Ethiopia. 5pm.

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You're sat packed like a sardine into an ageing bus as it rattles around the Ethiopian highlands. The road is constantly winding, never straight, as it follows the contours of the land, hugging the side of hills, and leaning over vertiginous drops.

The hillsides roll away to the left and right, like the Yorkshire Dales in autumn, with the towering peaks of the Simien Mountains in the distance. The land is dotted with acacia, eucalyptus and fig trees. In between are small houses, either circular with a thatched roof, or square with stick sides and a metal roof, and the smoke from the evening's cooking drifts into the air, being lit up by the sun as it floats into the sky.

In a scene that must have remained unchanged for hundreds of years, men in the distance throw wheat into the air with pitch forks, boys walk cows in circles to break the straw down, and girls sift tef with finely woven, and intricately decorated, wicker baskets. Other men are walking their cattle home, using the road as a convenient pathway, the cows spilling onto the road and causing havoc with on-coming cars. They slowly edge out of the way as you squeeze past, defiantly ignoring you, and the advance of modernity, for as long as possible. In a more modern image, children who hear the bus coming drop whatever they're doing and run, both hands in the air, sprinting alongside the bus, and shouting 'Fiiireeeeenjiiiiiiii' to get your attention as you pass.

Some rainclouds gather in the horizon, but above is a clear blue sky, stretching over the African horizon. And as the setting sun spreads lengthening shadows over the hills and valleys, it reflects off the fields of wheat, and the perfectly formed stacks of hay that are sprinkled over the hillsides. And as it does, the soft perfect light at the end of a hot day, turns the whole world to shades of yellow and gold.

In a country full of surprises and jaw-dropping scenery, you've been amazed yet again.

It's Ethiopia. It's 5pm. It's stunning. And there's nowhere quite like it on earth.

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