from $6,800* per person	16 Days	June, October
Luxury accommodations		Exertion level: 4
Operator: Geographic Expeditions		18 people max

In Travels in Ethiopia, David Buxton wrote that the country “rises up from the wastes of equatorial Africa like an island from the sea.” A particularly beautiful and unexpected island, in time as well as geography. Ethiopia’s history is immense and unique, spanning religions as diverse as Islam, Christianity, and a host of philosophies we used to blithely call paganism (not to mention Marxism, a grim secular faith Ethiopia wrestled with for years and finally discarded). This trip takes us wide and far in a madly interesting, scenically booming country that “confounds every expectation,” as Philip Briggs writes in his Guide to Ethiopia.“It is the most welcoming, enjoyable and uplifting country I have ever visited.”

Our Ethiopian lecturer Worku Sharew’s eclectic expertise illuminates our explorations as we wander in Addis’ churches and museums, and ponder the remains of Lucy, until recently the oldest hominid ever discovered, at the National Archaeological Museum. Now north to Bahir Dar and massive Lake Tana (the source of the Blue Nile—which explains Ethiopia’s strong links with the ancient world of the distant Mediterranean) and on to Gondar, gateway for our excursion into the lofty (just under 15,000 feet) Simien Mountains. (Pay a visit to the “Mountains” episode of the dazzling Planet Earth series, and if you can tear your eyes away from the very compelling cavorting gelada baboons, you will notice that the little-known Simiens are breathtakingly unusual and beautiful mountains.)

Then we wing our way to Lalibela, a mountain stronghold and pilgrimage site of 13 monolithic churches carved out of living, underground rock. North of Lalibela is Axum, a major center of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (its Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion supposedly houses the Ark of the Covenant, and the Queen of Sheba is among the town’s favorite sisters). Completing our historical northern circuit, we fly back to Addis and then far south to Arba Minch and the utterly dissimilar world of Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley, where until relatively recently the very existence of a place called Ethiopia was a distant rumor. For the next four and a half days we’ll visit this entrancingly remote area and its sometimes shockingly handsome tribal peoples—the Hamar, Ari, Bena, and Mursi, among others—getting to know their ways and their vast, dry, and beautiful land. Our visit to this as-yet-undeveloped region is made practicable with stays in modest lodges and, for a couple of nights, a well-staffed private mobile camp.