While the world taps its feet, Ethiopia breakdances with its shoulders. This is an uplifting, inspirational country which confounds expectations. It’s no featureless desert but a land of majestic landscapes surrounding a vast, fertile plateau. The rock-hewn churches in its medieval capital, Lalibela, are regarded by many as the eighth wonder of the world. Its people are welcoming, proud and besotted by their own culture and history. Bradt’s Ethiopia is the most thorough guide available to this country rich in culture, history and dramatic scenery, and has been highly praised by both travel press and readers. ‘Thorough and reassuring, it provides all the practical and background information to make readers leap from their armchairs and visit this vast, magical country’ The Daily Telegraph (UK)

The Unesco World Heritage site of Lalibela in Ethiopia is one of the most extraordinary places in the world. It contains thirteen churches hewn or carved from the native tufa rock in imitation of buildings. As legend has it, the site was founded in the 13th century by King Lalibela, ruler of a newly united kingdom a number of centuries after the fall of the sacred capital Aksum. However, nothing of its accepted or assumed history can be regarded as certain. Lalibela and the Ethiopian kingdom remained unknown to the West during the period of the Crusades and first came to western notice when its ruler sent an embassy to Portugal at the beginning of the 16th century. Dissecting the fragmentary evidence--including decorations, church furnishings, manuscripts, and mural paintings--requires a knowledge of Ethiopian culture and its languages that the authors of this book are rare in possessing. This is the first book to consider this extraordinary site in all its many dimensions--historical and cultural, archaeological, architectural, art historical, and documentary. Claude Lepage is professor emeritus, chair of Byzantine art, at the Ecole pratique des hautes-etudes, Paris, author with Jacques Mercier of Art Ethiopien: Les Eglises historiques du Tigray. Jacques Mercier is researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, and author of Vierges d'Ethiopie: Portraits de Marie dans la peinture ethiopienne and L'Arche Ethiopienne: Art chritien d'ethiopie.

Examination of the subterranean rock-cut monolithic cave churchess of Lālibalā, Ethopia built in the 12th and 13th centuries and which have been pilgrimage sites of Coptic Christians since. As the wife of the German Ambassador in Addis Ababa (Hans Bidder (1897-1963)), Irmgard Bidder was able to carry out her research into the Lalibela monoliths with the support and encouragement of the highest government authorities.

Of all the African nations, Ethiopia is most prone to misconceptions. The 1985 famine and the cracked barren earth of the Danakil Depression are not images quickly forgotten. This fully updated guide refocuses the lens to reveal an ancient country that continues to surpass all expectations: from the ancient Judaic cultures of the fertile highlands to the colourful animist people of the South Omo Valley, from the Afro-pine moorland of the Bale Mountains National Park to the thundering Blue Nile Falls. Taking you far off the beaten track, the author presents more of this expansive beautiful land, believed to be the cradle of humankind.Bradt's Ethiopia provides the most comprehensive coverage of any English-language guidebook on the market. Not only does it include towns and villages well off the beaten track, but it goes into greater depth than its competitors, with more detail on the history, culture and sights, and more opinionated and entertaining reviews of hotels and restaurants. In addition, it features detailed information on wildlife, national parks and trekking routes found in no other book.

Long ago in the mountains of Ethiopia, the bees arrived in Lalibela, and people poured in from all around to procure their sweet honey. A young girl named Almaz vows one day her honey will be the best of all. When she shares her dream with the current beekeepers, they laugh her away and tell her it's men's work. Almaz is determined to prove them all wrong, but she can barely climb the trees to reach the hives. The men think she's learned her lesson, but they don't know Almaz. She's steadfast in her pursuit of the honey. In this spirited text by Cristina Kessler, with stunning illustrations from Leonard Jenkisn, perseverance is the key to achieving one's dreams.

For over a quarter of a century Siegbert Uhlig has been involved in Ethiopian Studies. As wide as the scope of his interests and contributions to Ethiopian Studies has been, so versatile is the thematic range of the 36 articles in this anthology. The essays in fields such as philology, history, linguistics, anthropology and arts were written by the ethiopisants from Ethiopia, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the USA. The Festschrift also includes an account of Ethiopian Studies in Hamburg, and a selected bibliography of Siegbert Uhlig's publications. An index to the contributions of the collection will be made available on the internet.List of contributors: L. Gerhardt, J. Abbink, H. Amborn, D. Appleyard, B. Zewde, B. Tafla, E. Balicka-Witakowska, A. Bausi, B. Yimam, V. Boll, S. Chernetsov, G. Fiaccadori, G. Haile, G. Gelaye, M. Heldman, O. Kapeliuk, S. Kaplan, M. Kleiner, J. Launhardt, G. Lusini, P. Marrassini, A. Martinez, S. Munro-Hay, D. Nosnitsin, R. Pankhurst, H. Rubinkowska, H. Scholler, S. Bekele, W. Smidt, E. Sokolinskaia, E.J. van Donzel, R. Voigt, E. Wagner, S. Weninger, W. Witakowski, R. Zuurmond, T. Ra

The author becomes fascinated with Ethiopia after he and his wife live there for two years. This fascination continues to grow as the years pass and they explore other countries, particularly African countries. The idea of bringing this fascination and uniqueness To The attention of others develops, and a book results. To be more specific, factors such as Oldest Christian Empire, one of the oldest -if not the oldest-dynasties in the world (over two thousand years)- one of the oldest written languages, Ge'ez- Ancient Ethiopia one of places where early civilization began-the city-state of Axum where Ethiopia began its dynasty and said to be the repository of the Ark of the Covenant (Ten Commandments). Also there are some remarkable sights to be seen such as the famous rock churches carved out of solid volcanic rock underground during the reign of King Lalibela the Falashan King of Ethiopia. Churches and monasteries are abundant in Ethiopia, many are spectacular to behold and filled with crosses and other religious works. The history of the wars fought among different sections of the country and between countries is gripping. it seems them was never a new ruler without a series of battles to determine the succession. Each ruler was supposed to be descended from King Solomon And The Queen of Sheba. Fact or myth? the Ethiopians say fact. Whatever, it is one of the great stories of Ethiopia. There was one period of over three hundred years when the Solomonic Line was interrupted by the Falashan Line headed by Agaws, who were Jewish (black Jews).The Falashans were said to be descended from the Jewish servants who came back to Ethiopia with Menelik the First( son of Solomon and Sheba). The dynasty ends when Emperor Haile Selassie is dethroned in 1974