Ethiopia has a PR problem. It is not the country we all saw on TV aid commercials when we were kids.
It’s a vibrant, beautiful, peaceful and positive country filled with promise for the future. It’s rich in history, pride and tradition. It’s a very equal, open and free society with wonderful culture and among the most naturally healthy and most beautiful people in the world. It’s a land of breathtaking extremes in culture and climate as well as investment opportunity and fun.
Ethiopia has dramatic extremes in climate and terrain: high low, cold warm, deserts and lakes. Its warm dry season (Sept to March) parallels our shitty season. The Danakil Depresison is the hottest place on earth. Yet the country also has huge mountain lakes that form the source of the Blue Nile.
Ethiopia still has real dirt roads, countryside and adventure. Something now very rare in the world.
And it is genuinely impossible to spend more than $10 on a meal no matter how big your appetite and thirst.
It should be a mecca for N. American travelers and adventurers but it’s suffering a PR hangover that has been hard to break. You can help with that if you want. Share some pictures. Do a little research and write something you’ve learned about the country, its history and its future.
Today Ethiopia is a land of children. There’s just something exciting about being in a place where there are a lot of young people with big hopes for the future.
Bet on Ethiopia to lead Africa into a better future.
By By John Wesley Chisholm
