Ethiopia:
Ethiopia is famous for many things, such as devastating killer droughts, Haile Selassie and the Rastafarian settlers, the Felasha Jews who moved to Israel, and the war that further devastated the country.
The war with Eritrea, which ended in 1991 with Eritrea's independence, started up again over border disputes in 1998. Over two years, tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of civilians died in the fighting, concentrated along the border. About 550,000 people had to flee their homes in Ethiopia and Eritrea due to the fighting. There was a ceasefire in July, 1999, but this didn't last long. In May, 2000, full-scale fighting broke out again, displacing as many as 500,000 people from their homes. Having captured its territory back from Eritrea, Ethiopia on June 1, 2000 declared that it had won the war and was ending the fighting.
Ethiopia is an ancient land that is mentioned in the bible and was one of the first cultures to embrace Christianity. It's a mountainous country, except for desert lowlands in the northeast. The capital, Addis Ababa, is the third-highest capital in the world, at 2,600 metres. The western part of the country is forested, and the eastern part is mostly dry desert.
Visitors to Ethiopia usually go in large groups and pay a lot of money for escorted tours. Attractions include: beautiful Lake Gonder, ancient forts, churches and cities such as Aksum, and safaris in the five national parks.
Independent travellers are, however, welcome, although tourist infrastructure is not very sophisticated. Travel is time consuming and can be arduous.
Most Ethiopians are poor and get around by donkey and donkey cart. There are 76 nationalities and 286 languages in Ethiopia, so it's a really ethnically and religiously mixed country. Ethiopians are pleasant, polite and amiable people. Their food is excellent: a sourish, spongy flatbread called injera, which you use to dip into a number of different spicy vegetable and meat stews.
This page last updated December 2, 2000.