suppose you have time-lots of it. Let's say you have 44 weeks. Perhaps you'd like to go overland from Morocco to South Africa by way of Egypt. Here's a travel adventure that will take you through 10 game parks, various cultural and historical landmarks, and enough thrills ...Word for the Travel Time (01/15/07)
Today I offer a simple word out of Ethiopia for the start of the work week. Today's word is a Amharic word used in Ethiopia: Segno - Monday Amharic is the second most Semitic language in the world after Arabic. It is the official working lingo of Ethiopia and spoken in ...Polo's Bastards Top 10 Worst Destinations
With the current conflict going on between Ethiopia and Somalia, my mind immediately began to wonder what the writers at Polo's Bastards had been up to and what dangerous lands they've been exploring. Last time I checked in they'd just posted a piece on Rio's favelas. Since ...Famous Fossil 'Lucy' to Visit U.S.
The first time I'd heard of Lucy was at this afterhours spot in LA. A friend of mine had taken me there promising I'd love the reggae music and low-key atmosphere. I did. Red, ites, and green paint coated the walls crying out RAS-TA-FAR-I. Posters of Selassie, famous Reggae ...
