Apr 18th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Ethiopia is the rising star of the adventure travel scene. The country has a great deal to offer those who want to visit Africa beyond the usual favorites. Want to see ancient ruins? North Africa is dodgy at the moment and Europe is expensive. Want to go on a safari? You can see stunning vistas and isolated tribes you won't find in Kenya, Tanzania or Botswana. Ethiopia is one of the safer ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Ethiopia posts
International Adventure Guide 2013: Ethiopia: Addis Ababa And The Northern Circuit
Apr 18th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Ethiopia is the rising star of the adventure travel scene. The country has a great deal to offer those who want to visit Africa beyond the usual favorites. Want to see ancient ruins? North Africa is dodgy at the moment and Europe is expensive. Want to go on a safari? You can see stunning vistas and isolated tribes you won't find in Kenya, Tanzania or Botswana. Ethiopia is one of the safer ...5 Destinations For Excellent Coffee Culture
Mar 27th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Cafes are often a travelers hub, not just because you can kill your jetlag with a cup of espresso, but because they are inevitably the place where you go to sit and do some people watching and, while you're at it, take a moment to get immersed in the local coffee culture.
If you're a coffee drinker, finding the best cup in town is often an adventure in and of itself, sometimes leading to a ...The Kimchi-ite: 10 More Differences Between South Korea And The Rest Of The World
Mar 22nd, 2013 at 3:00PM:
In the U.S., there is the art of tipping. In Finland, there is no such thing as college tuition; it's almost completely subsidized by tax Euros. And in Ethiopia, food is eaten only with the bare right hand. Given South Korea's unique history and culture within Asia, there is no shortage of comparisons that can be made between it and the rest of the world. Even though I already reported on "10 ...The 'Christopher Columbus Of China' May Have Visited Kenya, A New Find Reveals
Mar 16th, 2013 at 10:00AM:
An explorer from medieval China may have visited an island off the coast of Kenya, archaeologists say.
A joint expedition by The Field Museum and the University of Illinois at Chicago unearthed a 15th-century Chinese coin on the Kenyan island of Manda, according to a Field Museum press release. Starting around 200 A.D., Manda was a trading hub and home to an advanced civilization.
The ...Happy International Pretty Brown Girl Day!
Feb 23rd, 2013 at 2:00PM:
Today is International Pretty Brown Girl Day, a movement launched a few years ago that seeks to "address the harmful messages about skin tone and beauty in media" and is "for little girls of all ethnicities to send the message that brown skin is indeed beautiful."
Knowing a couple of pretty brown girls who are facing racism here in Spain, I understand the reasoning behind this, but I don't ...Rooting For Ethiopia In The Africa Cup Of Nations
Jan 20th, 2013 at 11:00AM: One of the byproducts of travel is that you become more aware of events that don't get much coverage back home. The sports pages here in Spain, for example, aren't exactly full of stories about the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.
This continent-wide football championship, starting today in South Africa, is sure to be watched by millions of Africans. I'm especially curious as to the public ...The Death Of A Good Travel Companion
Oct 6th, 2012 at 10:00AM: This week I learned the sad news that a friend and coworker in Harar, Ethiopia, had died. Mohammed Jami Guleid helped me out countless times while I explored the Horn of Africa. If you enjoyed my series on Somaliland or Harar, you have him to thank.
I first met "Dake," as everyone called him, on my first visit to Harar in eastern Ethiopia as I was searching for a way to get to Somaliland, the ...Amazing 3-D Laser Scan Of Lalibela Rock-Hewn Churches In Ethiopia
Aug 23rd, 2012 at 9:00AM:
Of all the incredible monuments in Ethiopia, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are by far the most impressive. Starting in the 12th century A.D., Ethiopian rulers dug a series of churches out of the solid bedrock.
This architecture-in-reverse creates a bizarre and otherworldly scene. As you walk along the exposed rock, you come across giant holes in the stone filled with churches. Narrow ...
Video Of The Day: 'Samsara' Captures Imagery From Across The Globe
Aug 13th, 2012 at 6:00PM:
Today's Video of the Day is an exclusive clip from "Samsara," a new movie featuring mesmerizing scenes from more than 20 countries. Filmed over a period of five years, the footage covers sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial sites and natural wonders, demonstrating that human's life cycle mirrors that of the rest of the planet. The film's title is a Sanskrit word meaning "the ever ...
