I remember running my fingers over photographs of Southern Ethiopia’s tribes: the soaring bamboo architecture of the highlands, the intricate chalk patterns of the Omo River, and the striking clay lip plates of the Mursi. To a teenager holding an analog SLR camera, these images felt like windows into another universe. These were distant, mythical people living in a land so far away, I never in my wildest imagination dreamed I would one day stand in front of them—let alone with my own family by my side.

Years later, based in Addis Ababa, that distant horizon became our reality.

From the sea of white robes at Timkat to the 900-year-old rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopian culture is a living, breathing history. Here is Part I of our three-part series into the sacred heart of Ethiopia.