Guidebook writer and Africa expert Philip Briggs first backpacked through East Africa in 1986. He undertook a pioneering 4-month trip to Ethiopia in 1994, only two years after the end of the civil war that brought about the fall of the oppressive Derg dictatorship, to research the first edition of the Bradt guide to this fascinating and but then little-known country. He has since returned to Ethiopia on several occasions to research subsequent editions of the Bradt guide, in the process documenting the country's transformation from one of Africa's most challenging travel goals to a bona fide tourist destination. Ethiopia aside, Philip has written and co-authored more than a dozen Bradt guides to other destinations, most of them in Africa, and he has contributed to many other books, travel and wildlife magazines.