9 Things You Can Only Do in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s calendar is 7.8 years behind the Gregorian calendar. A year has 13 months, and Christmas (known as Genna) falls on January 7th. Locals celebrate with practices like strewing grass on taxi and restaurant floors as decoration. The biggest festivities happen in Lalibela town, where hundreds of pilgrims wearing traditional white cotton robes trek to ancient churches.

Another reason to visit in January is Timkat. This festival commemorates Christ’s baptism, featuring waterfront ceremonies around the country.

Ethiopia’s northern historic route has numerous ancient churches home to some of the earliest Christian paintings dating back to the 5th century. Lalibela town, less than a 2-hour flight from Addis Ababa, is popular for its 12th-century rock-hewn churches. According to legend, King Lalibela’s men would work during the day, and angels would do twice as much work overnight.

Bete Giyorgis is the most popular monolithic church, which looks like a cross standing inside a gigantic pit. To construct this monolith, the sides of a huge boulder were painstakingly excavated 40 feet (12 meters) into the ground using basic tools like chisels.

Insider tip: Women should cover their hair in these churches.

Eskista is an energetic, cultural dance that involves a lot of intense shoulder, neck, and chest movement. Ethiopian men, women, and children dance it at gatherings and celebrations like weddings.

It comes from the Amhara ethnic group, and if you’re in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, you can attend the lively cultural dance show at Yod Abyssinia over a plate of local food and beers. Don’t be surprised if you’re ushered on stage to participate.

Injera, a sour flatbread made from a fermented teff flour mixture baked on a circular griddle, is a staple in Ethiopian cuisine. Dining is often communal, and injera accompanies dishes like shiro, a chickpea stew, gomen, collard greens, and doro wat, spicy chicken thigh and egg stew.

For Addis Ababa’s best food and coffee spots, sign up for a city tour. And don’t forget to swing by Mercato, the largest open-air market in the city, for Ethiopia’s favorite spice mix, berbere. It can feature up to 16 different ingredients, including chili, fenugreek, and cardamom.

Related: Around Ethiopia in 15 Dishes

Ethiopia runs on a 12-hour clock system, from 6am to 6pm. The night ends when the sun comes up at daybreak.

Confused? It’s okay. Just clarify any tour times and make sure you know the time of your flight.

With over 6 million documented wild beehives, Ethiopia is Africa's largest producer of honey. Ethiopian honey is made by fermenting the honey and water with a bitter leaf called gesho that’s related to hops. The result can be a mild or potent honey wine depending on the fermentation time.

Pop into any tej bet, a laid-back neighborhood bar that serves honey wine, to taste it. It’s a great way to make local friends. Surprisingly, these bars are often owned and run by women.

Gelada monkeys are fondly called bleeding heart baboons (even though they aren’t actually true baboons) because of the pinkish-red patch on their chests. Hike up the Simien Mountains to spot communities of hundreds of Gelada monkeys socializing and grazing.

These monkeys are excellent rock climbers and sleep huddled together in caves on cliff ledges to avoid ambush by predators like leopards. Keep an eye out for Ethiopian wolves and Walia ibexes, which also inhabit these mountains.

Ethiopia is said to be the home of Arabica coffee, and you’ll find everything from urban cafes to hole-in-the-wall stops serving coffee throughout Addis Ababa.

Coffee ceremonies are elaborate affairs; a woman wearing a traditional dress roasts coffee beans on a mitad, a traditional oven, which is then passed around to guests to sniff. Then, beans are boiled, poured into a jebena, and left to steep. There’s even an order in which the coffee should be poured.

Related: 13 Bucket List-Worthy Experiences For Coffee Drinkers

Dallol, which means colorful stone in the Afar language, is a region in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression that looks like a different planet due to its multicolored hydrothermal pools. Thanks to the acidic sulfur and iron emissions from the simmering hot springs and geysers, the land is streaked with yellow, green, orange, and white.

This is one of the hottest places on Earth, with temperatures averaging 122°F (50°C). The area is also home to salt pans, miners trekking with camel caravans, and tiny saline pools fed by Lake Asale, where you can cool off (expect to float in the salty water). Visitors can also explore the Erta Ale volcano.