Ethiopia in pictures

The one for my Mother, who is petrified of heights



Ethiopia was an early cradle of Christianity. It is believed that one of the three wise men (Baltazar, the one with the incense), came from the Aksumite kingdom in modern day Northern Ethiopia. Nine saints are credited with bringing Christianity to Ethiopia over the next four centuries. For each of them, a church was built – not surprising in itself. What is surprising is the locations chosen for the said Churches – each was built on the most inaccessible top of the most isolated mountain ‘they’ could find. And in Northern Ethiopia, you’ve got some options.


But maybe the ubiquitous ‘they’ knew a little something about human nature. Bizarrely, twice-a-year-churchgoing spiritual-but-not-overly-religious European-church-fatigued I and New York Jewish and chronically cynical Eugene developed a fascination with these churches, and readily put ourselves through hours of gravel road / mountain path travel and considerable peril to reach them. The first one I we reached required off road travel, a hike and a 25 meter climb up a sheer rock face on a rope of braided goat skin to reach (click to enlarge the picture on the left and see Eugene attempt to make his way back down).

But the first picture above is taken after finally arriving at the second one after a barefoot climb scary enough so that the authors of the Lonely Planet confessed to not having dared attempt it (barefoot because you can get better grip with toes than shoes). I’m standing on a meter-wide ledge next to a 200 meter drop that marked the last 15 meters before the church entrance. You may notice that my weight is quite deliberately on my right foot, rather than my left.

The one with the Icelandic Tank Commander



This one is taken when we came upon a burned-out Russian built tank in the middle of a village in the countryside, around which a good 50-60 kids were engaged in a soccer game with a single ball made of plastic bags.

I would usually have joined in the game, but we didn’t have too much time as it was getting dark and our driver (whose wreck of an automobile, break problems and all, and rather disturbing habit of driving on the left side of the road was worrisome enough) had zero night vision. In any case, we couldn’t pass up the chance to check out the tank and pose for a quick photo op.

The one that was a pain in the ass


Eugene decided to get a different view of Ethiopia during one of our long road trips. Hardly the most comfortable way to travel on bumpy and dusty gravel roads, but he claimed it was well worth it for the view and the reactions he got from the local. We were eventually stopped by two policemen and an attention-grabbing AK-47 assault rifle, who started scolding the driver for having a passenger on the roof. We tried our best to intervene and explain that it was all our fault (as we were confident that whatever trouble we could get into would be minimal compared to what he might get into), but they insisted on lecturing him, possibly in hope of securing a little bribe from the foreigners. But the whole plan fell apart as car after car carrying literal truckloads of locals on top started arriving, as Eugene and I diligently pointed out. At first the police officers tried to maintain a straight face, directing the first two trucks to pull over to the side and chiding the surprised drivers for carrying people on top. But as car after overloaded car continued to arrive and our exasperated reactions started triggering waves of laughter in the crowds of villagers that surrounded us, the once menacing AK-47 was rendered insignificant. Eventually, the police officers gave up, joined in the laughter and sent us on our merry way - and the one holding the AK even posed for a photo before we left.


The one with the strange conversations



Taken at the market of one of the most remote, dirtiest and coldest (note the locals wearing Icelandic-style snow caps) mountain villages we came to, with my new friend Nonni the Icelander in the background (as briefly mentioned in an earlier post, I bizarrely ran into him and his friend Haukur after climbing the goatskin rope at the end of the world as mentioned above). I am engaged in a deep conversation with a group of 20 villagers, during which I established the going rate for donkeys, cows, horses, and camels (US$ 25, 110, 125 and 250, respectively), exchanged traditional Icelandic and Ethiopian songs, and was called upon to translate a document in medical English/Latin detailing a seriously unpleasant-sounding problem with some unfortunate person’s rectum.



When one of the world's greatest civilizations was in Africa



"I weary of writing more about these buildings, because it seems to me that I shall not be believed if I write more ... I swear by God, in Whose power I am, that all I have written is the truth."
- Francisco Álvares, a Portuguese priest and explorer(1465 - 1540)

Lalibela is a magical place. 12 huge churches and countless tunnels were hewn out of the rock from the top down during the reign of the Christian King Lalibela, who ruled Ethiopia in the 12th and 13th centuries, in an attempt to create another Holy City following the fall of Jerusalem to Muslims. Despite countless chauvenistic theories claiming "it couldn't have been done by Africans" and giving credit to anyone from the Knights Templar to Portuguese missionaries, there is overwhelming evidence to prove that these amazing structures were built by Ethiopian stonemasons. I feel fortunate to have had the luck to explore the place, intermingled with the local devout in the solemn silence that seems to envelop the sites (at least until the groups of tourists arrive). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Children playing next to the preserved corpses in an open crypt



The local devout



St. Georges church - unbelievable



Beautiful



A resident of Lalibela



Finally, for the photography credits. Most of the pictures are courtesy of my good friend and travel partner Eugene. The rest of his pictures of this trip (and other travels, including some spectacular shots from our trip to Myanmar, Laos and Thailand in 2005) can be found here. Here's a hint: he, like I, appreciates comments! Other pictures are by Haukur the rock-dweller and yours truly.

I'm out of time, but here are a few more pictures.

A friend from Aksum



Our mode of transport in Addis Abeba



US Aid 1987 (click to enlarge - what happened to the supplies collected by 'Band Aid')



Education