Ethiopia in pictures

In 2016 I travelled to Europe to see some of my favourite aunties and catch up with former students from a stint as an English teacher in the 1990s.

While I was travelling all that distance I thought I’d tick off a few more bucket list items along the way, among them a visit to Ethiopia, surely one of the most fascinating places on the planet. I was hosted in the capital, Addis Ababa, by Shane, an old flatmate from my time in the Czech Republic, and his wife Brukty. Together they founded Whiz Kids Workshop, a social enterprise bringing kid-friendly educational materials, health messages and a love of reading to children all over Ethiopia.

I had three weeks in Ethiopia which wasn’t enough even to scratch the surface of this vast, varied and confounding land. I did, however, manage to visit Axum, the religious epicentre of the Ethiopian orthodox church; the exotic, colourful eastern city of Harar; and the 12th century rock-hewn churches of Lalibela — surely a wonder of the world.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full-size images.