Despite its location in drought- and famine-prone northeast Africa and its ranking among the world’s poorest countries, Ethiopia is a historical and anthropological gold mine.
While traveling around the country, I visited island monasteries, grandiose castles, 2,000-year-old sculpted monoliths, ancient churches carved out of volcanic rock and the fossilized remains of Lucy. She is the 3.2 million-year-old hominid some think to be the “missing link” between humankind and apes.
Ethiopians refer to Lucy as Dinqinesh, which means “thou art wonderful” in Amharic, the local language. The 40-percent complete plaster-cast skeleton is housed in an unassuming glass display case at the National Museum in Addis Ababa. (The actual bones are hidden away in the museum archives.)
A 3-foot, 60-pound female hominid, Dinqinesh was discovered in 1974 at Hadar on the lower Awash River in the country’s Danakil region. The team that discovered her claimed the find contradicted previous theories that our ancestors didn’t begin to walk on two legs until after they developed larger brains. Lucy, they asserted, stood erect and had a tiny brain. This, along with a jawbone, pelvis and legs that are remarkably humanlike, makes Dinqinesh one of the world’s most important anthropological find and has given Ethiopia the nickname “Cradle of Mankind.”
Ethiopia is more than old bones, but I had to leave Addis Ababa, the sprawling capital of 3 million, to find it. For about $290, I flew north on Ethiopian Airways to the historic sites of Bahar Dar, Gonder, Aksum and Lalibela.
The source of the Blue Nile is less than 2 miles outside Bahar Dar, but on nearby Lake Tana I found equally compelling attractions. Ethiopia’s largest lake is populated by 37 islands upon which more than 20 14th- to 17th-century monasteries were built.
For about 250 birr ($30), I hired a boat captain and guide. We left from the southernmost point of the lake and motored across it for nearly an hour before reaching the Zege Peninsula. After tying the boat to the dock, we walked up a dusty trail, past local women who stomp-washed clothes in huge bowl-shaped boulders filled with soapy water. Fifteen minutes later we reached Ura Kidane Meret, the most famous of the island monasteries.
Ura Kidane is a circular mud and straw structure with 12 massive wooden doors representing each of the apostles. The 16th-century house of worship is still used for services today. Interior walls are covered with 450-year-old cotton cloth upon which religious tales (St. George slaying the dragon, the birth of Christ) are painted.
A collection of crosses and royal crowns jams the shelves of the tiny museum. The crown of Emperor Libne Dingel, who ruled from 1508 to 1538, is the oldest on display. I looked through a collection of religious books written in ancient Ge’ez (the predecessor to modern-day Amharic). The Story of the Apostles, said to have been written in the ninth century, was among them.
Afterward, we reboarded the boat and sailed to the Kebran Gabriel and Dega Estefanos monasteries. Both are open to men only. As is the case with Ura Kidane Meret, the interior walls are adorned with religious paintings, and each monastery has an impressive collection of ancient books.
From Bahar Dar, I flew to Gonder, which is often referred to as “Africa’s Camelot.” Emperor Fasiladas founded Ethiopia’s first permanent capital here in 1636. Gonder lay at the crossroads of three important caravan routes, and over the next 40 years it became a powerful, prosperous town. The Royal Enclosure, a walled-in compound of palaces, banquet halls and bathing pools, is evidence.
Of the Royal Enclosure’s four palaces, Emperor Fasiladas’ is the only one that survived British bombs dropped during the liberation from Italy in 1941. The palace is a grand two-story castle made of rough basalt stone with domed towers at the corners. Although the massive first floor dining and living areas are now empty, I could almost feel the opulence as I walked through them. The emperor could look out from his bedroom on the top floor and see Lake Tana, where the island monasteries were soon to be constructed.
I flew farther north to Aksum. Between the third and sixth centuries, this kingdom grew even more powerful than Gonder would hundreds of years later. In addition to the ruined palace of the legendary Queen of Sheba, huge granite obelisks (some of which are 2,000 years old) are reminders of more prosperous times.
The obelisks, or “stelae,” were erected as tombstones for local rulers. Many of them stand as tall as high-rise buildings and are carved with faux windows, doors and handles. The taller and more ornately carved the obelisk, the more prominent the ruler.
After a quick flight south, I came across Ethiopia’s most impressive historic structures, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, a remote town nestled in the Lasta Mountains.
Some time during the 12th or 13th century, 11 churches were carved out of volcanic rock. Craftsmen carved square trenches into the nearby mountainsides, then used the resulting blocks of rock to build steps, windows, doors and faades. These elaborate underground churches are connected by a series of courtyards, tunnels and bridges. The best preserved and most visually stunning of Lalibela’s churches, St. George is about 75 feet tall.
Locals believe the angels built these elaborate churches, most likely because what had been unusable land was miraculously transformed into beautiful places of worship.
