Ethiopia Photo Expedition, January 2015
National Geographic
Our Ethiopia trip was spectacular and full. However we found ourselves with no time to write a blog. After our return our good intentions were thwarted by more trips. To the rescue: Laurie and Noel Beasley traveled with us and Laurie posted a blog. We enjoyed traveling with them and loved her perspective of the trip. We asked her is we could share her blog with you as we couldn't have done it better. You will notice from the familiar looking pictures that she was on the very same trip as we were. So with full credit to Laurie, and much gratitude, here are the Ethiopian adventures.
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| Pelicans on Lake Chamo, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
JOURNEY
TO THE MOTHERLAND OF ETHIOPIA
January 2015
Part I
When my husband Noel told a colleague that we were going to Ethiopia, she replied, "Ah, the motherland." Visiting Ethiopia is like being in a time machine. We traveled back a million years or more to our hominid origins with Lucy, forward several 100,000 years to our tribal and pastoral roots, forward again several score of millenia to the time of Solomon and Sheba, fast forwarded to the very earliest forms of Christianity, past stone walled towns and terraced agriculture and finally touched down once again in the 21st Century with the global economy advancing full blast. Visiting Ethiopia was a breath-taking experience.
We decided on a trip to Ethiopia when I saw the Omo Valley listed as a destination in an expedition catalog from National Geographic. The tour also included Lalibela, but it was the Omo Valley that attracted me. The Omo Valley has been home to several pastoralist groups for thousands of years, but their distinctive ways of life are changing rapidly because the central government in Addis Ababa is pushing the development of industrial agriculture in the region and building a massive hydroelectric dam on the Omo River. Pastoralists are nomadic people who support themselves by raising livestock on uncultivated pastures and supplement their living by practicing flood-retreat and rain-fed bush-land agriculture. What we were privileged to see will probably not exist in ten years, so there was an urgency on our part to get there before it all went away.
We began our journey on Ethiopian Airlines. It is a great airline with a really fine business class and no first class. If possible, it's always good to fly the carrier of the country that you are visiting. You can get a good introduction that way. We made the mistake of flying United Airlines to Turkey two years ago. It was terrible, bad food, bad service (even in business class) and old airplanes. I honestly don't know why anyone who has a choice flies United or American. On Ethiopian Airlines we were served some really good Rift Valley syrah and merlot wines. We passed on the western entrée and opted for a selection of Ethiopian wot (vegetable and meat stews, often quite spicy) accompanied by injera bread (a flat, spongy sourdough bread, made of fermented teff flour). I'm not a fan of sourdough, but injera works with well with spicy wot. We ended our dinner with fabulous Ethiopian coffee. We would learn more about this wonderful beverage later on our voyage.
Addis Ababa in Brief and Beyond
After fourteen hours of flying we landed in Addis Ababa, purchased our visitors' visas at the airport and met our three National Geographic hosts - professional photographer Chris Rainier, J. D. Kling, the logistics person, and Henok Kebebe, our Ethiopian guide. I should mention that this was a photographic expedition. We are not professional photographers
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| Injera grill maker at the Merkato, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
or even serious amateurs but we chose the photographic expedition because of the timing. There was a cultural tour that ended the day we arrived, but the timing was too close to the Christmas holidays for us.
Getting acquainted with Chris Rainier was a real privilege. He was Ansel Adams' last assistant from 1980 to 1984 when Adams died and spent the year after his death printing his undeveloped negatives. Chris is considered one of the world's leading documentary photographers. Although he has covered conflicts in political hot spots like Sarajevo and Somalia for publications like Time Magazine, he sees his life's mission as helping to empower indigenous people by showing them how to use photography and technology to record and enrich their cultures.
Our tour group consisted of 21 people including our three hosts. We were mostly in our late 50's to early 70's. Most everyone was in decent physical shape, but accommodations were made for those who had difficulty walking. Noel and I and a couple of spouses were the only non-serious photographers. I just shoot to illustrate my blog. Everyone else was very earnest about their photography and Chris was very generous with his time and advice.
