Ethiopia, inaccurately renowned as a famine-stricken desert country, has massive green mountains, unique birds and animals, and stunning landscapes.
But the monasteries of Bahir Dar’s Lake Tana, the archeological sites at Axum, the stone-hewn churches of Lalibela, and the 17th-century castles of Gonder overshadow not just nature but also other stone churches, the hyena-feeding men of medieval Harar, the thriving Tigrayan capital of Mekele, the tribes of the Omo Valley, and the unlauded jewel in the crown — the rich, undiluted Ethiopian culture.