Ethiopia (formerly known as Abyssinia) is located in the east of Africa, commonly known as the Horn of Africa. It covers an area of 1, 1 12,000kmq, twice the area of France, and according to the recent census has an estimated population of 82 million inhabitants with 80 ethnic groups.

It is bounded on the northeast by Eritrea and Djibouti, on the east and southeast by Somalia, on the south by Kenya and on the west by Sudan. The Ethiopian landscape is dominated by a volcanic plateau with an average altitude of 2000 meter above sea level, which decreases towards the country's borders on three sides. The Great Rift Valley which begins at Jordan, Red Sea and traverses long distance all the way the Danakil depression (which contains the lowest point on the earth 120 meter below sea levels) continuing towards the south of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and finally Mozambique. Ethiopia has a very strong cultural identity, which has been preserved thanks to a long period of independence, lasting practically until present times. Ethiopia is truly a land of contrasts and extremes; a land of remote and wild places. Some of the highest and most stunning places on the African continent are found here, such as the jaggedly carved Simien Mountains, one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites – and one of the lowest place on earth the hot but fascinating Danakil Depression, with its sulphur fumaroles and lunar-like landscape. Ethiopia is old; old beyond all imaginations Ethiopia known as cradle of human kind, it is almost certain that human beings and their hominid ancestors evolved in the eastern zone of the Rift Valley: Lucy, our most distant ancestor, who lived 3.2 million years ago, was found in the rift Valley region a place called Hadar.  As Abyssinia, its culture and traditions date back over 3,000 years.

Ethiopia, the oldest independent nation in Africa, has a heritage dating back to first century AD. Traders from Greece, Rome, Persia and Egypt knew of the riches of what is now Ethiopia, and by the first century AD, Axum was the capital of a great Empire. This realm became one of the first Christian lands of Africa. Late in the 10th Century, Axum declined and a new Zagwe dynasty, centered what is now Lalibela, ruled the land. Axum, Lalibela and Gonder now provide our greatest historical legacy and the cultural attraction is truly astonishing, the lower valley of the Omo unlike any other place on Earth has the largest diversity of ethnically different groups in the whole of Ethiopia and possibly in Africa. A voyage to the Omo Valley is a true expedition to encounter some of the most remarkable tribal peoples with their vibrant local market and there are a number of festivals and cultural ceremony conduct throughout the country in different seasons, in general Ethiopia is truly a land of discovery, brilliant and beautiful, secretive, mysterious and extraordinary.