So the zulus, the zulus managed to adopt modern weapons rifles/artillery obtained from european mercenaries

but they lost due to their fighting style, which for example using mass hordes of men to outnumber the enemy, when the enemy e.g the brits used weapons that sprayed them

and killed them all,

Ethiopians got cannons from the portuguese to fight the adal-ese invaders

The ethiopian won against the invading force because they changed their fighting style to suit the situation they were in, while the zulu failed to do this with the brits and lost

thus ethopia was never colonized, while the zulus were annexed,

Ethiopians also defeated the italian incursion with primitive weapons, which was considered humiliating for the italians, although the ethiopians in this regard were the aggressors on the italian expedition,

however with the brits the ethiopians lost the fortress
but the brits took heavy losses from guerilla attacks in the aftermath of a siege, the brits were forced out of the country despite they taking the emperors family hostage burning down the fort, and wiping out the leadership

during the expedition to ethiopia , the ethiopians managed to repulse the british incursions in 1868 due to the guerilla fighting, again its because they changed their fighting style according to the situation which was constantly changing

but this was a rare occurance as the english usually won their african wars and occupied the lands that they won, ethiopia was a rare exception

only some groups in africa were smart as to constantly change how they fought and use different tactics, the vast majority didnt change and they lost thus the countries were occupied by european powers