>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. >> Well good afternoon everybody. Good afternoon and welcome. Welcome to everyone, and especially to those whose visit is the first here at the Library, and I hope it will be the first of many to come. So you're very welcome. And I am speaking about Kay and Joe's guests, who have brought them here, and I hope they return often. Well, I am Mary-Jane Deeb, Chief of the African/Middle East Division. And I just want to say a few words. Some of you have already heard them, but I say them anyway. The African/Middle East Division is divided into three sections. We have the Hebraic section, the African section, and the Mid-East section. We are responsible for materials from 78 different countries of the world, which cover the whole continent of Africa, North and sub-Saharan, Central Asia, all the stans, and the caucuses, Armenia and Georgia. And of course the whole Arab world, Persia, and Turkey. Iran and Turkey. So we are very active, and we are active in acquiring collections, in developing our collections, and briefing visitors coming from all the countries of the region, and coming from all over the United States, and coming from all over the world. We organize programs, such as the one today. We have symposia. We have workshops. We show films. We have music programs. We especially like to invite scholars and experts as we have today, who have researched and done work on our countries of responsibility, so that they can share with us their insights and their findings. And so that all of us attending and participating in the programs leave enriched with new information and a better understanding of the cultures and societies whose publications we collect and we serve. Today we have a scholar, writer, photographer, Esubalu Meaza, the author of inspiring journal and his latest book entitled Addis Ababa, the new flower of Africa. He will discuss with us his travels through Ethiopia, of the many years abroad, Mr. Meaza returned to Ethiopia and rediscovered his Capitol, Addis Ababa, where he was born and raised. In a media interview, he described his experience and knowledge of Ethiopia when he first left his country as embryonic. And now through his very thorough recent travels, he has been able to learn so much and to be able, of course for us in this presentation, to share with us his insights into Ethiopia, the country, the culture, its treasures, including its cities, monuments, museums, parks, literature, sights. Through the eyes and writings of our speakers, our programs are enriched. Our books come to life, and our 78 countries are no longer just places on a map, but living, breathing entities that are rich in history and culture, and that are an intrinsic part of today's global civilization. And now, to introduce our speaker is our own Fentahun Tiruneh, the Specialist for Ethiopian Literia here in the African/Middle East Division of the Library of Congress, is a librarian and a scholar who has single-handedly built the Ethiopian collection at the Library of Congress into one of the best in the United States, and perhaps in the world. So Fentahun? Thank you. >> Thank you Mary-Jane. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Before I introduce our guest of today, I would like to make a couple of announcements. The first is about the video recording that is taking place, and this event is being videotaped and for subsequent broadcast on the Library's web cast and other media. There will be a formal question and answer period after the lecture, in which the audience is encouraged to ask questions and offer comments, but please be advised that your voice and image may be recorded, and later broadcast as part of this event. By participating in the question and answer period, you are consenting to the Library's possible production and transmission of your remark. The second announcement is about the reception that will follow after the event is over. And this reception was offered by Isubalew, you can call him Isu. And it looks very good in the conference room, so I hope you participate in that. And I will now introduce the speaker. Isubalew, or Isu Maeza is a travel photographer and writer, who uses his realistic and engaging images to tell the story of his native country Ethiopia. Though originally trained as a software engineer, he has been using his hobby in photography, and writing talent, to tell the stories of Ethiopia for over a decade. Born in Addis Ababa, Isu first returned to Ethiopia in 2002 after a 15-year stay in the United States, and quickly developed an interest in exploring for a better understanding of the cultures, landscapes and people of his native country. Thereafter, every trip he made expanded. His ultimate goal: to know his homeland. The collection of pictures in his first book published in 2012, entitled Ethiopia: inspiring journey, introduced his reader to Ethiopia's vast tourism properties and culture. Among many locations, he took his readers to a northern expedition where Ethiopia's long history came alive with such reminders as Axu Gunder [assumed spelling] and Lali Bala [assumed spelling]. His second book, published in June 2012, entitled Addis Ababa: the new flower of Africa, covers the city of Addis Ababa, and further explores Ethiopia