Ethiopia Trip: Yeha and Meqaber Gaewa

The oldest civilization there are records for that inhabited what is now Ethiopia is known as DMT or Damot. They originally came from Southern Arabia and intermarried with the local population. They wrote in a Sabean script, which has no vowels, from with Ge'ez, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox church derives, which was in turn modified to create the Amharic and Tigrigna written languages. Their capital was at Yeha, about an hour East of Aksum, and their kingdom lasted from roughly the 8th Century BCE to about 150 BCE when they were conquered by the Axumite Empire.

Two major sites remain at Yeha, the great Temple of Almaqah, a S. Arabian moon god, and the ruins of what may have been a palace (due to its size). The temple fared better and is still mostly standing, likely due to a 6th C saint who Christianized the site and built a church either next to or inside the temple. (Sorry. We were there in the morning so my photos from this angle are all backlit. Here you can see a stela - grave marker with what might have been an altar base - in front of the Temple.)

While a few of the temple stones were repurposed (most notably the two ibex carved stones that adorn the modern church) it prevented stones from the entire building from being used in local construction. Ibex were used as sacrificial animals.

The temple itself is (according to the books I read about it) 18.6 m x 15 m x 13 (or more) meters tall. It was made up of large, finely dressed blocks of silicified sandstone, up to 3m squared interlocked without mortar. It is similar to Southern Arabian temples of the 7th Century BCE, and contained an inscription to their moon god. The building was likely originally two storeys tall with the interior of the temple was split into 5 aisles by rows of pillars. The side aisles would have been roofed, while the central aisle was left open to the sky.

Entered from the West, the East end was divided into three rooms: the rightmost being a small bath or cleansing pool, the centre being where the altar sat, and the left being for storage.

There are fragments of the drainage system in the floor leading out the right side (South) wall.

The treasury here had several inscription fragments and a few stone incense burners with crescent moon shapes carved into them. (Note: The Davison carving on the bottom left is modern.)

A similar Ethio-Sabean temple was found much more recently near the village of Meqaber Gaewa, near Wukro (whose museum houses the original finds). There they found a fully intact and remarkably well preserved libation altar. Notice the ox head used as a spout. Next to the inner spout at the top was a slightly lowered stone where the sacrificial animal's head would have been set.

Around this time I started noticing the oxen we passed on the streets had significantly larger horns. Like HUGE horns. Huge, crescent moon shaped horns.

Later, back in Addis Ababa, we saw some of the Yeha artefacts at the National Museum, including this statue of a seated woman and several incense burners. The inscription on the statue reads, "for he (god) grants a child to yamanat". [Sounds to me like the statue was a gift from a wealthy woman who became pregnant after prayers/sacrifices were held here on her behalf.] They also had some bronze identity marks, used to brand cattle, located in graves. This one identifies animals belonging to "MATS".

Ethiopia Trip: Simien Mountains

I was going to do the trip geographically, in the order I travelled, but it occurred to me that most of the places remaining have a lot of history behind them and it would make more sense to do them in historical order instead. So I'm adding the Simien Mountains in here. They'd geographically come after Gondar and before Axum. And then I'll start the historical places with Yeha tomorrow.

The Simien Mountains have been a national park since 1966 and became a World Heritage Site in 1978. Over 10,000 people live within its boundaries. On the way there you pass through Dubark, a small town that was having an animal market the day we were there. To enter the park you need to hire a mandatory guide and (armed) scout. Again, this is to help increase employment for locals.

Our guide knew of a waterfall just off the road heading to the mountains. We walked about 15 minutes through a field to find it. I love the golden teff waving in the wind. On the way back we found and ate some wild sweet peas growing there.

Once in the mountains we went for a 2 hour hike to see the gelada 'baboons', also called the bleeding heart monkey for the red heart shaped symbol on the chests of dominant males. They're only found in Northern Ethiopia and are the only primates that eat mostly grass and roots. The males have harems, but if they don't groom their troop members enough they can be replaced. They're fairly cool with humans, allowing us to get within a metre of them. We found two large troops and were able to get some great pictures of them.

It was misty in the afternoon so we didn't get to see the amazing views and cliffs, but we got some awesome atmospheric shots, like our scout in the mist.

We stayed at the Simien Lodge, high up in the mountains. They have the highest bar in Africa, at 3260m (10,700 feet). It's a great place to relax in the evening.

The next day, driving to Axum/Aksum we got to see some of the promised views as we navigated a wet, windy canyon road. We also got stuck behind a van and a truck trying to pass each other on the narrow road. With no guard rails it's quite a drop should you get into an accident.

We'd gone through several checkpoints where army personnel either waved us through or looked through our stuff. In the highlands we encountered these ropes pulled across the road forcing you to stop.

We passed a refugee camp later that day housing people from Eritrea, South Sudan and some displaced from within Ethiopia. A reminder that war is never far away in some countries and foreign aid is necessary.

Ethiopia Trip: The Road between Bahir Dar and Gondar

I'm adding in a post to show what the roads are like and what you'll see in the countryside. As I've said before, Ethiopia is gorgeous, with so many mountains and twisty roads and viewpoints. This block of road is on the flatter side but you still find a lot of giant potholes in the paved roads. You also have to drive around all sorts of animals (cows, sheep, goats, donkeys, the occasional horse, chicken, later on we started passing camels), people and vehicles (horse/ox drawn carts, tuk tuks, cars, buses, trucks), both in the countryside and in the villages and small towns you drive through. We were told that if a driver hits an animal they have to pay the owner the value. So a cow is apparently something like 4000 birr (about US $135).

It's amazing how medieval the technology most farmers still use is. We passed numerous farmers using old style ploughs and in the later stages of the trips people were using sickles to harvest grains.

