Trekking, flying and dreaming

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Olivier Bourguet is a photographer, guide and travel dreamer who first came to Ethiopia in 2002. He spent seven months cycling through the country with the hope of writing a book and photographing Ethiopia.

Upon his return to Belgium from the long travel, he was awarded Laureat of the foundation Belge de la Vocation and received a grant of 10,000 Euros which he used to purchase the materials needed for a slide show projection about Ethiopia which he presented in Belgium in 2005.  The slide show still continues to be shown in France and also appeared at various travel festivals.

I tend to refer to Ethiopia as my second home, after the love affair started in 2002, the fire has never been put out, states Olivier Winning the coveted prize, Olivier returned to Ethiopia on three occasions to finish the book and visit the places he wasn’t able to visit on his first trip. The book titled Ethiopia, The Mythical Empire was published in 2006 in the World Memories collection. It comprises 240 pages, 200 images and sold to the public for 60 Euros.

Now once again Olivier is embarking on another project, a documentary show titled Ethiopia 2012 to 2015, Trek, Fly and Dream,  about a trip of 265 days. The documentary is planned to be shown in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Québec. The new project is said to be challenging as the traveling will be fully by foot.

I plan to hike a long way and document when something interesting happens or when it is the most beautiful season for landscapes. That is why this is a long term project, from 2012 till 2015 and I think it will even take a little bit more to finish it, said Olivier.

After the trip is done, he plans to make around 600 live presentations during a 3 or 4 year period. He also plans to write and illustrate a new book.

Source: Capital Ethiopia