in all directions. His ability to showcase the culture, history, landscape and people of Ethiopia through clarity and style makes his books not only quaint, but also highly informative. Isu has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master's degree in Enterprise Science Systems Engineering. He is a 20-year veteran in the field of information technology, and is currently working as a technical project manager for a Virginia-based IT firm. Please help me welcome Isu Balew. [ Applause ] [ Sigh ] >> Thank you very much Mary-Jane, and thank you [inaudible] for those kind words. It is a pleasure and great privilege to be standing in front of you and share my experiences of my trip throughout Ethiopia. But before I get started, I want to kind of touch on what Mary-Jane was talking about earlier. I've done some of my research in here, in this room, in this library, and the wealth of information that I found here is beyond what I expected when I first walked in about four years ago, I guess, now, right? So thank you Mr. Fantoun [phonetic spelling], for introducing me to relevant books, articles about Ethiopia, and also thank you Library of Congress for collection, massive collection of articles and books about Ethiopia, in such an inspiring environment. So let me introduce myself. So my name is Isubalew Maeza, and lucky for you I do have a shorter version of my name, so you can call me Isu. My story is very simple. I was born in Ethiopia, and traveled to the United States at the beginning of my high school age, about 9th grade. And then ever since 2002, I've been traveling back to Ethiopia to rediscover and reconnect with the country and the people and the culture. I am an information technology engineer. I've been in that field for about 20 years now. On 2005 trip to Ethiopia, I kind of developed an interest to capture and tell the story of Ethiopia in pictures and stories. That kind of became my passion for the last 11 years, and not only became a passion, but kind of resulted in two books that Fantoun was talking about earlier. One is 2012 book called Ethiopia: inspiring journey. And the second one is 2015 book, which is about, came out about June of 2015, about the City of Addis Ababa, entitled Addis Ababa: the new flower of Africa. You may be intrigued about that picture that you're looking at on the screen. I promise that I will go into this presentation. Toward the middle of the presentation, I'll explain. But for now, let's just say I was just having a good dinner with a friend of mine in the eastern part of Ethiopia. So I do have two goals for this presentation today. My first goal is to share my experiences with you about my travels throughout Ethiopia, but my second goal is to tell you enough about Ethiopia so you could maybe consider Ethiopia as part of your vacation destinations one of these days. Maybe next year, the year after that? But let's see. Let's see what we can do. Alright so one of the attributes that makes, at least from what I understand, what I've seen, that makes Ethiopia a very interesting and unique tourism magnet is the fact that it has different type of tourism that you can experience. You're not limited to just looking at nature or wildlife or history, but you have a different type. For example, if you're talking about nature, you can travel to any direction of Ethiopia, and I guarantee that you are surrounded by natural beauty, that you will admire, and you will be most probably be taking all kinds of pictures of. For example, if you go north, you have the Simien National Mountain Park, with the highest peak, which is the third largest in Africa, and the first in Ethiopia, you can actually climb that highest peak called Ras Dashan. If you go to the south, you have the Whitegrass National Park, in Amharic it's called Nechisar. Amharic, by the way, is the Ethiopian language. If you go to the West, you have the birds' place of coffee. What else can I say about that? And if you go to the east you have places like the Babille where you have natural rock formation, you can actually get close and take pictures of, and hike. And if you're talking about history and you're interested in history, you have places like the 1700 years old obelisks decorated with designs of the past. You have the 12th Century replica of Jerusalem-or our own version of Jerusalem. I'm sorry, the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, or you have the 7th Century site of the first mosque in Africa. Culture wise, you have places like the south, I would only characterize it as the mecca of culture. You have over-I personally met at least 15 or over 15 different tribes and cultures. And ways of living, and designs of homes, food-so it is a cultural mecca when you go to the south. I'm not saying when you go to the north you don't find culture, but I'm kind of just telling you south is where you want to be if you are interested in culture. Adventure wise, I will share with you later on, you have places like the air calle [phonetic spelling], where else can you get extremely close to an active volcano and take pictures and experience the power of a volcano? Or just like the introduction, the eastern part of Ethiopia, where you can go take a picture with a wild animal and come home safe. And of course, when you're