Ethiopia Guji Natural Shakiso

There are few entrances to Guji--a distant and heavily forested swath of land stretching southeast through the lower corner of the massive Oromia region--and none of these routes are short, or for the queasy, in any way. Guji is heavy with primary forest thanks to the Guji tribe, a part of Ethiopia’s vast and diverse Oromo nation, who have for generations organized to reduce mining and logging outfits where they can, in a struggle to conserve the land’s sacred canopy. And yet the unmatched natural surroundings can be a hardship for farmers bringing coffee to market. Approximately 137 farmers brought cherry to the Shakiso washing station in 2022-23, averaging about 2 hectares of land each.