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| Recycling plastic jugs at the Merkato, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
My first impression of Addis was of a dynamic city under construction. It stands 7000 feet above sea level and has a population of over 3 million. High rise buildings seem to be going up everywhere. Ethiopia has the fastest growing economy in Africa and the African Union is headquartered in Addis. The city has been called the political capital of Africa. The Chinese are close to completing the construction of a light rail system in the city. The name Addis Ababa means "beautiful flower" in Amharic. It is not an old city. It was founded in 1886 by the Empress Taytul Betu, the wife of Emperor Menelik II. She apparently liked the hot springs there. Security seems to be an issue because we had to pass through airport-like screenings to enter our hotel, theRadisson Blu. But given the fact that Ethiopia borders Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, it's not surprising.
In the afternoon after our arrival we went to the Merkato, the largest open-air market in Africa. The market was set up by the Italian fascists during their occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930's. They forced non-European merchants out of the center of the city into the Merkato, at the time located on the outskirts of the city. It can be an overwhelming place, but it does seem to be organized by category. In other words, knives are generally located in one area, baskets in another, fabric in another, etc. We were warned to be extra cautious about pickpockets.
Day two began with a tour of the National Museum where the famous skeleton of
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| The remnants of Lucy at the National Museum, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
Lucy is located. The real partial skeleton of Lucy is not on view, only an excellent copy, but the displays of the early evolution of hominids and ultimately homo sapiens and the animals and tools that accompanied them are impressive.
After leaving the museum we had a short flight to Arba Minch, a small city about 300 miles
south of Addis in the Great Rift Valley. The airport at Arba Minch has the dubious distinction of hosting an American drone base. The high-tech hanger is clearly visible when you get off the plane. Chris told us he had actually seen a drone take off from there, most likely tracking Al Shabaab in Somalia.
Our lodging for the night was Paradise Lodge with its traditional tukul cottages (thatched huts) and a sensational terrace that overlooks the Rift Valley. After lunch that included some really good fried lake fish caught locally, we boarded some small boats and
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| A tukul cottage at Paradise Lodge, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
toured Lake Chamo to view its animal life. The lake is teeming with crocodiles, hippos and amazing birds. We saw a large flock of pelicans that are much bigger than the domestic ones we have. I didn't realize pelicans gathered in such flocks. I always thought of them as free-lancers. One of the most interesting sights was that of local fishermen checking their nets from their homemade rafts surrounded by menacing crocs and hippos. As we were getting out of the boats, Henock pointed out some trees that had rattan bee hives hanging in their crowns. Honey is an important food source all over Ethiopia.
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| A Lake Chamo fisherman tends his nets from his improvised raft, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
Before we left the next morning, we had the opportunity to shop at a small boutique attached to the hotel that offers local crafts made by two nearby workers' co-ops. The textiles are particularly nice.
Part II
Into the Omo Valley
Over the next several hours we were driven southwest in 7 air-conditioned 4 X 4's toward the small town of Jinka, stopping at two local weekly markets on the way. For the photographers the stops were great opportunities to shoot folks as they went about their
daily affairs. However, I was a little taken aback by the children who were not shy about touching us. They were especially fascinated by my painted fingernails. We were beginning to see more and more tribal people in their traditional clothing. And the further south we drove the more people expected to be paid when they were photographed. The going rate is 5 birr or roughly 25 cents per click. The whole area is undergoing tremendous development with new roads under construction outlined by new metal electric utility poles.
Our destination was the Eco Omo Safari Lodge in Jinka. Before arriving there, we stopped at the Jinka Museum. Although small, the museum is an excellent introduction to the pastoralists of the Omo Valley. It is a project of the South Omo Research Center (SORC) in cooperation with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University. SORC's activities are not only to research and document the diverse cultures of the Omo Valley but also to offer a center for these cultures to share their traditions, debate their differences, and promote mutual understanding and cooperation among groups that are frequently hostile to each other. Cooperation and understanding are particularly important in view of the radical changes that development, especially tourism, is bringing. In the next decade the goal of the central government is to have a million tourists a year visit the Omo Valley.
I have to confess that going through the exhibits, especially the section on the role of women in pastoralist communities, made me very angry, surprisingly so. I knew in theory most of the facts about female circumcision and marriage but being physically in the environment where these backward traditions are practiced hit me hard emotionally. Later as we continued our journey, we met people from these communities who are dedicated to changing some of these practices and working with tribal elders to initiate the changes.
