Ethiopia Made Easy

By John Owens
Editor in Chief

Some of the most wonderful places to photograph are the most difficult to get to. At least that used to be the case with Ethiopia. This East African country, with its thundering Blue Nile Falls, beautifully preserved 12-century churches, and many people untouched by the modern world, truly falls into the category of “undiscovered.”



Part of the reason is that for many years it was difficult to find a travel company that could take you there on your terms without feeling—and spending—like you were on a Victorian-era expedition.
But the country’s Boeing-jet-flying flag carrier has made customized trips easy to set up and easy to afford with its new Ethiopian Airlines Journeys.

Say you want to spend a week exploring the northern half of the country, starting in the center at the capital of Addis Ababa. As little as $2,000 per person can get you round-trip airfare from Washington, D.C.’s Dulles airport, accommodations, and a guided sweep through the best of the country photo ops.
From the capital to the Blue Nile Falls to Gondar (with its compound of royal castles), to Lalibela (with its 12 churches hewn out of red stone and preserved as an absolute marvel of both engineering and piety), you will get images that are as uncommon as the place itself.


A visit to the southern part of Ethiopia will bring you into areas where local life is still quite tribal, and the infrastructure primitive. But the rewards include opportunities to photograph people such as the Mursi tribe, where a mark of beauty for women in wearing a pie-sized plate in the lower lip. And to visit Shala and Abyata Rift Valley Lakes National Park where the bird-watching alone is worth the trip.

If you want even greater local insights, Ethiopian Airlines Journeys can enlist experts ranging from archaeologists to professional photographers to join you. In fact, you can get your trip customized in any way, including adding a traditional safari to nearby Kenya or Tanzania.

September and October are great times to visit because the rainy season is over and the landscape is green. To get amazing images of the tens of thousands of white-robed faithful celebrating Timkat, Epiphany in the Ethiopian Orthodox faith, visit in late January. To avoid the crowds, try February and March.

To see what a trip to East Africa can do for your photography, visit www.seeyouinethiopia.com, or call Ethiopian Airlines Journeys at 866-599-3797.