As the plane took off I leant forward inquisitively
and craned my neck to look out of the small porthole window at the back of the Ethiopian
Airways turbo-prop. During our trip
around Ethiopia I had been hoping to catch a glimpse of the mountain fortress
of Maqdala, home of the great and mad Emperor Tewodros. This flight between Lalibela and Addis Ababa was
my last chance on this trip but as the plane climbed up and over the towering
flat topped mountains and incredibly deep canyons, there was very little
possibility of being able to distinguish the correct plateau from all of the
others.
We arrived in Addis on the 23rd December
and checking into our hotel after a short but comfortable journey on Addis
Ababa’s new roads. From the drive Addis
appeared to have a developed but contradictory look with new high rise
buildings and construction everywhere interspersed with the usual signs of
abject poverty, donkeys and communist era Ladas being used as taxis. Ethiopia in general seems to be a country of
comparisons, but also and more distinctly a land of mystery and surprise. This was further reinforced when we left the city
for the countryside. Addis is only 120
years old and so doesn’t really prepare you for the exterior of the
country. As we awoke alongside the
shores of Lake Tana, the start of the Blue Nile, the sounds of donkeys yawing
and cockerels crowing mingled with the sound of modern diesel engines of the ferries
that ply their way across the golden waters of the lake. Between these more recent contraptions
brought overland from Djibouti paddle fishermen in millennia old papyrus canoes
bringing fish and firewood to Bahir Dar’s markets. Something you can imagine hasn’t changed in
centuries despite the political and social upheaval of the last hundred years
through the Italian occupation and the Communist Derg oppression.
Christmas morning on the lake was filled
quite suitably with visits to the renowned island monasteries of Lake Tana and the
Zeghie Peninsular. In some instances the
churches date back to the 14th – 16th Centuries with
intricate paintings of popular scenes from the Bible on the walls and resident
monks living on site. Ethiopians are
deeply Orthodox Christians and are a very proud people who believe the story
that Emperor Haile Selassie was a direct decedent of the Kings of Israel. It is understood
that the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon in Jerusalem and gave birth to an
infant son on her return to Africa. This
pairing spawned Christianity in Ethiopia along with the later legends of Prestor
John and the discovery of the Ethiopian Jews. Whether or not this story is true isn’t
known, but while walking through the medieval monasteries it is easy to see how
it could be.
After Lake Tana we headed North in a
ubiquitous white Toyota mini-van to the old 16th Century castle town
of Gondar. Not to be confused with Tolkien’s
mythical Gondor, the city sprung up around King Fasilides’s original castle
which itself had an air of mystery.
After exploring the magnificent ruins of the Royal Enclosure and nearby
Church or Debre Birhan Selassie, we set off North once more to the Simien
Mountains. The drive twisted and turned
as it climbed up into the heights of Africa and as is the case of Ethiopia you
are literally struck dumb by the scenery that encompasses you. The Simiens appear to sit as a plateau upon
the highest point in Africa almost like a natural castles keep. As we trekked along the edge of the deep and
shear canyon cliffs and looked out it simply took our breath away, often literally
due to the altitude at 3,200-4,500m. We
shared these rocky outcrops with what must be the trendiest of all mammals; the
Gelada Baboon. A type of monkey yet
purely vegetarian these extremely cute animals survive at high altitude, in
large groups, living off grass roots and constantly preening one another. The males are particularly magnificent with
70’s rocker long blond hair and a red heart shaped patch on their chests. We sat for hours just feet from these cheerful
characters watching this behaviour and listening to their strangely childlike
noises with them seemingly oblivious to our presence. Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay in the
mountains forever though and after a seriously cold night at Africa’s highest
bar we set off on the road for Lalibela and its famous rock hewn churches.
To reach the churches however it was
necessary to drive past Debre Tabor, the old one time capital of Ethiopia as
used by Tewodros II in the 1860’s. As I
had read previously Tewodros, or Theodore as he was commonly known in Britain,
had used the city as his launching point for raids around the country that
started as his way of reunifying the kingdoms - in a slightly more violent way
as Bismark had achieved in Germany.
However since the death of his wife he had slowly been going mad and Debre
Tabor had been the starting point for his six month epic journey to his
stronghold of Maqdala. The move was a
pre-emptive action after he had angered the British by taking some Europeans
hostage and forcing them to construct large iron cannons. After various attempts the British couldn’t
take any more of his bad diplomacy and ordered General Napier to march from the
coast into this mountainous land. The
road that Theodore built for the transport of these massive guns travelled the
160 miles between Debre Tabor and Maqdala and this was exactly the road we
would be travelling.
We wound up and through the mountain passes
that were carved by the Kings caravan. Although
the road was now modern it was still possible in places to see the original
grass track and the natural features described in various books making for a
fairly colourful journey. Soon enough
however we turned off the main road and climbed up to Lalibela arriving as the
sun started to drop below the distant mountains. Lalibela is perched on an escarpment looking
out across the valleys and dry riverbeds below, which I can only imagine is reminiscent
of the Afghanistan landscape. The town
itself is fairly small but with the old cobbled streets heading down to the
incredible subterranean churches it has a truly magical feel. There is certainly a limit to the number of
churches I can look around while on holiday but as the tally passed 15 over the
next day with the individuality and iconic UNESCO monasteries that Lalibela
boasts this limit seemed to extend.
There are eleven churches in all and moving between them through hand
cut tunnels and passages made you contemplate the thousands of people that have
passed this way daily.
After the excitement of the Simiens and the
beauty of Lake Tana, Gondar and Lalibelan culture we arrived back in Addis to
try and squeeze out the remainder of the sites that Ethiopia had to offer. Finishing off with a fantastic Italian Christmas
lunch at Castelli’s; a restaurant set up by an Italian soldier in 1948 and
still run by his widow and her brother and attracting the likes of Brad Pitt
and Bob Geldof. The whole holiday had
been simply amazing and although I hadn’t managed to catch a glimpse of the
mysterious Maqgala I had an idea of exactly what the British troops had seen as
Ethiopia feels like it has barely changed since they marched through the
country on route to Tewodros. But with
foreign investment coming from China and Europe and the increase in tourism
expected it may alter in the future, I hope it never loses any of its mystery
or magic.
