“The Aethiopians slept near a thousand years,” Gibbon wrote in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, “forgetful of the world, by whom they were forgotten.” The Ethiopians weren’t nearly as slumbering as Gibbon blithely thought, and their civilization, driven by an intense, unique form of Christianity, achieved great wonders like the amazing churches of Lalibela, carved out of living rock. Twice as large as Texas, Ethiopia’s landscapes are far more varied: its Semien Mountains are higher than the Alps (and they’re only one of the country’s great ranges). It’s lush highlands rise like an island from the deserty sea of East Africa (hence the title of our signature trip), and its austere southern reaches are vast and inspiring, still largely forgotten by the world.

And, as we so often find, the people of Ethiopia are perhaps its greatest calling card. They’re a varied lot—Christians and Muslims in about equal number these days—but they share a deep, gracious hospitality toward visitors, a tradition of welcome many more than a thousand years old.