Your previous vacation travels may have taken you to places with exotic religious and cultural festivals. If you want to immerse yourself in one of the most colorful Epiphany celebrations ever, come to Ethiopia Epiphany, which is known as ‘Timket’ in Ethiopia, and is celebrated every year to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ in River Jordan.
Ethiopia’s Northern Circuit, sometimes called the Historical Route, is by some distance the most impressive tourism itinerary in the country. Across Bahir Dar, Gondar, Axum and Lalibela there lies an extraordinary trove of historic and cultural treasures, from beautifully preserved ancient monasteries to monolithic churches and vast, mysterious obelisks.
A dry and desert region known as “the devil’s land” for being one of the most inhospitable and hottest places in the world, the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia’s Afar region offers a wonderful sight that resembles scenes from a science fiction movie. Several of its areas extend more than 100 meters below sea level and are dominated by still active volcanoes, salt lakes, lunar landscapes, endless plains of salt, bizarre rock formations.
Warmer, Wilder, and more archetypically African than the highlands north of the capital, southern Ethiopia holds a suite of attractions very different to those along the northern historical circuit. Culturally, the highlight is the remote South Omo valley, inhabited by a dozen ethnic groups who survive by agriculture and livestock-herding and adhere to such ancient traditional rituals as body painting, ritual scarification and bull-jumping.
