Reise-Reportagen Septemer/Oktober 2019

Daily Mail: „From a 'spaceship' hotel to the source of the Blue Nile, exploring Ethiopia and finding out just why it is the eighth wonder of the world”: „Until recently, Ethiopia was seen as a destination for backpacking hippies and Bob Geldof. We were missing out on an eighth wonder of the world in the fantasy cathedrals of Lalibela, a history-changing Second World War battle fought in an Arthurian castle, landscapes out of Tolkien and wildlife you won’t see anywhere else on the planet.“

Modern Ghana: “Ethiopia is eight years behind the world, but they are doing just fine — A piece about my trip to Ethiopia: “Imagine my face (if you know me) when I received an invitation on my second day in Addis Ababa to attend an award dinner for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize. My face did not change because I was attending a dinner — how much rice can a boy eat — the year on the invitation was 2011. Yes, the date read ‘May 2, 2011’ in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Shouldn’t this even have happened some eight years ago? Why would organizers make such an ‘ugly’ mistake? I kept asking questions until a hotel staff confirmed. Ethiopia was really in 2011.”

BBC „We sometimes don't name our children for years'”: “The Borana people of Ethiopia and Kenya are in no rush to name their newborn babies. Naming ceremonies only happen occasionally and often they have to wait for some time.“

BBC “Ethiopia's 900-year-old Shonke village on a mountain”: “Shonke village is a 900-year-old settlement on the top of a mountain in Ethiopia's Amhara region. Residents say they prefer their traditional stone-built homes to Ethiopia's "shining cities". About 20 generations have lived in the village, but residents now say half of the village's estimated households have left in search of farmlands down the hill.

National Geographic “Discovering the rock churches of Ethiopia's Gheralta Mountains”: “But of all Tigray’s rock-hewn-churches, Abuna Yemata Guh steals the show, its reputation as one of the most inaccessible well earned. I’ve climbed up to three churches so far in this region, but none has tested me quite like this. And yet, despite its perilous access, it turns out to be the busiest. At the other churches, we don’t meet a single faranji (foreigner) — a word we come to know well as the Ethiopian children run from their houses shouting it, so scarce are well-trodden tourist trails in these parts. But here on Abuna Yemata, I’m not alone as I tackle the ascent. I meet Americans, Germans and French on my way up. “

The Guardian “This is Dubai now': Nobel-winning PM's plan to transform Addis Ababa”: “Under Ethiopia’s charismatic prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who was recently awarded the Nobel peace prize after forging a peace deal with Eritrea shortly after his appointment in April last year, and his lieutenant in the capital, deputy mayor Takele Uma, Addis Ababa is undergoing its most radical facelift in a generation, with the old station as the centrepiece. The station will anchor a vast development project, also called La Gare, in the heart of the city comprising malls, offices, five-star hotels, more than 4,000 luxury apartments and a surrounding park, as well as, in theory, low-cost housing for the district’s current residents.”