For many people around the world, mentioning Ethiopia brings to mind its devastating 1984 famine. The specter of the disaster haunts the country's international image and still hurts the growth of its fledgling tourism industry.

對世界各地許多人，一提起衣索匹亞，就使人想起1984年毀滅性的饑荒。這場災難的陰影長期困擾該國國際形象，並損害其羽翼未豐正待成長的旅遊業。

But here's the reality that awaits those few adventurous visitors who do make the trip: A high plateau of lush, green hills that's more like Scotland than the desert; decadent nightlife in Addis Ababa; and historic sites like the island monasteries of Lake Tana and Lalibela, a remarkable complex of 12th-century churches. In addition, Ethiopia's wildlife parks are teeming with game.

但對少數真正到當地冒險的遊客，事實上等待他們的是一個鬱鬱蔥蔥、綠意盎然的高原，那裡看來更像蘇格蘭而不是沙漠；首都阿迪斯阿貝巴頹廢的夜生活；塔納湖的島嶼寺廟和拉利貝拉12世紀偉大的教堂建築群之類的歷史古蹟。此外，衣索匹亞野生動物園裡有各色各樣的獵物。

Traveling in Ethiopia, however, can be uniquely disorienting. Ethiopians insist on doing things their own way. They have their own calendar - with 13 months; their own year - it's currently 2003; and their own time -6 a.m. is their midnight. The national language, Amharic, has Semitic roots, like Arabic and Hebrew, and a unique alphabet. （Rest assured, English is widely spoken.）Roughly two-thirds of the people are Ethiopian Orthodox -a creed with its own rites, different from those of the Russian or Serbian Orthodox churches- while a third is Muslim.

但在衣索匹亞旅遊最特別的是：你可能會迷失方向，無所適從。衣索匹亞人堅持特立獨行，他們有自己的曆法--1年有13個月；還有自己的年分，目前是2003年；和自己的時間：上午6點是他們的半夜。官方語言是阿比西尼亞語，像阿拉伯語和希伯來語，源於閃語系，以及獨特的字母（放心，英語是通用語言）。約2/3人口信奉衣索匹亞東正教，這種信仰有自己的宗教儀式，和俄羅斯或塞爾維亞東正教教會不同；另外1/3人口是穆斯林。

A trip to Ethiopia, then, is less like a sojourn in Africa than a visit to some far-flung island, where everything is strange and compelling. You'll need a couple of weeks to even begin to do justice to this sprawling country - bordered on the north by Sudan, on the south by Kenya and Somalia and on the east by Djibouti and Eritrea, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war.

因此，到衣索匹亞旅遊比較不像身在非洲，反倒像走訪某個偏遠島嶼，這裡的一切都很陌生但扣人心弦。你得花好幾個禮拜，可能才開始真正了解這個幅員遼闊的國家。衣索匹亞北部和蘇丹接壤，南部和肯亞及索馬利亞為鄰，東邊是吉布地和厄立垂亞，它們在打了30年游擊戰後，於1993年脫離衣索匹亞獨立。

Roads are generally poor, and it can take long hours or even days to travel several hundred miles overland -particularly in the April-September rainy season. Luckily, Ethiopian Airlines- widely considered Africa's premier carrier-operates flights from the capital, Addis Ababa, to the main must-see sites, including Lalibela. Most visitors head north to visit Ethiopia's tourist triumvirate-Bahir Dar, Aksum and Lalibela, the crown jewel. Ethiopian Airlines sells multi-leg tickets from Addis with stops at each site.

道路情況普遍很差，陸路走幾百英哩可能得耗掉幾個小時甚至幾天，碰到4至9月雨季時尤甚。幸好咸認是非洲首屈一指的衣索匹亞航空，開闢了從首都阿迪斯阿貝巴飛往包括拉利貝拉在內的主要必看景點的航線。多數遊客北上走訪衣索匹亞鼎足而三的景點：巴哈達、（故都）阿克蘇姆和最有吸引力的拉利貝拉。衣索匹亞航空出售可停靠多站的機票，從阿迪斯開始每個景點都停。

A winding complex of 11 churches cut out of the rust-red granite tucked into a wind-swept moonscape, Lalibela is frankly astounding. Legend claims it's the work of angels but in reality the complex was commissioned by the powerful 12th-century King Lalibela and picked out of the rock with hammers and chisels over decades.