talking about wildlife, you do-I can't even point a direction for you, because you can go to any part of Ethiopia, any national park, and you are not only going to experience wildlife that you've seen in different parts of the world, but also endemic animals, such as the red fox, Nyala, Ibex and Bleeding Heart Baboon, which you will see pictures later on. And if you are into doing absolutely nothing, and you do have places like Havasan [phonetic spelling] or Baharda [phonetic spelling], where you can actually just go and do absolutely nothing and just watch sunset or sunrises and enjoy. So just remember this slide, because we are going to conclude with this slide, and you will be the judge if I've shown you enough about nature, culture, adventure, wildlife, and relaxation. So just to kind of give you a little understanding, the presentation is divided in two parts. The first part is going to give you a virtual view, a virtual-basically I'm taking you with me to all directions of Ethiopia virtually. The second part is trying to answer a question that everybody asks me when they meet me, and they know that, you know, I've traveled throughout Ethiopia. The first thing they as me is what is your favorite part? So I'm going to try to answer. It's been a very difficult question to answer, but today, just for you, I have 10 different experiences that I'm going to share with you that I would say are my favorite parts of the travels. We are going to use Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa, by the way, is the capitol city of Ethiopia. It is located somewhere in the middle of the country. So when we talk about north, and we're talking about north of Addis Ababa, south, east, and west, the same way. And there is one more word that I'll be using which is the UNESCO, which is the United States Education Science and Culture Organization, this is an organization that identifies cultural sites, cultural events, places, and puts them as a world heritage site. So I will be mentioning some, you know, when I show you pictures of different places, I will tell you if these sites are part of the list or not. It is, the slide you are about to see is, excuse me, about a 7 or 8 minute slide. But as a disclaimer, Ethiopia is a very large country. It is about twice the size of France. So trying to present Ethiopia, the whole Ethiopia, in about 8-minute slide or a 40 minute talk is going to be very difficult. So if I do talk a little faster, and under-emphasize some places, please do ask me later on in the Q&A, and afterward in the reception as well. Alright, just give me one second. Slide. >> So we are going to start from the northern part of Ethiopia. Mouse is giving me a hard time. Well just to give you a brief understanding of the northern side of Ethiopia, it's historically rich and magical places, it's the only way I can describe it. Such places as the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, or the Blue Nile River, or the Royal Enclosure of Gonder, which is the common lot of Africa. And also places like the active volcanoes that I talked about earlier. So let me go ahead and start the presentation, the slides, and I will stop on some frames and describe it to you. This is the Holy City of Lalibela, 12th Century church. Some people call this the 8th Wonder of the World. What makes this site unique is the fact that these churches are made out of a single-carved out of a single rock, or monolithic churches. And they're also UNESCO listed sites, heritage sites. And as you can see, some of these writings, before we go to this picture, you will see some really old manuscripts and paintings from these churches. Some of them are over 900 years old, written in Ethiopia's own language and alphabet, like you just saw. And this is a brand-new mosque. It's an older mosque, but it is built on a site of the original mosque, or Africa's first mosque, which kind of shows you the connection of Ethiopia not only to Christianity but also to the religion of Islam. >> So these are the kinds of paintings I was talking about. Over 900 years old. Murals in churches and monasteries that you'll be exposed to. >> So one of the things, when you go to-this kind of applies to all over the country, but the religion practices, and the Ethiopian orthodox religion practices are very colorful practices, and holidays and different times of the year, they do get out of the compound of the church, and the services are conducted outside the church. So if you get a chance to see them, then you will see pictures like this, very beautiful and colorful. And I wish I had recording of the actual voices, so you could hear the services as well. And this is the epiphany service in the lower part of Ethiopia. >> Earlier I talked about a 17th Century-I'm sorry, a 4th Century 1700 year old obelisks decorated with different designs. For example, the one you're looking at is a door in the bottom, and also a bunch of windows on the top. Kind of resembles the Washington National Monument. And it is 1700 years old. And we kind of passed it, but I'm sure you've seen it, the Royal Enclosure of Gonder, again, 17th Century site. Nicknamed, or we call it the Camelot of Africa, because of the different castles that reside in there. And here is, I'm sure you know, Ethiopia is the