Ethiopia Travel Podcast with Dawit Bekele

society, culture, places, travel, documentary, education · EN-US

Ethiopia Travel Podcast follows one person settling in a place long enough to learn it, then moving somewhere connected to it. Travel in Ethiopia is distinctive because the terrain is a high plateau split by the Great Rift Valley, and the climate shifts with altitude. The population is dense in the northern and central highlands, especially around Addis Ababa. The host's range includes Addis Ababa, where population density is highest, the Simien Mountains in the north, Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile, and Gheralta in Tigray, known for churches cut into sandstone cliffs. These places differ in language, religion and climate, reflecting more than eighty ethnic groups. The episodes track Ethiopia's seasons, from the short rains to the long rains, and return to the same towns and valleys as the year unfolds. A market, an Orthodox festival, a harvest or a dry-season journey becomes clearer on the second visit. By staying put, the podcast lets knowledge accumulate.