At dinner that night we were introduced to Lale Labuko, a member of the Kara tribe and the first of his tribe to be given a formal education. As a teenager home on vacation from school he learned about the practice of killing children considered cursed
(mingi). Mingi children are thought to bring bad luck to the community if they are not killed. Lale's mother told him he had had two older sisters who were killed as mingi. He resolved to do something about this practice when he grew older. In 2008 with the help of American photographer and businessman John Rowe he co-founded Omo Child. The mission of Omo Child is "to provide a safe, nurturing home and quality education for rescued Mingi children. Our hope is that these children will become future leaders in their tribes and communities. We also raise awareness about the practice of Mingi and work to see it eliminated." Through the efforts of Lale Labuko and Omo Child the Kara stopped the practice in 2012. The Banna tribe has also committed to ending it. However, it is still practiced by the large Hamer tribe. We were scheduled to visit the Omo Child facility the next day.
Later that evening after dinner we watched a video documenting tribal conflict among the Mursi tribe and the punishment meted out to the young men by the elders in response to the conflict. The Mursi are a small group of less than 10,000 and the women are known for their large lip plates. Interestingly, the video was made by a young Mursi man and his brother. The Mursi have an aggressive reputation and, like most of the adult males among the tribes we met, the men are armed with AK-47 assault rifles. The video and the talk by Lale Labuko about Omo Child set the stage for what we would see in the Omo Valley. Chris repeatedly called the area "the wild west" of Ethiopia. Indeed, it appears that the central government doesn't generally interfere in tribal conflicts, leaving the resolution up to the tribes, even when it comes to murder. The reigning standard of justice among all the groups is "an eye for an eye."
Photo Shoots, Omo Child and Coffee
The next morning we drove to Militia Village to visit with the Mursi, but before arriving there, our hosts had arranged for a separate photo shoot with some of the Mursi villagers. We were given about an hour to photograph a select group of folks without
having to pay the 5 birr per click as we would have to do in the village. Chris kept warning us that the Mursi were a touchy lot who angered easily and that we should be especially careful not to offend anyone. We could see young armed Mursi warriors standing by on the hillside surrounding the shoot. Actually, everyone was quite laid back, obviously used to being photographed. A couple of the women were shyly selling lip plates which I was happy to buy.
In Militia Village we were carefully monitored by the Mursi to make sure we paid the 5 birr per click. I had no problem with that, but I wasn't sure whom to pay when I wanted to take a shot of the village itself. The Mursi like all of the pastoralists in the Omo Valley do not have a masking tradition. Aside from the women's lip plates, they also practice scarification and body-painting to decorate themselves. At first it felt a little odd, even exploitive, to be shooting photographs of the Mursi decked out in their tribal regalia, but I shook that feeling
off because this was a business arrangement, no different than photographing highly paid models in New York, except these folks weren't highly paid. However, the Mursi made sure they were paid what was agreed upon. When I shot Noel standing next to a gray-bearded Mursi elder, he made sure I paid him 10 birr, not 5, because gray-bearded Noel was also in the picture. Once I put my camera away, we were able to wander at will without being hustled. We really enjoyed ourselves.
In the afternoon we visited the Omo Child facility. The staff person showing us around emphasized that Omo Child is not an adoption agency because the more than 40 children living there are not orphans. The goal is to integrate these children back into their communities once beliefs have changed enough to ensure their well-being and safety. This is starting to happen. The children are
given the opportunity to attend school regularly, girls as well as boys. The hope is that these children, like Omo Child's founder, will help their generation and future ones successfully transition from tribal Africa to the developed world.
We had a long drive the next day to Buska Lodge in the small market town of Turmi. After settling into our rooms, we were treated to a coffee ceremony. Ethiopia is the motherland of coffee where it still grows wild. The stimulating red beans were eaten by nomads living in the mountains. Eventually, its consumption evolved into the beverage we drink today. It owes its popularity to Islamic Sufi pilgrims who brought it back to the Arab world where it spread from there.
The ceremony begins with a woman roasting green coffee beans over hot coals in a brazier. When the roasting is done, the beans are passed around for everyone to get a good aromatic whiff. Then the beans are ground with a wooden mortar and pestle. Often
frankincense will be burned in the coals after the roasting is over. Ethiopia is a great source for real frankincense. You can buy it from young boys who wave it at you along the road sides. The ground coffee is boiled three times in a clay pot and then poured into cups for everyone to enjoy. Usually a snack like popcorn or, my favorite, kolo (roasted barley) is served along with the coffee. Local health workers often take advantage of the conviviality of the coffee ceremony to discuss issues like family planning. The freshly roasted coffee is so good that I didn't even need to add sugar.