source of the Blue Nile River, and here is the Blue Nile River, a waterfall that you can see in the northern part of Ethiopia as well. >> So different and various landscapes, such as a landscape like this in the northern part, northern-eastern part of Ethiopia, made out of salt and sulfuric formation, or acidic pool basically. It is called a Dallol, and we'll talk about it later on in the second part of the presentation, but here is something you'll be seeing there as well. And we can't forget the Erta Ale volcano. By the way, Erta means smoky mountain, and it is, personal experience, it does smoke. So the southern part of Ethiopia, we are getting into the southern part. As I said earlier, it's a cultural montage of places, when you go to the southern part, you have different cultures. I personally witnessed at least 15 different cultures, over 30-something languages. So culture is what you want to concentrate when you go to the southern part of Ethiopia. >> This is an interesting place, but 360 miles from the city of Addis Ababa, there is an area called Konso. It is, the Konso Tribe people live there. It is naturally shaped mud towers that resemble, when you get close to them, they do look like high-rise buildings. And because of that, it has a nickname. They call this area New York. So you can actually go to Ethiopia and say "Take me to New York," and you know, you'll find yourself here. >> The United Nations UNESCO site, I'm sorry, organization, identified this site as one of the 160 important archaeological findings in the world. And this is called Tiya. It is also found in the southern part of Ethiopia, and about 36 different monuments. Some of them, actually about 32 of them, have some kind of carving on them. And they are still trying to figure out or decipher what the meaning of those writings are, but here is another site from really the past, and age unknown at this point. One of the longest caves in Africa, about 10 miles long cave, what makes this cave really interesting is the fact that it has its own river that passes through it. So it is a beautiful place to visit when you are in the southern part. >> And also the Bale National Mountain, the second highest in Ethiopia, and full of birds and pictures like this that you can take. And when you come closer to Addis Ababa, you have places like Havasa and the Whitegrass National Park, where you can see displays like this, actually participate in feeding and taking a picture. And this is the Whitegrass National Park I was talking about. What makes that park a little interesting is the fact that it sits right in between two different lakes, Lake Chamo and Lake Abaya, and because of that you have absolutely like many, many different bird species and different animals. For example, the ones that we just passed, sorry, I'm going to go back. >> Alright, let me-I'll talk to you about that later on, but the red fox that you saw earlier is an endemic animal that is found only in Ethiopia as well, and you can find it in the Bale area. And this is a kind of display that you get in the Lake Chamo area, which is Whitegrass National Park, that I told you about. And you have hippos, and also crocodiles, that you can really, depending on, you know, advice from your guides, you can really get very close to them to take good pictures. >> Yeah, this guy doesn't play. And I talked about culture. I said about personally, I mean there are over 30 different tribes around the south part of Ethiopia, but I personally met about 15 or 16 of them, and this is one of the tribes that, again, I'll be talking about a ceremony called, Rite of Passage that is called bull jumping. And the Hamar tribe. And it's a very interesting ceremony that is about three days long. So we'll talk about it later on. But here is an example of the dancing and the songs. And the Dorze Tribe are not really far away from Addis Ababa, but known for their proficiency of making cotton woven clothes, and also known for their design of home. Their design is unique and different, and it actually resembles some animal, which I'll tell you later on. This is inside of the house. Well, I'll tell you right now. So if you look at this house, this is a Dorze hut. If you really look at it, it does resemble some kind of animal. I don't know if you can think of that animal right now, but it is a face of a elephant. If you look at it, and you can see the eyes on the top and the trunk and the bottom of the drunk there's a door. So legend has it that there used to be elephants in that area. When they disappeared from that area, the people started designing their houses to look like the elephants as a reminder of the time. >> Alright, so we are going to the east. I hope you are not tired? We're traveling a lot. So the eastern part of Ethiopia kind of starts with one of my favorite places to go, which is the Awash National Park. It is, it's not far away from Addis Ababa. It's about 140 miles from Addis Ababa. Landscapes, especially my favorite part, which we'll see a picture of, is the sunset on the Awash River. It's a beautiful sunset, and if you do time yourself the right way, then you can actually get there around 5:00, 6:00, and take this picture. Within the National Parks, there are about 400 species of birds, and also African oryx and