ETHIOPIA, situated  in the horn of Africa, is a country with awesome natural beauties, historical and religious sites, rolling mountains, breathtaking landscapes, agreeable climates, endemic wildlife, diverse cultural heritages, hospitable people, timeless historical sites, artifacts as well as arguably greatest nation of long distance athletes of all times.

The country is endowed with a long history and rich culture which dated back to the pre-historic times as far as 3000 years before the birth of Christ. During this long period of history, the Ethiopian people have dispersed the remains of civilization and culture in different part of the country. Among these remains, some of the popular and frequently visited sites are
The Stalae of Axum, the monastery of Debre Damo, The rock hewn churches of Lalibela, the castles of Gonder, the monasteries on Lake Tana, the walled city of Harar, the palace of Aba Jifar in Jimma, the religious shrine of Sheik Hussien and the Tigray rock hewn churches.

Archaeological findings have identified Ethiopia as the cradles of mankind with the discovery of one of the ancient and most complete hominid – Lucy (DINKENESH) at a place called HADAR found in Afar region - the North Eastern part of Ethiopia by Donald Johanson in 1974 G.C.

Ethiopia is the land of great long distance runners. It was Abebe Bikila (the Bare Feet King) who showed the world that an African can be an Olympic Champion running barefoot through the street of Rome all the 42 kms through the streets of Rome in 1960.

After his respectful deeds, his successors has kept his honor and won many Olympic titles until recently.
The special year for Ethiopian athletics to be the best and unforgettable is the early 1990s which witnessed the birth of a new rising star in the field of long distance running – THE ASTONISHING HAILE GEBRESELLASSIE who is the greatest athletes of all times, who has double Olympic victories, four successive world champion titles spanning eight years and seventeen world records.

Records show that most Ethiopian long distance runners have come from the highlands o ARSI– SOUTH EASTERN PART OF Ethiopia as well as the vicinities of the capital – Addis Ababa.
 

As Ethiopia is located within the tropics, its topography and variation in Altitude have resulted in great diversity of terrain, climate, soil, flora and fauna.

The SPECTACULAR Semien Mountains national park is found in the Northern part of Ethiopia which constitutes the major mountain massifs in Africa. The region includes many summits which rises above 4000 meters above sea level and culminates the highest point in Ethiopia – the roof of Africa - RAS DASHEN, WHICH MEASURES 4543 meters (14,904 feet) above sea level. It is the 4th highest mountain in Africa which is the home of the endemic Walia Ibex, thick billed raven, Semien Red Fox and Gelada Baboons.

Ethiopia presents an exquisite world of nature to visitors. Amongst the rich natural assets, birds stand out as the most beautiful as a result of their color, splendor and unique behavior. Being an ancient land, the country has a unique habitat and landscape which is suitable for bird species and makes the country Africa’s birding hotspots. It is a country where major habitat block is contained within its boundaries, having a high degree of endemicity in both fauna and flora. As an example there are around 264 species of mammals of which is 30 endemic which represent 11% of the fauna.

There are 16 endemic birds in Ethiopia and 14 birds that is shared with Eritrea. About 214 paleartic migrants have been recorded from Ethiopia, of these a large number of them have breeding population in the country.
 

Ethiopia, with a surface area of nearly 1.2 million square kms is the 7th largest country in Africa. It is located in the horn of Africa which is largely a high plateau with an elevation ranging from 110 meters below sea level in the Dallol depression of Afar to mountain peaks of 4543 meters above sea level in the Semien Mountains. The Great Rift Valley which stretches from Mozambique through Ethiopia all the way to Syria separates the western and the eastern highlands of Ethiopia and these highlands gradually descends to the lowland areas in the east, west and south of the country. Much of the country consists of high plateau and mountain ranges, which are dissected by numerous streams and rivers. Among the biggest river basins are the Blue Nile, Awash, Baro, Omo, Tekeze, Wabeshebelle and Genale rivers.

Travelling to most of Ethiopian beautiful attractions is doable the entire year. However, there are climatic variations in Ethiopia which are mainly influenced by Altitude. The main climatic regions are

* DEGA – (COOL TO COLD TEMPERATURE) - type of cool temperature where average temperature falls between 10^oc and 16^oc and altitude above 2500 meters above sea level.

* WEINA DEGA - (WARM TO COOL CLIMATE) - average temperature falls between 16^oc and 20^oc and altitude between 1500 to 2500 meters above sea level.

* KOLLA – (WARM TO HOT CLIMATE) – this is the climate of hot lowlands and the average temperature falls between 20^oc and 30^oc and altitude between 500 to 1500 meters above sea level.

* BERHA – (HOT AND ARID CLIMATE) – this covers the area of the desert lowlands below 500 meters above sea level and the average annual temperature is over 30^oc

Over 83 languages with 200 dialects are spoken in the country, out of which the majority speaks Amharic, (which is the official working language of the country) Oromiffa and Tigrigna. The Ethiopian alphabet consists of 33 letters each with 7 characters. It has 38 diphthongs and numerals. The writing system is syllabic and written from left to right which makes Ethiopia the only sub –Saharan African country having a written language.

There are several religious sects in the country including the main three which are Judaism, Christians, (Orthodox Thewahdo, Catholic, Protestant,) and Islam practicing harmonically. In addition to these there are small number of natural believers and animists in the south and western parts of the country.

1- ROCK HEWN CHURCHES OF LALIBELA
2- THE GONDER FASILEDES CASTLES
3- AXUM OBELISKS
4- TIYA STALAES
5- THE OMO VALLEY PALE-ANTHROPOLOGICAL SITES
6- LOWER AWASH VALLEY SITES
7- THE SEMIEN MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
8- THE ANCIENT WALLED CITY OF HARAR