Things to Do in Ethiopia in March

March is your last chance to see coffee processing in the Yirgacheffe region before the rains. You'll walk through red-earth plantations where workers hand-sort beans spread on raised drying beds, the sweet smell of fermenting coffee pulp drifting between the eucalyptus trees. The estates around Dilla let you join the afternoon sorting, women in bright gomis will teach you to identify Grade 1 beans by touch alone.

The grass is shortest and visibility clearest before the rains come. You'll spot Walia ibex on the escarpment edges, their curved horns silhouetted against views that stretch 100 km (62 miles) across the Tekeze Canyon. The 3-day Sankaber to Chenek route stays above 3,000 m (9,840 ft) where temperatures drop to 5°C (41°F) at night, good for the cool-weather gear you already packed.

March evenings are cool enough that the city's jazz musicians emerge from winter hibernation. The old-school clubs around Piazza, places like African Jazz Village inside the Ghion Hotel, host sessions where veterans who played with Mulatu Astatke still perform. You'll sit among university professors arguing in Amharic over bottles of St. George beer while the music drifts between traditional Eskista rhythms and American bebop.

The light in Lalibela is clearest before the dust storms arrive, morning sun hits Bet Giyorgis church at the perfect angle around 7am, turning the pink tuff stone golden. You'll have the churches mostly to yourself since tour groups haven't arrived for Easter season, and priests will let you photograph the ancient manuscripts when you ask in Amharic.

March is when the palearctic migrants start their return journey, Lake Awassa hosts thousands of white-winged terns feeding on the freshwater shrimp that give the lake its brown tint. You'll spot African fish eagles perched on dead acacia branches, their distinctive calls echoing across the water while Marabou storks wade through papyus reeds taller than your head.