A city built from mud and known as the "Manhattan of the desert."

The most alien-looking place on Earth.

The best-preserved example of a unique structure in Nubian architecture.

Every Friday, Sufi dervishes whirl around the tomb in a trance-like state as part of a sacred ritual called dhikr.

Crumbling pyramids and temple ruins stand within the shadow of this sacred butte.

These Nubian pyramids are strange and unique, even by pyramid standards.

This bright green structure is the final resting place of the 16th-century leader responsible for building the walls around Harar.

The Earth's saltiest natural body of water belches toxic gas.

A powerful tribute to the victims who suffered under Ethiopia's most devastating regime.

An ocean in the making, in the Ethiopian desert.

An otherworldly restaurant perched on the edge of a jagged cliff next to a medieval holy city.

Reaching the "Church in the Sky" requires scaling the cliff face of a sandstone pinnacle with a 650-foot drop.

Ethiopia's "smoking mountain" is in one of the hottest regions on the planet and is home to two lava lakes.

The hottest place on the planet.

An Ethiopian "Jerusalem" featuring a church hewn out of a single rock.

A journey begins with a single step, and for many, the road-trip of a lifetime started at this Chicago intersection.