Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, home to over 100 million people, and has an incredibly diverse landscape and ethnic/religious groups. It has experienced a recent surge in tourism, earning over $870 million in the first quarter of 2017 alone, with Lonely Planet ranking Ethiopia as one of the top tourist destinations for 2017. Ethiopia's diverse geography ranges from colorful volcanic landscapes to Orthodox Christian churches carved into rock cliffs to tribes like the Afar and their unique customs.

2. Ethiopia is home to more than 100 million people-the second most-populous
nation in Africa.
It is also composed of wildly varying landscapes, and an incredible diversity
of ethnic and religious groups. Getty Images photographer Carl Court reports
that “Lonely Planet recently ranked Ethiopia among the top ten 2017 world
tourist destinations,” and that it earned more than $870 million from tourism
in the first quarter of 2017 alone.
All photos from The Atlantic

3. The colorful volcanic landscape of Dallol in Ethiopia's Danakil Depression. Eric Lafforgue / Corbis via Getty

4. Orthodox Christians sit outside the
famous monolithic rock-cut churches
during a Good Friday celebration in
Lalibela, in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

5. Portrait of an Afar
tribesman with
traditional hairstyle,
in Assayta, Ethiopia,
on March 1, 2016.
Eric Lafforgue /
Corbis via Getty

6. A village sits below a prominent hill in the Simien mountain range, near Gondar, Ethiopia, on January 20, 2017. Carl Court / Getty

7. A woman from the Afar tribe
with braided hair and a beaded
headband in Chifra, Ethiopia,
on January 21, 2017. Eric
Lafforgue / Art in All of Us /
Corbis via Getty

8. Recently picked wild coffee is dried on a farm outside Bonga, Ethiopia, on December 4, 2012. The Kaffa
region is known for its coffee production, wild coffee grown in high altitudes. Per-Anders Pettersson

9. The Omo River flows through low lying hills near the Bele Bridge in Ethiopia. Dean Krakel / Getty

10. Bet Medhane Alem rock church is seen in Lalibela .
According to legend, angels helped King Lalibela build this
church and others like it in the 11th and 12th century after
he received an order from God to create a new Jerusalem in
Ethiopia. Flora Bagenal / Reuters

11. Portrait of an Ethiopian
Orthodox priest holding a cross
inside a rock church in Lalibela,
in Ethiopia's Amhara region.
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us
/ Corbis via Getty

12. A camel caravan carrying salt mined by hand is led
across a salt plain in the Danakil Depression on
January 22, 2017 near Dallol, Ethiopia. Carl Court /
Getty

13. A salt miner works in the heat as he digs out salt blocks by hand in the Danakil Depression on January 22, 2017 in Dallol, Ethiopia. Carl Court / Getty

14. Colorful potassium salt crust formed by hot springs in the Danakil Depression, near Dallol, Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

15. A tourist stands in front of a lava lake in the crater of Erta Ale volcano, in Ethiopia's Afar region. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

16. A priest stands on the edge of a cliff in
front of the entrance to Ethiopian
Orthodox rock-hewn church of Abuna
Yemata Guh in the Gheralta Cluster in the
Tigray mountains, on in Megab, Ethiopia.
Matjaz Krivic / Getty

17. An Ethiopian Orthodox Christian pilgrim is pictured at a mass before the annual festival of Timkat in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty

18. A smiling Ethiopian boy named Abushe with
striking blue eyes, affected by Waardenburg
syndrome (a genetic disorder that can affect
pigmentation among other things), in Jinka,
Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us /
Corbis via Getty

19. Storm clouds gather over a valley in Ethiopia's Amhara region. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

20. Hyena in the night, Harari Region, Harar, Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

21. An aerial view of the El Sod volcanic crater lake
where Borana tribesmen dive to collect salt, in
Ethiopia's Oromia Region, on March 4, 2017. Eric
Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis via Getty

22. A girl from the Suri tribe in Ethiopia's southern Omo Valley region near Kibbish. Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty

23. Men from the Suri tribe take part in
a "Donga" or stick fight in
Ethiopia's southern Omo Valley
region near Kibbish. Carl De Souza /
AFP / Getty

24. Children from the Suri tribe pose in Ethiopia's southern Omo Valley region near Kibbish. Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty

25. An Orthodox Christian walks into one of 11
monolithic rock-cut churches, ahead of
Orthodox Easter in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Goran
Tomasevic / Reuters

26. A smiling woman from the Borana
tribe, during an Oromo Gada
system ceremony in Yabelo,
Ethiopia, on March 6, 2017. Eric
Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis
via Getty

27. An Afar tribe herder with his cattle at sunset, near Afambo, Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

28. A multi-colored mosque in the
old area of Jugol on January 13,
2017, in Harar, Ethiopia. Eric
Lafforgue / Art in All of Us /
Corbis via Getty

29. Aerial view of a truck passing in the
Konso hills and terraces in Ethiopia's
Omo Valley, on March 10, 2017. Eric
Lafforgue / Art In All Of Us / Corbis via
Getty

30. Stewardesses stand in line during the inauguration of a new train line linking Addis Ababa to the
Red Sea state of Djibouti, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 5, 2016. Tiksa Negeri / Reuters

31. An Ethiopian girl sits
outside a church in
Mekele, Ethiopia, on
March 8, 2007, during
Lent. Jose Cendon /
AFP / Getty

32. A large tree stands above a plain near Alaba Kuito, Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

33. Portrait of an Afar woman
with green eyes and tattoos
on her face, on January 17,
2017, in Assaita, Ethiopia.
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of
Us / Corbis via Getty

34. Ethiopian Orthodox pilgrims jump into the Fasilides baths during
the Timkat festival in Gondar. Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty

35. A girl from the Afar tribe with
braided hair, photographed on
January 15, 2017, in Afambo,
Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue / Art in All
of Us / Corbis via Getty

36. Salt canyons and pillars made of layers of halite and
gypsum in the Danakil Depression, near Dallol, Ethiopia.
Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty

37. END03-JULIO-2017