Origins

Ethiopia – Land of Our Origins –

Ethiopia encompasses a profound, punctuated, three-thousand-year chronicle of identity. The intricate, rich tapestry of heritage it still weaves relates a story as compelling and significant as are its various and complex, ancient empires. As a specialist in history, archaeology, religions, and ecologies, I help unravel these stories, framing them within their broader historical and modern, regional contexts. Delve with me, into the mysteries, the myths, the monuments, the men and women who continue to define the ever-shifting kaleidoscope slowly being revealed as this amazing, ancient land called Ethiopia.

As a land of origins, Ethiopia curates myriad mysteries. Upon Africa’s sacred ground, humankind took its first breathe as Homo sapiens sapiens. Within Ethiopia, our ancestors stood upon two legs, took our first strides, and walked upright toward that new, ever-expansive horizon which draws us still.

Ethiopian traditions, and affirmed by the fossil record, indicates we are all offspring of this first-born of many brethren. It is within this uniquely Ethiopian ethos and self-identity, this deep-seated knowledge of being humanity’s womb, we discover a noble, self-possessed worldview steeped in a majestic, millennia-old mythos. Modern Ethiopian identity is rooted in this deep self-awareness of its role and significance in a world far more ancient and complex than any modern portrait allows. Travel with with me, engage with these broader contexts as we illuminate Ethiopia’s social, political, spiritual, economic, and even agricultural foundations.

Join me on one of Earth’s last great adventures and unlock truly unique, cultural gems secreted away within rare, historical and ecological treasures. Through travels in Ethiopia’s marvelously varied landscapes we discover vibrant history, surprising cultures and heritage, unique natural wonders. As the land of our origins, these regions, each beautiful and original, constitute a different Holy Land, a sacred landscape rooted in our very creation. Together, the ancient economies of gods and gold have shaped this land, weaving a vibrant tapestry of histories, cultures, languages and religious identities that continue to breathe life into all humankind.

Who knows, you might just discover your own exotic self in the land of our shared human origins.

Trekking Ethiopia’s Highlands ---- A Walk of Faith -

Morning finds us, cresting a majestic three-thousand-foot cliff face. Breathe. Sundry aromas: wild thyme, charcoal-roasted coffee, fresh-baking bread, waft upon the crisp air of Ethiopia's highlands. Dream. Twinges of dawn rise into the ragged, eastern hem of Africa’s star-worn, indigo sky. Meditate. The sun launches its first rays upon the horizon, his initial barrage of many such grappling hooks, tugging the earth toward a new day. Having shared the heavens with the celestial host, he again takes his throne to reign benevolently upon the “Roof of Africa.”

Our ascent is typical enough as we trek the edge of a sheer escarpment cut with streams that plunge as some of Africa’s highest waterfalls, into the Precambrian bedrock that roots Ethiopia into its antediluvian past. Perched upon the edge of an imposing, ancient basalt mesa, our destination looms. Through an implausible geological narrative, our path winds higher, one massive terrace atop the other, hinting not only at this land’s extreme antiquity, but its insular nature as well. Ethiopia is what it is because of the uplifts and deeply cut ravines we trek. These upland islands form pockets of isolation, natural fortifications that have bastioned her people against outside influences for millennia.

From our pinnacled vantage point, voices, distant, muted, rise from the valleys below, offering a quiet, hallowed feel. Listen. Soft winds carry the hymns of nature’s spired sanctuary. Nearer at hand, wild jasmine infuses the breeze with her reckless passion.

Each turn in the trail affords a new, majestic view extending to the world’s edge. A lammergeyer regally circles overhead while endemic Gelada and Ibex nibble grass in a glen. Our late afternoon sun now gently rakes his golden rays through the clouds, inviting one to envision a stairway of ascending and descending angels. No wonder this place and its people are so religious. Even the landscapes petition reverence.

In camp, beside a singing fire, evening shadows creep across the valley-floor as an alpine glow bathes the summits that ring us in. Dusk deepens past it's dying-ember-gray into African-mountain-black. A half-dozen elders, white-robed and regal, mingle in their hushed tones. Lanterns across the ravine, silent, shy and shallow, glint, where, during our trek, stone-walled enclosures, villages, and churches nestled amid the fertile terraces, tell of Ethiopia’s ancient heritage. Above, constellations pirouette their quiet, removed, ageless strides across the heavens. Content, invigorated for tomorrow, we reflect upon the beauty we have been witness to, and know we are forever changed.