Alan Taylor 1:59 PM ET 35 Photos In Focus
Ethiopia is home to more than 100 million people—the second most-populous nation in Africa. It is also composed of wildly varying landscapes, and an incredible diversity of ethnic and religious groups. Getty Images photographer Carl Court reports that “Lonely Planet recently ranked Ethiopia among the top ten 2017 world tourist destinations,” and that it earned more than $870 million from tourism in the first quarter of 2017 alone. Gathered here are a handful of recent images from across Ethiopia, showing just some of its people and regions.
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1. A priest stands on the edge of a cliff in front of the entrance to Ethiopian Orthodox rock-hewn church of Abuna Yemata Guh in the Gheralta Cluster in the Tigray mountains, on January 28, 2011, in Megab, Ethiopia. #
Matjaz Krivic / Getty
2. The colorful volcanic landscape of Dallol in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression, on February 26, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
3. Portrait of an Afar tribesman with traditional hairstyle, in Assayta, Ethiopia, on March 1, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
4. Orthodox Christians sit outside the famous monolithic rock-cut churches during a Good Friday celebration in Lalibela, in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, on May 3, 2013. #
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
5. A village sits below a prominent hill in the Simien mountain range, near Gondar, Ethiopia, on January 20, 2017. #
Carl Court / Getty
6. A woman from the Afar tribe with braided hair and a beaded headband in Chifra, Ethiopia, on January 21, 2017. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
7. The Omo River flows through low lying hills near the Bele Bridge in Ethiopia, on May 18, 2010. The bridge is one of three places along the Omo River’s 472 mile long length where a road reaches it. After rising in the Semien Hills of Northern Ethiopia the Omo ends its journey in Kenya’s Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake. The Lower Omo Valley is home to many unique indigenous tribal peoples that practice flood retreat cultivation in addition to the raising of cattle and goats. #
Dean Krakel / Getty
8. Recently picked wild coffee is dried on a farm outside Bonga, Ethiopia, on December 4, 2012. The Kaffa region is known for its coffee production, wild coffee grown in high altitudes. This region is the original home of the coffee plant, coffee Arabica, which grows in the forest of the highlands. The red berries are the main source of income in the area. Local children and cattle also drink coffee. #
Per-Anders Pettersson
9. Bet Medhane Alem rock church is seen in Lalibela on April 23, 2011. According to legend, angels helped King Lalibela build this church and others like it in the 11th and 12th century after he received an order from God to create a new Jerusalem in Ethiopia. #
Flora Bagenal / Reuters
10. Portrait of an Ethiopian Orthodox priest holding a cross inside a rock church in Lalibela, in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, on February 23, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
11. A camel caravan carrying salt mined by hand is led across a salt plain in the Danakil Depression on January 22, 2017 near Dallol, Ethiopia. The depression lies 100 meters below sea level and is one of the hottest and most inhospitable places on Earth. #
Carl Court / Getty
12. A salt miner works in the heat as he digs out salt blocks by hand in the Danakil Depression on January 22, 2017 in Dallol, Ethiopia. Despite the grueling conditions, Ethiopians continue a centuries old industry of mining salt from the ground by hand in temperatures that average 94 degrees F (34.5 C) but have risen to over 122 F (50 C). #
Carl Court / Getty
13. Colorful potassium salt crust formed by hot springs in the Danakil Depression, near Dallol, Ethiopia, on February 26, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
`14. A smiling Ethiopian boy named Abushe with striking blue eyes, affected by Waardenburg syndrome (a genetic disorder that can affect pigmentation among other things), in Jinka, Ethiopia, on March 18, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
15. A tourist stands in front of a lava lake in the crater of Erta Ale volcano, in Ethiopia’s Afar region, on February 27, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
16. Storm clouds gather over a valley in Ethiopia’s Amhara region on February 22, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
17. An Ethiopian Orthodox Christian pilgrim is pictured at a mass before the annual festival of Timkat in Lalibela, Ethiopia, on January 19, 2012. Timkat celebrates the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. During Timkat, the Tabot, a model of the Ark of the Covenant is taken out of every Ethiopian church for 24 hours and paraded during a procession in towns across the country. #
Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty
18. Hyena in the night, Harari Region, Harar, Ethiopia, on March 3, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
19. A girl from the Suri tribe in Ethiopia’s southern Omo Valley region near Kibbish on September 25, 2016. The Suri are a pastoralist Nilotic ethnic group in Ethiopia. The construction of the Gibe III dam, the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa, and large areas of very “thirsty” cotton and sugar plantations and factories along the Omo river are impacting heavily on the lives of tribes living in the Omo Valley who depend on the river for their survival and way of life. Human rights groups fear for the future of the tribes if they are forced to scatter, give up traditional ways through loss of land or ability to keep cattle as globalization and development increases. #
Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty
20. Stewardesses stand in line during the inauguration of a new train line linking Addis Ababa to the Red Sea state of Djibouti, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 5, 2016. #
Tiksa Negeri / Reuters
21. An aerial view of the El Sod volcanic crater lake where Borana tribesmen dive to collect salt, in Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, on March 4, 2017. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis via Getty
22. A Borana tribesman encrusted with salt after diving in the El Sod volcanic crater lake to collect salt, in Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, on March 4, 2017. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis via Getty
23. An Orthodox Christian walks into one of 11 monolithic rock-cut churches, ahead of Orthodox Easter in Lalibela, Ethiopia, on May 4, 2013. #
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
24. A smiling woman from the Borana tribe, during an Oromo Gada system ceremony in Yabelo, Ethiopia, on March 6, 2017. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis via Getty
25. A multi-colored mosque in the old area of Jugol on January 13, 2017, in Harar, Ethiopia. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
26. Children from the Suri tribe pose in Ethiopia’s southern Omo Valley region near Kibbish on September 25, 2016. #
Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty
27. An Afar tribe herder with his cattle at sunset, near Afambo, Ethiopia, on March 1, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
28. Men from the Suri tribe take part in a “Donga” or stick fight in Ethiopia’s southern Omo Valley region near Kibbish on September 24, 2016. Traditionally the fight is a way to impress women and find a wife. The fights are brutal and sometimes result in deaths. The combatants fight with little or no clothing and sometimes no protection at all. #
Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty
29. Aerial view of a truck passing in the Konso hills and terraces in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, on March 10, 2017. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis via Getty
30. Portrait of an Afar woman with green eyes and tattoos on her face, on January 17, 2017, in Assaita, Ethiopia. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
31. Ethiopian Orthodox pilgrims jump into the Fasilides baths during the Timkat festival in Gondar on January 19, 2014. #
Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty
32. Salt canyons and pillars made of layers of halite and gypsum in the Danakil Depression, near Dallol, Ethiopia, on February 26, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
33. A girl from the Afar tribe with braided hair, photographed on January 15, 2017, in Afambo, Ethiopia. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
34. An Ethiopian girl sits outside a church in Mekele, Ethiopia, on March 8, 2007, during Lent. #
Jose Cendon / AFP / Getty
35. A large tree stands above a plain near Alaba Kuito, Ethiopia, photographed on March 10, 2016. #
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty
Source – The Atlantic