Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Western Ethiopia
Includes ยป
Why Go?
Western Ethiopia is undisturbed and seldom visited, yet it's one of the most beautiful re-
gions in Ethiopia. Rain forests, coffee plantations and muddy agricultural towns share the
landscape with savannah grasslands, wildlife-infested swamps and high plateaus carpeted
in fields of tef (an indigenous grass cultivated as a cereal).
As impressive as the scenery is, it's the ethnic diversity that is the real attraction: white-
robed highlanders flock to churches; Surmi women with giant lip plates and men painted
white like spirits of the night patrol the lowlands; and, on the South Sudan border, ritually
scarred Nuer peoples stride across the grasslands with their long-horned cattle. The Anuak
peoples of the Gambela region believe that to continue travelling west is to fall off the edge