Skype Banned In Ethiopia, Punishable By 15 Years In Prison
Jun 16th, 2012 at 11:00AM: A new law passed in Ethiopia has banned Voice Over Internet Protocol services such as Skype, Al Jazeera reports. Use of such services is punishable by large fines and up to 15 years in prison. The law was passed with little fanfare on May 24 but has only just become noticed by international media.
The government-owned Ethio Telecom has a monopoly on telecommunications but the country is filled ...How To Put On A Travel Photography Exhibition
Jun 12th, 2012 at 9:00AM:
You got back from an amazing adventure travel vacation a few weeks ago. Your friends and family have heard all your stories and seen all your photos. Now what? Instead of tucking your photos away in an album or hard drive, why not show off your travel photography to a wider audience?
I've run two photography exhibitions and been in several more. My first exhibition was on the painted caves of ...A Journey To The Hottest Place On Earth: Dallol Ethiopia
May 31st, 2012 at 10:00AM:
No one travels alone to the hottest place on earth. You need, for starters, a driver and a Jeep stocked with water bottles and four days of non-perishable food. And because that Jeep is bound to sink in the fine sand of the desert, you need another Jeep (and another driver) to tug it out. There are no places to lodge or dine in this desert, so you'll need space for cots, a cook, plus a few ...Six things I've learned about travel writing after submitting 1000 posts for Gadling
Mar 28th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
My blogger dashboard tells me, "you have written 465,451 words in 1,000 posts since you started publishing 1,048 days ago." Wow! I've been working for this wonderful blog for that long? It's been fun and I've learned some important things about travel writing.
The subjects are endless
I got into travel writing years before Gadling hired me, but working for a daily blog made me worried that I ...Adventure travel in Somalia?
Mar 9th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Will Somalia become the next big adventure travel destination?
Short answer: Not anytime soon.
Long answer: For the first time in two decades, there's a ray of hope shining across that chaotic land. The Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabab is on the defensive as it gets pummeled by Kenyan, Ethiopian, African Union, and Somali "government" forces. They've fled Mogadishu and several other ...Tourists killed in Afar Region, Ethiopia
Jan 18th, 2012 at 9:30AM: Five tourists have been shot dead in Ethiopia's northern Afar region, the BBC reports.
Ethiopian State TV announced that the tourists were killed late on Monday by gunmen who had crossed over the border from Eritrea. It said they were part of an Afar rebel group trained by Eritrea.
The names and nationalities of the tourists were not released. Two other tourists were injured and are now in ...Opinion: Dutch khat ban smacks of racism
Jan 16th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
The Dutch government recently announced that it will ban the use of khat, a narcotic leaf widely chewed in the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
I've written about khat before. I've spent four months in Ethiopia, especially Harar, a city in the eastern part of the country where chewing khat (pronounced "chat" in the local languages) is part of many people's daily lives. It's a mild drug that makes ...My adventure travel year: a look back and a look forward
Dec 31st, 2011 at 12:00PM:
This was a strange year for me. I didn't see any new countries but I still had some great adventure travel. I spent two months living in Harar, Ethiopia, writing a series about it for all you fine folks. I'd visited this fascinating medieval walled city back in 2010 during a road trip in Ethiopia and passed through on my way to Somaliland. The three weeks I spent in Harar in 2010 convinced me I ...Somali murals: funky advertising in the Horn of Africa
Oct 21st, 2011 at 2:00PM: One of the fun parts of travel is discovering the street art of a new place. Whether it's the elaborate graffiti of New York or Madrid, the political murals of Mexico, or the current craze of Yarn Bombing, there's always something cool happening on the street.
In the Horn of Africa, street art takes the form of murals. I believe this is a Somali development, because I've seen it much more in ...Eating in the Horn of Africa: camel, goat and. . .spaghetti?
Oct 13th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
When my wife and I went to the Horn of Africa last year for our Ethiopia road trip, we were eagerly looking forward to a culinary journey. We weren't disappointed. Ethiopian food is one of our favorites and of course they make it better there than anywhere else!
While it came as no surprise that the food and coffee were wonderful, the cuisine in the Horn of Africa turned out to be more varied ...My kid is more up-to-date on geography than Google Maps
Sep 23rd, 2011 at 5:00PM: "Where's South Sudan?" my five-year-old asked me.
Being my kid, he's big into maps. He has a map of Africa with all the flags on it hanging above his bed. Using it, he's been able to trace dad's adventures in Ethiopia and Somaliland. It's been marked up a bit since I got it for him more than a year ago. I had to draw the boundary of the unrecognized state of Somaliland on it, and we had to add ...
