Ethiopian Food, Gonder, Ethiopia, September 2026

This album marks an important little milestone in my new Ethiopian chapter: my first journey outside Addis Ababa since moving to the country.

The journey took me north to Amhara, beginning in Gondar and continuing into Central Gondar, travelling through landscapes and communities that I had previously known mostly through briefings, maps and conversations. This was a work trip, accompanying colleagues from the International Committee of the Red Cross, but—as so often happens in my life—work and discovery became inseparable.

It was also my first opportunity to see something of Ethiopia beyond the capital: the changing landscapes, towns and villages along the road, the highlands opening in the distance, and the rhythms of everyday life far removed from Addis. At the same time, the journey brought me into areas deeply affected by conflict, where access can be difficult and where communities continue to live with uncertainty and disruption to basic services.

There was therefore no pretending that this was simply sightseeing. We visited communities, health facilities and projects supporting people whose lives have been shaped by the conflict. Yet between the meetings and long drives, there were also those quieter moments that travel gives you: watching the countryside pass from the window, encountering people along the way, noticing small details and beginning to understand the extraordinary complexity and diversity of a country that is now, for a while, my home.

After my first weeks in Addis Ababa, this journey made Ethiopia suddenly feel much larger and more tangible. Addis is where I live, but it is only one small window onto this immense country.

The photographs in this album document that first step beyond it — my first encounter with Amhara, my first Ethiopian field journey, and the beginning of what I hope will be a much longer discovery of the country.

Click here to access the album.