Far Country

Rimbaud and Wilfred Thesiger brought back reports of a kingdom rich in magic, cruelty, absurdity, and beauty. Recently Live Aid and its images of famine have entirely blocked out what little was known about the riches of Ethiopia. The author reveals some of the secrets of Ethiopian history.

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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. What has always attracted Philip Marsden-Smedley to Ethiopia are the powerful myths that have surrounded it throughout history. Travelling through this land and meeting some of its extraordinary inhabitants has not diminished this mystery. Rather it has deepened it, and revealed how little is really known about this, the darkest corner of the dark continent.