The seasons, region by region
This is a highland-weighted picture. The lowlands run on a different clock: the Danakil is unshootable in the northern summer, the Omo Valley's roads are worst in the rains, and the south-west coffee forests are wettest when the highlands are driest.
| Period | Conditions | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| October – December | Dry, clear, green after the rains, strong light | Everything. The single best window, and the Blue Nile Falls are at full flow |
| January – February | Dry, cool nights in the highlands, dusty at low altitude | Timkat, the Danakil, Simien and Bale, northern circuit |
| March – May | Hot, hazy, short rains in places | Lowlands early in the day; landscape work suffers from haze |
| June – September | Main rains, kiremt, in the highlands and north | Green landscape and dramatic skies, but roads and schedules are at risk |
| September | Rains end, hillsides covered in yellow meskel daisies | Enkutatash and Meskel, and exceptional landscape colour |
The festival calendar
Festival filming needs positions agreed with religious and civil authorities weeks in advance, and accommodation in Lalibela and Gondar books out months ahead for Genna and Timkat. Once a crowd of that size arrives you will not move a tripod, so the position you negotiate is the film you get.
| Festival | Date | Where and why |
|---|---|---|
| Genna — Ethiopian Christmas | 7 January | Lalibela. Tens of thousands of white-robed pilgrims at the rock churches |
| Timkat — Epiphany | 19 January (20 in leap years) | Gondar and Addis Ababa. Mass blessing in the Fasilides Bath; the biggest visual event of the year |
| Fasika — Ethiopian Easter | Varies, follows the Orthodox calendar | Nationwide. Preceded by a long fast; midnight services |
| Enkutatash — Ethiopian New Year | 11 September (12 in leap years) | Nationwide. Marks the end of the rains, hillsides in yellow daisies |
| Meskel | 27 September (28 in leap years) | Addis Ababa's Meskel Square and nationwide. The Demera bonfire, a UNESCO-listed celebration |
| Irreecha | Around late September / early October | Bishoftu, Oromia. Oromo thanksgiving gathering, very large crowds |
| Ashenda / Shadey | August | Tigray and Amhara. A girls' and women's festival with distinctive music and dress |
The Ethiopian calendar and clock
Ethiopia uses its own calendar of twelve months of thirty days plus a thirteenth month of five or six days, running seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar depending on the point in the year. A contributor's stated age, a document date or a local schedule may be given in that calendar, which matters for research and for archive.
The clock is offset too. Ethiopian time starts counting at dawn, so six o'clock in the morning Gregorian is twelve o'clock in Ethiopian time. When a location contact says the ceremony begins at two, they may well mean eight in the morning. We put both on the call sheet, which sounds trivial and prevents a genuine category of disaster.
The working week also runs Monday to Friday with government offices closed at weekends, and Wednesday and Friday are Orthodox fasting days, which changes catering and sometimes the willingness of contributors to be filmed eating.