other wild animals as well. And because I believe its proximity to the Awash River, you do have this beautiful waterfall as well. >> So driving down to the eastern side, about 320 miles, you'll get into a place or a city called Harar. This is is the entrance of the city, and that is a very interesting city. It has a city inside the city, of a walled city called Jugol. And we will see some pictures from there. And this is an 1880 house that was believed to be the house of Arthur Rimbaud, and he was a French poet, who actually lived in that area. They say he lived in this house, I'm not sure. But he does have some of his work and his pictures that are displayed in this house as well. >> This is the walled city of Jugol I was talking about. Earlier in the introduction I mentioned this area, a place called Babille, rock sculptures, natural rock sculptures that you can actually get close to it, and the height takes about 30 to 35 minutes to get to the-especially that rock that you see, the middle one. >> So the homes in the eastern part of Ethiopia, first of all the people who live in that area are called the Harares [assumed spelling], and their homes, or the inside of their home is very unique, as you see, very colorful, and the household goods that you see in there are functionally usable. Once they are used, they actually clean it and put it back as a decoration to the house, so it really looks beautiful. Earlier I talked about the Dorze people and how they're really good at weaving cotton clothes. And here, in this part of the country, the Harares are known for their skillful designs of baskets, dishes, plates, and decorate wall covers, made out of grass or various grass straws, and those are the designs that you see. And this is that area also where you have a nightly activity of feeding the hyena. This is one of my favorite things to do when I go there, and I will expand a little more when we get to the second part of the presentation. Alright. West. West, west, we are going to the west side. As I said, when you are in Ethiopia, you try to get up in the morning or stay a little out so you can see the sunset and sunrises. About 70 miles from Addis Ababa, there is a crater called Wenchi Crater. A lake with a surrounding of mountains, that you can actually hike down to the bottom of where the lake is, and if you're unable to hike, of course you have horse and mule rides that will take you there. Nineteenth Century palace. The home of that area, the king of that area, named Abba Jifar. This area was also known for the birthplace of coffee. So coffee came from this area. And of course, you know, when you go to this area you have different coffee plantations, and also wild coffee, tea plantations, tea farms, all kinds of stuff in this area. And I don't know if Amaz [phonetic spelling] is here, she is probably in the back, but we will get to experience Ethiopian traditional coffee later on. It is not Ethiopian traditional coffee is not drunk alone, I mean it is a family and a social thing, so we have the Library of Congress family today and we'll experience it. >> Here is what it looks like. >> This is the coffee flowers before they become actual coffee beans. Fruit and all kinds of vegetables are known to grow in this area as well. >> So this is a tea farm that I was talking about. So go further in the eastern side, we'll take you to a different region, very close to the Sudanese border, and there you'll find different tribes, and tribes like the Berta, [foreign word spoken], Shinasha tribes, with their own design of homes. I don't know if you noticed the homes, the hut is very different from the other ones that you've seen. And also very unique song and dance called a zumbara. And this is a zumbara in action, and of course I'm just pretending, I'm not really participating there. >> And last, but not least, about 20 miles from Addis Ababa, on the western side, there is a wildlife rescue place, where it's a park, where you can actually go and walk around and spend some time. And these are animals, this is an organization called Born Free, that actually keeps animals that have been hurt by different circumstances, and they give them homes, and you know, they let you see, and take pictures of them. So that's it. It's a virtual travel throughout Ethiopia. So if you're not tired, I can go to the next part of the presentation. [ Applause ] >> Are we good? Okay. Alright, so we do have a few minutes, so top ten experiences that I have. I'm going to talk fast on this one as well. I kind of touched on this, again, I'm kind of cheating in here, I call it experience because there is actually two places, The Awash National Park, and the Whitegrass National Park. Totally different, one is in the east, one is in the southern part of Ethiopia. So when you go to the Awash National Park, you have the African oryx, you have the gazelles, dikdik, warthog, baboons, and over 453 different species of birds that you can actually visit. The sunset I talked about earlier, so we can skip, but this is absolutely a place you want to be around 4:00 or 5:00 so you can take pictures like this, and actually enjoy the scenery as well. The Lake Chamo, this is in Whitegrass National Park. You have the African zebras, pelicans, and different species of birds. And