It’s a privilege to travel among dignified Ethiopians

LAST week, I said I’d be writing my next column from Ethiopia, and indeed I am, writes Damien Enright.

As I write outdoors in this extensive hotel garden (€30 double b&b) my companions are two Colobus monkeys perched on a tree 30ft above me and a dozen yards away. They are big monkeys, and have vivid black and white coats which flow behind them as they swing from tree to tree.

Colobus skins have been made into rugs, throws and wall hangings. Their metre-long tails, tipped like white feather-dusters, remind one of exotic bell-pulls and might indeed have been used as such in ancient palaces. I’m fascinated by how their striking plumage camouflages them in the sunny treetops. Light and shadow, in motion.