Ethiopia’s people walk the dusty streets of Axum like characters from sun-bleached pages of a biblical picture book. I catch them in mid-stride, fetching water, going to church and carrying wood. The town is big, but almost everybody is traditionally dressed.

Dignified elders sit on street benches and swat flies with horse-hair brushes, their respectable heads wrapped in white turbans. Most women have exactly the same hairstyle, regardless of age, and that is what mostly makes them look like old illustrations.

The Hairstyle in Axum, Ethiopia

The Hairstyle in Axum, Ethiopia by Sarit Reizin

I try to look inconspicuous and shoot in short bursts from under the shade of a grand tree right in the middle of the main square. Children always are the ones to notice things the most, and it’s them who give me away, eventually, by gathering around and all but climbing into my lens. I leave, my memory card full of green skirts, white shawls, and smiling faces.

Location: Axum, Ethiopia
For US Travel take a look at our new In The Know travel site

Born in Ukraine, raised in Israel, and acquiring her higher education in the US, Sarit Reizin is proud to call herself a citizen of the world. However, to stay worthy of the title, she felt a nomadic lifestyle was in order, and in November 2005 left the comforts of the first world with no desire of coming back any time soon. http://HopStopTravel.com