Ethiopia is the highest country in Africa. Its capital Addis Ababa is located at an altitude of 2,500 metres. The country is split in two by the East African Rift Valley with its up to 1,000 metre deep canyons. The highest point in Ethiopia, Ras Dashan (4,620 m), is located in the north near Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile. Ethiopia is about three-and-a-half times as big as Germany.

In the tropical-hot zone (up to 1,800 m) the average temperature is 27°C Grad with annual rainfall of less than 500 mm per square metre. The average temperature of the hot-moderate zone (1,800 to 2,500 m) is 22°C and it receives 500 to 1,500 mm of rain annually. In the mountains (over 2,500 m) the temperatures average only 16°C and rainfall increases to 1,800 mm. The rainy season is between mid-June and September.

The serious droughts of the 1970s and 1980s caused immense human suffering and disastrous environmental damage in Ethiopia. The forests were completely cleared, which is why erosion today causes about 2 million tonnes of soil to be swept away.