由11個教堂組成、蜿蜒曲折的建築群，從鐵鏽紅花崗岩挖鑿出來，並塞在有如月球表面荒涼的迎風地景中，拉利貝拉的確讓人歎為觀止。傳說這個奇景是天使的傑作，實則這個建築群是12世紀位高權重的國王拉利貝拉下令建造，歷經數十年用錘子和鑿子穿岩鑿成。

The roofs are at ground level, so to reach the churches - clustered in two separate sites -you have to climb down steep stairs cut into the rock and worn smooth by a millennia's-worth of bare feet. Priests swathed in cream-colored robes live inside the cool, dark interiors, lit by sunlight that filters in through cross-shaped windows sliced into the rock walls. The most impressive church is Bet Giorgis, or Saint George (photo, AP ), a towering structure with a floor plan in the shape of a Greek cross. The churches are still used - during the Easter period, tens of thousands of pilgrims converge on the site - so you can't visit them without a guide.

屋頂跟地面平行，因此要到集中在兩個不同地點的教堂，得先爬下岩石切割出來的陡峭石梯，經過千年來人類足跡走過，這些石梯已經被磨得很光滑。穿著奶油色長袍的牧師住在涼爽陰暗的教堂裡面，陽光從十字架框窗口滲進並照亮室內，這些窗子沿岩壁切割而成。最壯觀的聖喬治教堂（見圖／美聯社）是一棟高聳的建築，地板上鋪設希臘十字架花磚。這些教堂仍在使用，復活節期間會湧入數以萬計朝聖者，所以要拜訪教堂一定要有嚮導帶路。

Bahir Dar is perched on Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile. The once-mighty Blue Nile Falls has been largely choked to a trickle by a dam, but dozens of monasteries and churches dot the lake's islands, making Bahir Dar well worth a visit. Built mostly in the 16th and 17th centuries, some sites have fantastically painted interiors and ceilings. Boat tours will take you from island to island but some sites are off-limits to women.

巴哈達位於（最大湖泊）塔納湖畔，是藍色尼羅河發源地。過去一度很壯觀的藍色尼羅河瀑布因築壩大半被堵塞而成涓涓細流，但數十個寺廟和教堂點綴湖中島嶼，使巴哈達很值得一遊。這些寺廟和教堂大多建於16、17世紀，內部和天花板有很棒的畫作。搭船遊湖可帶你遊遍不同島嶼，但有些景點不對女性開放。

Aksum, near the northern border with Eritrea, was the capital of an empire that flourished for centuries beginning in the fifth century B.C. Ruins of what was a major hub on a trade route between the Roman Empire and India dot the outskirts. Towering obelisks and remains of royal tombs and ancient castles are now UNESCO World Heritage sites.

阿克蘇姆靠近北部和厄立垂亞交界地帶，是西元前5世紀開始興盛繁榮了好幾世紀的帝國舊都，近郊散見羅馬帝國和印度之間商旅路線主要樞紐的廢墟。高聳的方尖碑和皇家陵墓遺跡及古城堡，現已被聯合國教科文組織列為世界遺產。

Elsewhere in the country, east of Addis, is Harar, a mostly Muslim city that was once a hub for trade between East Africa and the Persian Gulf region. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage site, with a bustling market and profusion of mosques, most of them small shrines built during the city's heyday in the homes of successful merchants.

至於衣索匹亞其他地方，在阿迪斯以東的哈拉爾是個穆斯林為主的城市，過去曾是東非和波斯灣地區的貿易樞紐，也被聯合國教科文組織列為世遺，有熱鬧的市場和大量清真寺，大半是成功商賈於該市全盛時期在家裡所建的小神社。