環球之旅:神祕的石頭城——埃塞俄比亞

Much of the fascination of Ethiopia lies in its myriad historical sites, the obelisks and stele of Axum, the churches and coptic monasteries in the Tigre, in the Lake Tana isles and in the Lalibela: the African Jerusalem with its monolithic churches. In Ethiopia there are also nine national parks, two of which include the mountain groups of the Simien and the Bale, while the others lie in the Rift Valley towards Kenya. The unforeseeable wild landscapes are surely the main attraction of these parks, where many of the animal species are protected, and some of them are endemic to the area. The proximity of Ethiopia to the Equator and the variety of its habitats make it one of the richest countries in Africa in wild bird life.

埃塞俄比亞這個國家最讓人神往的便是它無數的歷史古蹟，方尖石塔，阿克蘇姆（Axum）石碑，教堂，塔納湖島Tigre的科普特人修道院，以及拉利貝拉（Lalibela）的非洲耶路撒冷的岩石教堂。在埃塞俄比亞還有9個國家公園，其中兩座公園包括塞米恩山（Simien）和貝爾山（Bale）山羣，其他的則坐落在東非大裂谷接近肯尼亞。一望無際的土地就是這些公園吸引遊客的地方，這裏有很多被保護的動物物種，其中有些動物是這個地區特有的。埃塞俄比亞靠近赤道，它棲息地的各種各樣使得這個國家成爲南非野生鳥類最多的國家之一。

History and nature are not the only attractions of this surprising country. It is a unique experience to come into contact with its people, so deeply rooted in their traditional culture, to participate in religious rites in one of the many Coptic churches, to meet native populations like the Hamer, the Mursi, the Caro and the many others whose lifestyle is hard to imagine today, so far is it from our modern life.

當然，歷史和文化還不是這個地方最引人注意的唯一事物，還有這裏人們根深蒂固的獨特的傳統文化。這裏科普特教會的宗教信仰，這裏本地的人羣，Hamer, Mursi, Caro以及其他一些，他們的生活方式是我們所無法想象的，離現代生活太遙遠了。