Ethiopia is the head of the Horn of Africa, and since Eritrea left it has been a landlocked head at that. Players still draw the old outline with a coastline; the modern one bites inland where the Afar desert meets Djibouti.
The shape at a glance
Ethiopia is a rounded mass, roughly as wide as tall, sitting at the base of the Horn. The highland core is a thick circle in the center-north, while the southeast sprawls into the low Ogaden lobe reaching toward Somalia. The northeast is notched where the Afar triangle cuts in along Eritrea and Djibouti.
Step by step
- Start with a rounded mass, nearly as tall as wide.
- Draw the north edge with a wavy line along Eritrea — no coast, the Red Sea belongs to the neighbor.
- Bite the northeast corner with the Afar notch where Djibouti cuts inland.
- Sprawl the southeast into the Ogaden lobe, a long lowland arm reaching toward Somalia.
- Curve the south down to the Kenyan border near Lake Turkana's southern end.
- Round off the west along Sudan and South Sudan with gentle undulations.
Mistakes that cost you points
- Giving Ethiopia a coastline — Eritrea took the entire Red Sea shore in 1993.
- Skipping the Ogaden lobe, which makes the southeast much longer than expected.
- Ignoring the Afar notch that Djibouti presses into the northeast.
- Drawing it small — Ethiopia is one of Africa's larger countries, roughly twice the size of metropolitan France.
Place it on the map
Ethiopia sits landlocked at the Horn's base, ringed by Eritrea and Djibouti to the north, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, and Sudan and South Sudan to the west. It is the big rounded mass directly south of the Red Sea's southern end.
Pro tip: Sketch it as a circle plus a lobe: highland head in the north, Ogaden tail southeast, Afar bite northeast. Three features, and the IoU falls into place.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you draw Ethiopia from memory?
- Start with the overall box — is Ethiopia wider than tall or the reverse — then place its signature feature first and build the rest of the outline around it. Finish with the coastline details, then compare against the real border in a free practice round to get a 0-100 score.
- How hard is it to draw Ethiopia?
- Ethiopia rates as medium difficulty. A rounded highland mass with the Afar notch cut into the northeast and a lowland lobe sprawling toward Somalia.