Behind the Buska Lodge is the dry river bed of the Keske where the Hamer people hold their famous bull-jumping ceremonies. If a young Hamer man wants to marry, he has to run four times over the backs of twenty or so bulls that are held in place by men
who have successfully completed the bull-jumping. Before the ceremony begins, the sisters and other young female relatives of the jumper are beaten with sticks leaving scars on their backs. The more scars, the higher the status of the women. The beating obligates the
successful jumper to care for the women if they ever need help. In the late afternoon our hosts had scheduled a photo shoot with some people from the nearby Hamer village in the dry Keske River but without the bull-jumping.
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Part III
Further Into the Omo Valley
The Kara Dance for Us
The first Kara village we stopped at overlooked the Omo River. The people there practice flood-retreat agriculture. That is, they plant their crops of sorghum, corn and beans on the river banks right after the annual flood. The damming of the Omo will put an end to this type of traditional agriculture. The cultural impact is even greater than the building of the dams and reservoirs by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the US in the 1930's. It is unclear what the central government will do to compensate the tribes, but it will have to do something because keeping at least a semblance of tribal traditions is key to its plans to develop tourism.
We were scheduled for another photo shoot at a second Kara village further south. At this village we would not have to pay 5 birr per shot because the assistant head of Omo Child is from there and the villagers are grateful to Omo Child for stopping Mingi killings. After the shoot, we were treated to a fabulous performance of the "frog" dance, a courtship opportunity. Men and women in these communities lead very separate lives and these types of community dances give them a chance to interact and flirt. The dancers form a circle with the men on one half and the women on the other. Accompanied by a cappella singing, the women gracefully
advance a few at a time over to the men who are jumping as high as they can. Couples momentarily pair off and then part. The men periodically work themselves up to a group crescendo and the cycle starts again. We were all invited to join the performance at the end. I am really self-conscious when this kind of moment occurs and step aside if I can. I need to get over that shyness because I'm missing out on some really fine opportunities to interact with folks.
The Miracle of the Market
And Where Have All the Pockets Gone
We had a long dusty ride back to Turmi where I was promised we would visit a local handicraft market. It was late in the afternoon when we pulled up into the center of town where the market was supposed to be, but there were only a couple of vendors left. I was really pissed because Chris and J.D. had been telling me not to buy in the villages and that we would do better at this market. Except for a few lip plates, I had been restraining myself.
Almost before we were able to get out of the vehicles, lo and behold, a dozen or more vendors appeared, threw their blankets on the ground and started arranging their wares. I had never seen anything quite like it. It turns out someone had spread the false rumor that the "taxman" was coming around and most everyone had split. But when our seven vehicles loaded with tourists showed up, the market miraculously manifested itself. As is usual in these situations, a teenage boy who spoke English claimed me as his client and followed me around translating the bargaining. He reminded me of my son Moran and his friend Brendon when they were in high school. They were always looking for an opportunity to make a little money and would certainly not be above hustling a couple of strangers. I found him actually quite helpful and he only cost me 30 birr ($1.50) in the end. I would have given him more but that's what he asked for.
Handicrafts in Ethiopia are really a steal. Tourism in the Omo Valley has not developed to the point where there are souvenir shops selling cheap imports from China. The vendors at the Turmi market were selling basically the same things that the tribes make for their own use. I was able to purchase a goat skin "skirt" that a Hamer child would wear, a cool inscribed calabash decorated with cowry shells, a Hamer first wife necklace and a really great Kara stool for about 600 birr ($30US). Of course, you have to bargain. The same would hold true even in Lalibela up north where there is a lot more tourism.
As we were leaving, I glanced out the rear view mirror and the market had already disappeared. I returned to the Buska Lodge at peace. This was a day to savor.
Early the next morning we drove south once more, this time near the borders with Kenya and Sudan. We were scheduled to visit the Dasanech people on the other side of the Omo River. The Dasanech are the most southern tribe in the Omo Valley and number roughly 65,000. Unlike most of the tribes, they have taken in a number of different groups over time. They are divided into eight clans and each clan makes its special contribution to the tribe as a whole, i.e., one clan is good at treating diseases, another is skillful at fishing and hunting crocodiles, and so on. Members of the same clan cannot marry or even dance with each other.
