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ETHIOPIA In
spite of its location in drought and famine-prone northeast Africa,
Ethiopia, one of the world's poorest countries, is a historical
and anthropological gold mine. Ethiopians refer to Lucy as Dinqinesh, which means "Thou art wonderful" in Amharic, the local language. The nearly complete plaster-cast skeleton of this phenomenal half-human/half-ape 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 hominoid, she was discovered in 1974 at Hadar on the lower Awash River in the country's Danakil region. Contrary to previous theories which suggested that our ancestors didn't begin to walk on two legs until after they developed larger brains, Dinqinesh stood erect and had a tiny brain. This, along with the fact that her jawbone, pelvis and legs are undeniably human, makes Dinqinesh the world's most important anthropological find and distinguishes Ethiopia as the "Cradle of Humanity."
The source of the Blue Nile is less than two miles outside of Bahar Dar. But on nearby Lake Tana, Ethiopia's largest, I found equally compelling attractions. There are 37 islands upon which some twenty 16th and 17th-century monasteries exist. For about 250 birr ($30) I hired a boat captain and guide. We embarked 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.
A collection of old crosses and royal crowns jam the shelves of the tiny museum. The crown of Emperor Libnedingle, 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, is said to have been written in the 9th century.
From Bahar Dar, I flew to Gonder which is often referred to as "Africa's Camelot." It was here in 1636 that Emperor Fasiladas founded Ethiopia's first permanent capital. Over the next 40 years, Gonder, which lay at the crossroads of three important caravan routes, grew to become a powerful and prosperous town. The Royal Enclosure, a walled-in compound of palaces, banquet halls and bathing pools, gives evidence to this fact. Of the Royal Enclosure's four palaces, Emperor Fasiladas' was the only one to survive the bombs dropped by British war planes during the liberation from Italy in 1941. The palace is in fact 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 old opulence as I walked through. From his bedroom on the top floor, the Emperor could look out over his kingdom and see Lake Tana where the island monasteries were soon to be constructed.
After a quick flight south, I came across Ethiopia's most impressive historic structures: the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Sometime during the 12th or 13th century in this remote town nestled in the Lasta Mountains, 11 churches were carved out of volcanic rock. Like pieces of cake cut from the center, craftsmen carved square trenches out of nearby hillsides. From the resulting blocks of rock they fashioned steps, windows, doors, facades, and then scooped out the insides leaving only support columns. These elaborate churches, which were said to have been constructed instead by angels in the night, are connected by a series of courtyards, tunnels and bridges. The best preserved and most visually stunning of Lalibela's churches, St. George stands approximately 75 feet high. Having seen how unusable land could be transformed into a beautiful place of worship, it's easy to understand why locals believe the angels built it. click here for more images of Ethiopia Next
stop: Dahab, Egypt.
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