Best products from r/Ethiopia

If you fly in by Ethiopian Airlines you're entitled to a discount on domestic flights. not sure what that is anymore though but it is significant if you plan to do any amount of flying. It's worth it if you're going to Axum or Mekelle. Remember to confirm the return journey at the local EA office! However also what can be interesting is trying out the bus network if you're going somewhere along a main route i.e. Rift Valley lakes.

If you want to do a bit of everything I'd recommend checking either the Bale or Simien Mountains. Both packed with monkeys and wildlife as well as the elusive and endangered Ethiopian wolf. Also check out some of the lakes, be it Lake Tana or the Rift Valley lakes. Be sure to check out a lot of the religious buildings and especially the churches in Lallibella. Ethiopia has a fascinating and diverse history in this regard with influences of early Christianity, Islam and Judaism. If I could recommend a book it would be this one. It's a pocket sized wealth of information (and I wrote the sports section :P).

Most natural and cultural attractions are outside Addis but this does not mean there's nothing to do in Addis. Addis is lively and interesting. I'm sure there's another thread on this subreddit detailing the things to do.

It’s related to Amharic and Hebrew, if you have any background in those it will most certainly help. I too learned Amharic and Tigrinyin in the Peace Corps. By learn... I guess... I could get by, by no means was I fluent. But that said, language was not, ever, my strong suit. If you can get ahold of a peace corps language book, do.






My friend Tedross however, was amazing. I served with him and he is now married to a wonderful Ethiopian women. He wrote a this book that has gotten some good reviews. Once you have learned the basics, you could try reaching out to Peace Corps Volunteers and they could help set you up with a community member who could mentor and teach you, and vise verses. Or heck, maybe some Amharic speakers on this sub could help you.






Either way, you should at least go to Ethiopia. It’s an amazing country. The Simian Mountains are are less known that Kilimanjaro but breath taking. Good luck on the language quest.

I love, love, love Mulunesh Belay's "Ethiopian Feast" cookbooks, especially because of the gorgeous and helpful photographs of the process. It is a brilliant cookbook.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ethiopian-Feast-Crown-African-Cuisine/dp/0997402601/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=mulunesh+cookbook+ethiopian&qid=1557867713&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull

Yeah, As a westerner, It's very easy for me to forget that ethiopia has many different ethnic groups and languages. So what I've discovered I write here for anyone interested in the discussion:

1. There is very little research being done on ethiopian literature (and african literature). The cause for this is mostly Eurocentrism. Most research on ethiopia is done on things like politics and history, not literature.
   
   
   
2. Two fascinating, very modern books I found on ethiopia are The Barefoot Emperor by Philip Marsden, on the life of the ethiopian emperor Tewodros II (he lived in the 19th century). It's historical fiction, and mostly about the drama, adventure, and interesting parts of his life, not history (although the book is well-researched). The second book is 'A History of Ethiopia'- written in the 17th century by the german Hiob Ludolf. He met Abba Gorgoryos, an ethiopian priest and scholar, who taught him amharic and told him about the ethiopian empire and the lives of it's citizens. the book is available online for free here:
   https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_buNBAQAAMAAJ
   
   
   
3. Lastly, the jewel crown of my little research, is the 17th century biography of Walatta Petros. It is one of the earliest known biographies from Africa in general, and a translation to english wasn't available until 343 years after it was written. The translation actually came out only two years ago, in 2015. Links to Amazon and Bookdepository below.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Struggles-Mother-Walatta-Petros-Seventeenth-Century/dp/0691164215
   
   https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Life-and-Struggles-of-Our-Mother-Walatt-Petros-Galawdewos-Wendy-Laur-Belcher-Michael-Kleiner/9780691164212?ref=grid-view&qid=1506181000763&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/952357230X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_mzK3Db52W8D6X

Neat book in Afaan Oromo. Idk if you have Amazon in your area though :/ i thought sharing the link would be nice though. Have a good day.

Neat. Who is the Author?

Edit: I found it: https://www.amazon.com/Afar-Leila-del-Duca/dp/1632159414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497620781&sr=8-1&keywords=afar+comic

Uhh, Ethiopia's borders largely predate European colonialism. Unless by "colonial powers" you also mean Egyptians and Turks, in which case I agree to some extent, but still largely the modern borders of Ethiopia were drawn by Ethiopians themselves, such as when the Abyssinians conquered Harar and annexed and colonized the emirate ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chelenqo ). Abyssinia was, famously, never colonized, btw, even though it was briefly conquered a couple times, such as by Ahmed Gragn and by the Italians, but neither conquest lasted long enough to be of note in the long run.

For instance, regarding the Abyssinia-Sudan border, here's a book you can read (1861) https://www.amazon.com/tributaries-Abyssinia-sword-hunters-Hamran-ebook/dp/B004UJ0YT4 . Even then, well before the European scramble for Africa, the Atbara river was the border between the countries, with a large and uninhabited "no mans land" in between the Atbara and the highlands that was depopulated due to the frontier warfare between Sudan and Abyssinia. Gallabat and Metema were already border towns in 1860, paying taxes to both the Abyssinian government and the Egyptian government.

The modern border with Eritrea is also based on pre-colonial borders, where much of modern Eritrea was an Ottoman colony for hundreds of years.

Ethiopia is pretty much the ONLY sub-Saharan African country where the European's scramble for Africa did not substantially affect its borders...

I use leave in conditioner. Either Yes to Carrots leave in conditioner (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_19?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=yes%20to%20carrots%20leave%20in%20conditioner%5C&sprefix=yes+to+carrots+leav%2Caps%2C187) or Mixed Chicks (http://www.amazon.com/Mixed-Chicks-His-Leave-In-Conditioner/dp/B0013EJ4J0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382676204&sr=8-1&keywords=mixed+chicks+men)

Hello, I am in Ethiopian born and raised in the US and I have very minimal understanding of Amharic. I bought This, i'm not sure where to start learning. I assume I should memorize the alphabet before anything? I will be supplementing my learning my asking my mom to only speak to me in Amharic and by keeping an Amharic journal. Right now the journal is very difficult to keep since I don't understand the alphabet thus I have to look up every single word before writing it. Please advise me on how to begin learning and thank you.

There's this expensive book which is used in universities and this list of language resources from Reddit.

Cactus chips with sesame...