Ancient earthquakes rippled across the northeast of the mother continent to rip the land apart and form the great rift valley. A valley stretches from the broad flat coasts of Eritrea and Djibouti’s and snaking its ragged, torn path south through the craggy plateaus and mountains of Ethiopia and down into the rolling hills and mountains of Kenya and further south still. The arid coast stretches east through Somalia from Djibouti to form the Rhinoceros like Horn of Africa as it turns southwest pushing into Kenya’s Swahili coast. The Kenyan coast sweeps inland and gradually gives way to the eastern Savannah.  

The horn of Africa’s strategic location has made it a crossroads of trade. From the ancient port of Adulis(in now Eritrea) to Kenya’s Mombassa’s coastal town, there are over 1,000 years of trade. Ships filled the ports from India, Sri Lanka, and the far east bringing exotic spices, colorful textiles. Trade with the empires of the Mediterranean brought power and wealth on par with the Roman and Persian empires. 

Books and movies abound around the Savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. The Serengeti stirs within our thoughts of the Red Clad Massai Warriors, Vast open plains filled with grazing herds of Zebra and impala, drives of wildebeests thundering across the grasslands. Lions stalking the underbrush and Cheetahs streaking after prey.   

The horn of Africa’s strategic location has made it a crossroads of trade. From the ancient port of Adulis(in now Eritrea) to Kenya’s Mombassa’s coastal town, there are over 1,000 years of trade. Ships filled the ports from India, Sri Lanka, and the far east bringing exotic spices, colorful textiles to add to the bounty of indigenous spices from the highlands. Trade with the empires of the Mediterranean brought power and wealth on par with the Roman and Persian empires. These crossroads lead to some of the world’s most original and diversified culinary environments. This is a marvel that all of the senses must experience.

The highlands of Ethiopia host a variety of nimble animal species amongst her craggy peaks and rolling valleys. The Walia ibex, wild goat, and the gelada baboon live in the ledges and rocky outposts of the Simien Mountains. An Ethiopian wolf slips through the shadows as it evades extinction.

Important plant species native to the Ethiopian Highlands include the Ethiopian rose, Africas only native rose, and the ensete. This tall, thick, rubbery plant is a close relative of the banana.