Travel: Manchán Magan recounts an unforgettable experience with community tourism in Ethiopia

A dozen years after he hiked along the Rift, Manchán Magan remembers the most perfect holiday he has ever had

Sat, 17 Apr, 2021 - 08:00

In the course of 20 years of travel journalism the most impactful article I ever wrote was one about Ethiopia. It began with the words “I may have, inadvertently, unearthed the perfect holiday — affordable, unforgettable and in one of the most awesome, exotic and unexplored parts of the world. A holiday that will actually enrich your life, and that you may very likely look back upon from your deathbed with a smile.”

As an opening gambit, it was almost embarrassingly effusive, but I was certain at the time that the holiday was one of a kind, and in the years since it’s been beyond compare in terms of natural beauty, cultural richness and the sheer uniqueness of the whole experience.