We crossed the river in dugout canoes. I noticed a school in the village but I was told it was only for the boys. We were treated to a dance performance, but it lacked the inclusiveness we experienced the day before at the second Kara village. As usual, a couple of small boys tagged along with us. When I paid one wearing a long shirt to take his picture, I gestured to him to put the money in his pocket. He didn't seem to understand what I was getting at, so I kept putting my hand in my pocket. That's when he raised his shirt to repeat my gesture and I realized he wasn't wearing any pants.
Back in Turmi our hosts had arranged for us to see a cow bleeding in the Hamer village near the Buska Lodge. Cow bleeding is quite common among the Omo Valley tribes. Some rely on it for food more than others. The Hamer drink cow's blood mainly to recover from an illness or some other physically draining event like child birth. However, the Mursi regularly use cow's blood and milk to supplement their largely sorghum and corn diet. The cow's neck is tied with a tourniquet and then the animal is shot with an arrow in the neck where there is a good vein. The blood is caught in a calabash and briskly stirred until the blood gels. Then it is eaten and the cow released to recover from its wound.
After the cow-bleeding, Noel and I went off to explore the village. We met again many of the folks who had been in the Hamer photo shoot in the dry riverbed two days before, including a sweet young boy who spoke really good English and who was about the age of our younger grandson Parker and just as precocious. Once again we were also taken up by a teenage boy who acted as a translator between us and a Hamer woman who was selling handicrafts. Our younger friend took me aside to tell me, "Don't give him any money because he'll just go to town, buy beer and get into a fight." He had clearly overheard his elders saying that. I tried to explain to him that that's what teenage boys do, but hopefully, they see the error of their ways as they grow up and most do.
Candy, Stones and Stelae
We headed back up north the next morning, stopping at an Arbore village on our way. The Arbore are another small tribe of around 6,000 and seem to live pretty much at peace with their neighbors, unlike more aggressive tribes like the Mursi. They are known for sharing their resources and intermarrying with other groups. It seemed to me that the men and women mixed more and there was a general sweetness about their demeanor. All of the tribes that we visited adorned themselves with beautiful beadwork. I noticed a few of the Arbore men wearing metal watch bands incorporated into beaded necklaces. We did witness one negative incident. A German tourist took it upon himself to throw down candy for the children in lieu of paying the 5 birr for photographs. The Mursi wouldn't have let him get away with that transgression. They would have confiscated his camera and sold it back to him piece by piece.
Our next destination was the Kanta Lodge near the stone walled village of Gamole where the Konso people live. The Kanta Lodge is a beautiful facility with individual tukuls set in a lovely garden. The tukuls are elegantly simple with the most wonderful thatched roofs. The lodge's kitchen served the best food we had in the Omo Valley.
Gamole is one of 11 Konso villages, or really towns, declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites by the United Nations. About 5,000 people live there and it is constructed as a series of stone walls built in circles, one wall surrounding another. The land around the village is densely terraced. Unlike their neighbors to the south, the Konso are not nomadic pastoralists. They are basically farmers who built their stone towns as defensive measures against their aggressive neighbors. The Ethiopian time machine had advanced us a thousand years ahead of the tribal people to the south.
The Konso are known for the wagas or wooden statues erected to honor dead heroes. They also erect "generation poles" every eighteen years to designate the start of a new generation. You can tell how old a village is by the number of poles inside it. They also have the interesting custom of building a communal house for adolescent boys in the community. The boys sleep there and do community service work. When they reach marriageable age, they have to toss a forty kilo stone over their shoulder a certain number of times before they are allowed to take a wife. Walking through the village was like meandering through a stone labyrinth. From time to time we would come upon a village square where folks can sit and gather and where the generation poles are placed. The village also has a "swearing stone" that serves as a kind of Konso bible for testifying in disputes. Gamole was the only place where children were not hassling us for money. Apparently, an edict has been issued, probably by the Konso king, that children are not allowed to take money from strangers.
We paid a brief visit to Kala (Chief) Gezahegne of the Konso who lives nearby in a beautiful stone-walled compound with thatched roofs next to what the Konso have designated a sacred forest. The Kala speaks excellent English and is appropriately enough a civil engineer. During a brief question and answer period he expressed his concern about preserving the natural environment and balancing tradition with modern technology. The tension between conservation and change was the theme of our week in the Omo Valley.
The next day we flew back to Addis Ababa to prepare for our journey north to Lalibela. We were treated that evening to a terrific lecture and slide show on evolution and the natural and cultural diversity of Ethiopia by Dr. Berhane Asfaw, an Ethiopian paleontologist. I wish a few of our less enlightened American politicians had been there.