also you can get extremely close to crocodiles, and hippos. And what I would advise you is when you go to these places, you know, talk to your guides. Your guides do know the state of mind that the crocodile is in, so they can get you close to it, or they will tell you not to get close to it. So listen to them as much as possible. Hippos in general don't get close to them. They're crazy. This is a Dorze village. I was explaining earlier. And this is a house of a Dorze. I talked about, earlier, kind of touched on there is a place called the, sorry, the Konso Tribe, now 300 miles south of the Dorze area is the Konso area, and when you go there you will see these mud towers. They were not kind of close by on the previous picture, but here, you can see how they can resemble skyscrapers, and that's why they call them New York. The Konsos are also known for their social activities. They are a very self-sufficient group of people. You have the community homes, that's the homes that you see at the bottom, designed and built by the community, and also taken care of by the community people. So they don't get involved with outside people. They have their own self-sufficient system. And also their marker, or grave marker, or they call it Waga, is really a unique grave marker out of, it's made out of wood. It's carved differently. But when they start telling you about these grave markers, I mean, when you look at it in the picture, doesn't mean a whole lot. But when they start explaining it to you, they have the actual stories of that person who died, in this carving. So they pass the stories of that person from one generation to another through the different designs of the Waga. And if you are in that area, I would advise you to get an Isle Perch. It's a good place to be in. Alright number 8 is the Royal Enclosure of Gondor. It's a 17th Century collection of castles. And we call this area the Camelot of Africa. And one of the things that I really enjoy is there is a church called the Trinity Mountain of Light Church, and when you go there, the designs and murals, these are from the 17th Century. They're still vibrant, and they're still beautiful. And you can actually visit them. And these churches, as I said earlier, are not only historical but also functional, so people actually still go to these churches, as of today. This is just a picture of that collection of castles I was talking about, 17th Century castles. And they are also UNESCO heritage site as well. When you're in that area, you want to make sure you visit the city of Gondor itself, and also hospitality in Gondor is different from other areas. So unique and different, so experience that as well. And also the [foreign words spoken], this was once home to Ethiopia's indigenous Jewish community that you can actually visit as well. Number 8 is-number 7, sorry, the Omo Valley, or the Bull Jumping, as I was explaining. This is the southern part of Ethiopia, a cultural mecca. And one of the things that they do there is called Bull Jumping. What it is, is basically for a young man to become an adult and give any responsibility of adulthood, he actually has to jump, run across the backs of nine or ten different cattle, and that is what this guy is doing right now. And if he makes it, he becomes the chosen one, or accomplished one, and he is responsible enough to adulthood decisions such as getting married. Different tribes, when you go to that part of the country, so I would advise you to participate in different activities if you go in the right seasons. You'll see things like [foreign word spoken] which is a nightly dance activity that you can join in. Earlier I talked about a 12th and 13th Century rock-hewn churches, 11 of them, and this is in the city of Lalibela. Ethiopia's own Jerusalem, a replica of Jerusalem. And what makes these churches unique, as I said earlier, are the fact that they are made out of single rock, or carved out of a single rock. And then the picture you're looking at right now, and here is a more fuller picture here, the house of St. George, or [foreign word spoken] known as in Amharic. And when you go there, in addition to the 11 churches, you do have other churches you can visit, such as the 30 minute drive from Lalibela, you will find another interesting monastery carved out of natural cave. Number five is the feeding of the hyena. That is in the eastern part of Ethiopia. So instead of me trying to describe it, let me just kind of read two paragraphs from the book. "So the nightly performance of feeding hyena is distinctive to the city of Harar. [Foreign name spoken], this is the guy who actually feeds the hyenas. One of the hyena feeding experts starts by uttering words to summon the unpredictable wild animals. As the reluctant hyenas gather to start the show spectators are told to stand in a small and dusty area lit by headlights. Children assist Tedros [phonetic spelling] by bringing sacks full of meat rejected from local butchers. The first reaction of sheer disbelief and amazement quickly gives away to desire to participate. This is from personal experience. Initially a piece of meat locked around the end of a long stick is used to feed the hyenas. As the comfort level of the participant increases, the length of the stick is shortened, for a closer