Debre Zeit

Before I arrived in Addis, I spoke with a number of Ethiopians who remarked at the country’s beauty. “Go to Ethiopia,” they all said, “Addis Ababa is the most beautiful city in the world!” It’s great to know that Ethiopians love their country so much to think Addis is beautiful. In Addis, black smog billows from cars and trucks as they rattle past cows and donkeys, often cutting each other off as they sway back and forth threatening to topple. During the regular traffic jams one has to decide whether to close the windows tight and enter steam room city or become intoxicated as the fumes are filtered by the back of the throat. During the day, the sidewalks are filled with beggars beckoning with their hands and an expression of practiced guilt, and at night, with the snickering and calling of prostitutes.

Although, I can’t support the argument that Addis is aesthetically beautiful, it’s just not, I will say Ethiopia is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever been. A hike up to the top of Entoto located at the Northern end of the city leaves one feeling as if they’ve stepped backwards in time, beautifully crafted mud houses set on wooden frames, far-stretching green fields and tall aromatic eucalyptus trees. A forty-five minute flight to Gondar, the historical capital of Ethiopia and you find castles made of stone, perfectly edged agricultural fields comprised of all shades of brown, yellow and green, and the smiles of muddy children who find out what they look like for the first time as they stare into the 3×2 inch playback screen on the back of your DSLR. The overwhelming clash of antiquity and modernity meet in the capital city Addis Ababa with a resounding aesthetic dissonance, but other less developed regions of Ethiopia remain with their natural beauty intact.

One of these places is called Debre Zeit, or Bishoftu in its proper Oromo name, a place that I spent the last couple days at as a small break from Addis. I’ll let you take a look at the pictures and decide for yourself what you think.