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Part IV
EPIPHANY IN LALIBELA
We had an early flight to Lalibela. JD asked us to reduce our luggage a bit, since we were only going to be there for two nights. I had brought a compactable bag that we were able to load with extraneous stuff that we wouldn't need. We checked it at the Radisson where we were returning before our flight back to the States. Serious photographers, like most of our fellow travelers, carry a lot of heavy luggage packed with equipment. Secure luggage storage is a very handy service provided by the hotel.
Lalibela is a small town of roughly 15,000 people during non-festival times. I read somewhere that out of that population about a 1,000 are Orthodox Christian priests. The town is situated 8,000 feet above sea level, in the mountains of north central Ethiopia.
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| Bearing the Tabot at the Timkat processions in Lalibela, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
We were going during the Feast of the Epiphany or Timkat in Amharic, so the population probably doubled because Lalibela is a major pilgrimage site. It is the second most holy city in the country next to Aksum where orthodox traditionalists believe the actual Ark of the Covenant given by God to Moses is located. In Western Christianity Epiphany commemorates the Adoration of the Magi or the Three Kings. One of those kings is thought to have been an Ethiopian bearing frankincense. In Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and other Eastern Orthodox sects Epiphany marks the time Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. Both events basically represent Christ revealing himself as the Son of God to the whole world, not just to the Jews.
Lalibela's attraction as a pilgrimage site is its eleven monolithic rock-hewn churches. The churches were built at the behest of King Lalibela of the Zagwe Dynasty that ruled the country during the 12th and 13thcenturies. At that time the city of Lalibela was called Roha and was the dynasty's capital. The king is said to have traveled in his youth to Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was captured by Muslims in 1187 AD, the king vowed to build a new Jerusalem where Christian pilgrims could visit. Apparently, he was currying favor with the powerful Orthodox Church to help counter rivals to his throne and the influence of the city of Aksum home of the reputed Ark. Lalibela is said to have labored twenty years overseeing the building of the churches and then abdicated his throne to become a hermit. He is honored as one of the church's most beloved saints and the city was renamed for him. Needless-to-say, there are lots of stories about their creation. One tale professes that much
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| Timkat procession, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
of the work was done by angels at night while the workmen were sleeping. When the first Europeans saw the churches in the 16th century, stories spread that the churches were built by the Knights Templar. But it's quite clear that Ethiopians built them and they didn't need any outside help. Fact and fiction merge in Lalibela making it a fascinating place.
The Ethiopian time machine had thrust us from animist cultures in the Omo Valley and set us down in the time of the earliest Christians, so early that the rituals we observed are practically ancient Jewish traditions, particularly those surrounding the parading of the Tabot (the model of the Holy Ark) to the nearby River Jordan. This is not the same Jordan River as in the Middle East but was named for it as part of making Lalibela the New Jerusalem. Christianity came to Ethiopia very early, probably in the 1st century AD from Egypt. The monotheistic religion found fertile ground to grow because Ethiopia already had a significant Jewish population with roots going back to Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. You can imagine all the stories about that alliance.
Diving into Timkat and the Green Flash
Upon arriving from the airport, we immediately dove into the Timkat celebrations. There were lots of people but the crowds were very mellow. There were several processions from the churches occurring at once, mostly male, but there was one procession of women drumming, singing and dancing. We were told they were from a daycare center. At one point roughly fifty priests or more dressed in white robes gathered
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| Call and response, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
on the hillside overlooking the processions and engaged in a call and response with the crowd and their counterparts below, swaying and bowing to the drumming. We were caught up in it as well. It was very cool.
We took a lunch break at a fine place that served us freshly slaughtered chicken. We had noticed the live chickens being carried away as we were getting off the bus from the airport. JD informed us that he had been able to upgrade our hotel from one in town to the Mountainview Lodge high up in the hills overlooking Lalibela.
We spent the afternoon visiting three of the churches. UNESCO has declared the
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| Women drummers, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
churches and the traditional houses surrounding them World Heritage Sites. The first church was Biete Medhane Alem (House of the Savior of the World) and is believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world.