and more intense experience. Here, this is, I would say, about after 10 minutes. This, the top picture that you see is after I would say the first thing that you would do, you extend it with your hand, you're still scared, you're not sure if you're getting your hand back. But one you get to minute 10 or 15, you start feeding it with your mouth and [laughter]. Going to Ethiopia, one of the things I would advise you is try to time yourself to catch religion holiday celebrations, or if you can't do that, then try to catch market days. Open market days. They're very colorful. People come out dressed, cultural dresses, hair dos and different jewelry, distinctive to that area. So time yourself so you can see this event. For example, this is an epiphany, and the town of Araya [phonetic spelling] and this is another one in the Tigray region. Number three experience is two different landscapes. The first one is the Dallol, and the second one is the Semian Mountain National Park. Dallol is a colorful bubble, green-yellow sulfuric lake formed by intrusion of magma and salt deposits. When you go to this area, the landscape is really coated with salt, so you're actually walking in salt in some places. So this is what it looks like. Of course, you're not advised to taste the water, because it is acidic, and it is sulfuric, so it does do damages to garments, but when you look at it from your lens, with wide-angle lens, it is just an amazing scene. When you're in that area, try to learn about, you know, everything you wanted to know about salt. How salt becomes-they get salt out of the Afdera Lake, take the water out, evaporate the water, and get salt that is usable, and therefore, they also use the fact that it is extremely hot in that area, they use it for evaporating the water. The next one is the Semian National Park, and it is one of the highest peak in Ethiopia. The Ras Dashan Mountain is located here. That mountain is about 14,900 feet high, and it's only about 4,000 feet shy of the tallest mountain in Africa, which is Mount Kilimanjaro, which is 19,300. So there is, if you're interested in climbing that, there is a ten days climbing schedule that you can actually register, and climb the whole mountain. I'm sorry. This is that baboon that I was telling you about, very endemic to that area. It's called the bleeding heart baboon, because it has an opening of the skin is missing from the heart area, so they call it the bleeding heart baboon. Alright number two is actually two places. One is called, the one on the right side, that you see me climbing up is called Debre Damo. It is a flat mountain, flat top mountain, or Amba. It's a sixth century monastery, that is actually located there. You do have to climb about 50 feet before you get to the entrance, to the door. So it is for people like me who have not, or do not have a rock climbing experience. Just getting to church is a very difficult thing to do when you are here. So once you get in there, you have collection of manuscripts from long time ago, and also the design of the church itself is from one of the earliest in Ethiopia. When I was there in 2009, just to give you perspective, the size of the top of the mountain is about 3,000 by 1,000 feet. And there are about 350 monks living there, so it's very crowded place up there. And this is what, on the left side, this is what the mountain looks like from a distance. The second one is fazar [assumed spelling] yemata or abuna yemata. That's another church about 80 miles from another big city in Ethiopia called [foreign word spoken]. And it is within the collection of churches called, sorry the Guh cluster. Those are six and seventh century churches, located on mountaintops, cliffs, for example, the one you're looking at, Mount Abuna Yemata is located on a 2,500 feet cliff that you have to actually climb up, and like the one before, there is no assistance of a rope or anything like that, so leap of faith is the only thing you have to go on [chuckles]. Alright so we are getting to the number one experience. The Erta Ale, this is an active volcano. So what I'm going to do here, is I'm just going to tell you a couple of words, or three or four words, because I'm not going to try to describe this thing. Because it is, for me, beyond words. But when I was there, I was thinking about how hot it is. How noisy it is. How beautiful it is. Scary it is. Smoky. Unpredictable. And very, very large. But in the meantime, what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you a picture or a video, so you can judge for yourself. >> It's kind of started from the middle. >> One last one. Alright, so the conclusion, let me conclude by bringing back to this slide, as I told you earlier. So in the northern part of Ethiopia, I showed you natural histories of-I'm sorry, nature. Whitegrass National Park, Semian Mountain National Park, Dallol, sulfuric acid, and the feeding the hyena, and the volcano I showed you, adventure, and the bull jumping and the Omo Valley people, I showed you culture, and the Gondor and [inaudible] area I showed you nature, or history, sorry. Red fox, ibex, bleeding heart baboon, wildlife viewing. And of course, and as far as relaxing, I showed you the Awash River, sunset, Hawassa waterfront, and the Blue Nile River. There is only