A Far Country

More than any other African country, Ethiopia has been largely unsullied by outside influence. Isolated travellers such as Rimbaud and Wilfred Thesiger brought back reports of a kingdom rich in magic, cruelty and absurdity, and of almost hallucinogenic beauty. Recently Live Aid and its images of famine have entirely blocked out what little was known about the riches of Ethiopia. Now, in the course of a journey, Philip Marsden-Smedley reveals some of the secrets of Ethiopian history. He is often the first Westener within living memory to visit, for example, Lake Tara (inspiration for Coleridge's Kubla Kahn), the legendary lost kingdom of Prester John and the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.