We made a quick pitstop to buy grilled corn from one of the women selling it at the side of the road. We'd be miles from any house and yet a group of women would be sitting at the side of the road with their braziers. The corn itself was on the hard, starchy, side. It also tasted more like popcorn than fresh corn.

The only big stop on our route was to Awra Amba, a utopian village dedicated to gender equality. Ethiopia has rigid divisions between what’s considered women’s work and men’s work. For example, women spin thread but men weave cloth. This village believes that everyone should work according to their abilities. Their founder, Zumra Nuru was incarcerated for insanity by his family when he started talking about his ideas. He's quite a visionary. Some of the village's slogans are included in the photo below. They're really worth reading and sharing. I'm not sure I agree with their idea of making people outcasts if they break rules though.

They had a school for the kids with a lot of English textbooks. I really liked their old folk's home (pictured below), which gave each person a small room for privacy but as part of a common room where they can meet inside for company while their family members are working. Exteriors are all done in the traditional style.

Their workshop was fairly large with a few looms and a clever recycling of a bicycle tire for a spinning wheel. They survive by selling their cloth.

It was an interesting village to learn about and I'm glad my tour stopped there.

Ethiopia Trip: Bahir Dar

It takes 11 hours to drive between Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar so most people opt to fly there. We didn't, and while the roads were rough at times and we had to use 'nature's bathroom' the views more than made up for any discomfort. This is a viewpoint near Debre Libanos church.

We didn't really explore much of Bahir Dar, using it more as a staging point for seeing the Blue Nile Falls (an hour and a half drive away) and Lake Tana.

Our first excursion was to the falls. In addition to our city guide, you must also hire a local guide for the falls (this was common at several sites as a way of employing local people). While you can pick up any random person vying for the job it is worth getting an official guide, as they have better English skills and usually have a firm grasp of the history and interesting facts of the sites they're showing.

The falls require walking up the opposing hill (which at this altitude is a bit more of a workout). We were there just after the rainy season ended so they were very impressive. In the middle of the dry season the water is diverted to the hydro electric plant and the falls basically stop flowing. After the falls is a suspension bridge across the gorge, followed by a short walk and a ferry ride across the Blue Nile back to the car park.

We saw these yellow and orange flowers everywhere and our guide explained that they were called meskel flowers. Meskel is the celebration of finding the True Cross by Empress Helena and comes just after the Ethiopian new year in September, which is the only time of the year these daisies bloom. They are endemic to Ethiopia.

Back in the city we wandered around the market a bit, seeing the variety of spices, grains, vegetable and more for sale. There were crates full of live chickens, piles and piles of red onions, aisles for clothing, plastic shoes, and more. It's quite a sight.

The next day we took a boat ride on Lake Tana, saw some hippos and weaver birds and giant pelicans. We also saw members of the Weyto tribe (an ethnically different group that supports itself through fishing) out in their papyrus canoes called tankwa.

We visited the Azwa Maryam monastery on the Zage Peninsula. Founded in the 1310s by Abuna Yohannes it's a circular church with a thatched roof and modern paintings adorning the inside.

I love all the paintings of demons and the Last Judgement. With the Jesuit influence of the 16th C Ethiopian art adapted some Western designs, but so much remains original (including some Bible stories not included elsewhere, like Christ turning clay birds real as a child). While the cross is an important symbol, the crucifix - the implement of Christ's death - wasn't really portrayed until the Jesuits came. The cross is still seen more as a healing implement, like Moses's staff raised to heal the people of Israel in the desert. As with Catholic art, there is a lot of symbolism. Figures seen straight on with two eyes are generally good, while if they're seen from the side, with one eye, it means they're evil. 

Ethiopia Trip: Addis Ababa

I recently returned home from touring the Northern provinces of Ethiopia. I'll be blogging some of the places I went. If you have questions or want more information on something, comment and I'll try to add it in.

My sister and I flew in with Ethiopian Airlines, which handed out little care packages on the plane. I've never seen this done outside of first class so I was pretty happy to get my socks, toothbrush + paste, and eye mask. Even if they were all a shade of yellow I'm not keen on.

The view from the window as we came in for our landing was pretty awesome. I love seeing countries from above.


We booked our tour through Awaze Tours, a local company that handled everything for us, providing a driver, local guides, admission, even food was included. Tips and souvenirs were extra, of course.  They picked us up promptly from the airport and dropped us off at the Friendship International Hotel to refresh after our flight. You have to go through security to enter the hotel (and a lot of buildings - the National Museum, local malls). Some places have x-ray machines and metal detectors, others just give you a pat down from security or armed army personnel.

The bathroom had nice amenities. It also had a bathtub and shower that drained through a hole in the middle of the floor. It wasn't until our second hotel that we were sure this wasn't an error (not all of our hotels did this, but enough of them did to make it note worthy). Some places give you bathroom slippers for this reason. They also have TINY rolls of toile paper and only give you one a night. I was warned of this (and the fact that toilet paper in public restrooms was limited) and so brought some with me.

Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, means "new flower" and was chosen for its beauty, hot springs and agreeable climate. We went to the Entoto Hills lookout where we got to see the city as a whole.

As with any big city traffic is a mess. They've got western style malls here (though I didn't see any elsewhere, though we also didn't really explore other downtown areas). I saw a grocery store with a sign saying dog meat was available. I'm still not sure if that meant it was meat from a dog for humans to eat or meat for dogs to eat. Most places were went later only had small kiosk style grocers - or local markets where most food items were plentiful.

We went to the Ethnographic museum our first day, which has a lot of cultural artefacts and information. Our last day we visited the National Museum and paid our respects to Lucy's bones. They've actually found older bones since hers were discovered, but she's the one everyone knows.