one more thing to ask you, which is shouldn't Ethiopia be part of your list for top places to visit? So I'm going to end it that way. [ Applause ] >> So the question was about the Konso grave markers, and the Konso village, or the Konso area is about 420 or 450 miles from Addis Ababa, the center of the country. And it is not very close to Kenya. I mean, after that, you have the Omo Valley Tribe, so it's not very close to it, but you're asking me who the people are, and they are the Konso Village People, or the Konso Tribe. [ Inaudible Question ] >> I don't know. I don't know about the other reference you were telling about, so I have no idea. But it could be similar, similar telling stories about the deceased. So. >> More questions? [ Inaudible Question ] >> The dam is on the western part of Ethiopia. You're talking about the large dam, right? Yeah, that is on the western part of Ethiopia. I did go all the way to the border, which is the Sudanese border, but I haven't seen anything that affects that area. So I don't know for sure if it does really affect the tribes around that area. I'm not sure. That is a restricted area, so I was not able to actually get close to the dam area. Somebody else question? Yes sir? [ Inaudible Question ] >> Absolutely, Cradle of Humankind. The question was, I did not mention Lucy. That is a very interesting observation. It is in my second book, which is the book that you'll be looking at when you go to the reception, and Lucy is one of the stars of the book. And Lucy is located in Addis Ababa right now. And when you go to the National Museum, one of the things you'll observe is, it's not only Lucy, but you have RD and also Salam, who are also actually older than Lucy, over 4 million years old. Lucy is about three-point-something. So thank you for reminding me. And Ethiopia has the, you know, because of Lucy we do go back on loyal time, sometimes 3 to 4 million years old skeletons in Ethiopia. So thank you. Yes sir? [ Inaudible Comments ] >> [Laughs] Yeah, I mean, it is- [ Inaudible Comments ] >> So I'm hearing two different questions. One is the wildlife is minimizing or disappearing because of deforestation in different areas. The second one is the tribes in the southern part of Ethiopia are getting more modernized, and these different cultures may not exist in the near future, I guess those are the two questions right? As far as deforestation, I have, when I was in the Semian National Mountain Park, that is in the Gondor area, one of the things that I heard or that I experienced is the fact that the tourism in Ethiopia is trying to actually promote people to get out of the park, because people are actually living in the park at this point. So they are actually encouraging them to get out of the park so they can live somewhere else. But from what I heard from people in that area, or the people responsible to do this, they are saying it is much more difficult than it seems, so it's going to take time, is what I heard. But what you're saying might also be true. So you know, personally I don't know a whole lot about the different activities that happened to preserve wildlife. The second one, the [inaudible], and the tribes in the Omo Valley, you're absolutely right, they do change. So that's why I'm encouraging people to go now, to go soon, go see them before they change. >> Maybe one more? >> Yes. >> I have three questions. >> Okay. [ Inaudible Question ] >> Three questions, okay, so what is common about, you know, all my travels throughout Ethiopia, what is common about the whole country is the first question. The second question is about mentioning the Adwa Mountains and the historical significance of Adwa. And the third one is the actual name Addis Ababa, versus Addis Ababa, alright, so as far as the first question, I do have one commonality that I see throughout Ethiopia, which is hospitality of the people, and how, and this is-I'm not selling, but this is how nice the people are. Wherever you go, you know, regardless of how different language they speak, the hospitality is really common throughout Ethiopia. So that I would mention as number one. As far as Adwa is concerned, I do have the Adwa Mountain and the history of Adwa in my first book. You will witness it or you will see it. And one of the things I mentioned earlier when I started the presentation was Ethiopia is just a vast country, and trying to cover everything in Ethiopia is just very difficult. So I do have it in the book and you will see it in the Ethiopia: inspiring journey book. Addis Ababa versus Addis Ababa, this is one of the things that really took a long time to decide, what to name the book, but here is the reason behind it. When I go to Addis Ababa, official places in Addis Ababa, the official name in the country is Addis Ababa. Maps are saying Addis Ababa. The official government documents say Addis Ababa. So if I call it what it is, that you and I know, then it is going to be very difficult to find for people who want to know about Addis Ababa. So that was the logic behind it. But I do understand. The correct pronunciation of Ababa is Ababa, which is [inaudible]. So those are the reasons. >> I think we're done here [inaudible]. >> Thank you. [ Applause ] >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at LOC.gov.