The rock-hewn churches are actually carved, not constructed, from the top down, so they are even with the surface of the surrounding ground. Some restoration work has been done to the outside of Biete Medhane Alem, mainly on the exterior pillars of one outside
wall, but considering the buildings date from the 12th
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| Reconstructed pillars at Biete Medhane Alem, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
century, they are in remarkably good condition and all are still in use. I have seen the rock-hewn churches and houses in Cappadocia and they are literally crumbling over time because the rock is soft lava rock. The Lalibela churches are carved out of single blocks of granite. My bucket list includes Petra in Jordan, another rock-hewn community.
Getting into and out of the churches is somewhat of a challenge because you have to take your shoes off before going inside and the floors are uneven and the steps a bit high. At the suggestion of one of our fellow travelers, I would recommend bringing a walking stick. I noticed that the male congregants generally carry tall canes with them. This enables them to lean during the long services held by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. There are no pews.
The second church we visited was Biete Maryam (House of Mary). It is supposed to be the oldest of the churches and has replicas of the tombs of Adam and Christ inside. Right outside is a cistern containing rather slimy green water that women who are barren are supposed to bathe in to become fertile.
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| Biete Giorgis (Church of Saint George), photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
The third one was Biete Giorgis (Church of Saint George). Biete Giorgis is just amazing to see on the outside. It's carved into the shape of a cross with three crosses inside of each other. Form and function merge because one of the crosses is actually a drainage ditch. Since all the churches are carved down into the granite hillside, water drainage is a major issue.
It was late in the afternoon when we checked into the Mountainview Lodge, a veritable aerie with raptors flying all around. The hotel is architecturally interesting if a bit run down and the view is outstanding. A group of us gathered on the outside terrace for drinks and we were treated to a sunset that was an archipelago of lights and clouds. One of our fellow travelers was a retired airline pilot and he swore there was a "green flash." Green flashes are optical illusions that happen right after sunset or before sunrise when a green flash appears just above the upper edge of the sun. It lasts only a second or so and sometimes looks like a green ray projecting out of the sun. The flash is most often observed by pilots.
Dinner that night was the usual buffet but the food was fabulous, especially the "fried" lamb ribs. The chef was actually standing outside the dining room as we left to receive comments about the food. The only downside was the initial lack of serving utensils and no labels explaining what the food was. The staff quickly remedied that.
Monastery Mummies and Sky Goblets
After breakfast early the next morning we were driven back to town for a brief stop to watch the Timkat mass held outdoors. To me as a recovered Roman Catholic still in love with the Latin mass, the ritual was familiar but foreign at the same time. Sacred rituals in Ethiopian Orthodoxy are performed in Ge'ez, the ancient but no longer spoken language of the Aksum kingdom. The sermons are given in the local language.
Next on our agenda was a bumpy hour and an half ride through the very interesting
countryside to the church of a cave monastery built in the 11th century by Yemrehanna
Kristos (Christ Show Me the Way) and named for him. There is major construction being  |
| The cave monastery, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
At an altitude of roughly 9,000 feet it was a bit of a hike up to the church but quite doable. I thought the interior of this church was the most interesting one we saw. At one point the head priest brought out an ancient brass cross and he was wearing the same bright green sock slippers Ethiopian Airlines gives business class passengers. No restoration work has been done on the church, and because it's in a cave
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| Green sock slippers, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
and not exposed to the elements, the outside walls and ancient murals are in really good shape. Way at the back of the church are the mummified remains of more than 7,000 pilgrims who had traveled there from as far away as Egypt and Syria to die. A medical doctor traveling with us observed that some of the skulls looked like they had suffered severe trauma. Maybe all isn't what it seems. Yemrehanna Kristos was Lalibela's predecessor and set the style for the latter's churches.
Back down at the beginning of the trail up to the monastery the local people operate small shops selling souvenirs, many handcrafted items that they use in their daily lives but exotic to us and religious items bought by pilgrims. I purchased a nice goat skin "lunch box." I noticed a small group of young men getting mildly high chewing khat, the leaves of a flowering plant that contains an amphetamine. Khat is one of Ethiopia's largest exports.
We had lunch reservations at a truly bizarre restaurant near our hotel called Ben Abeba, a name that combines Scottish and Amharic to mean "hill of flowers." It is owned by a retired home economics teacher from Scotland and a local Ethiopian man who hired two young Ethiopian architects to design the building. They came up with a design that is supposed to reflect the surrounding hills but looks like something out of a Star Wars movie. The dining areas are "flowery concrete goblets [that] hold tables aloft, offering up diners to the sky," as a Scottish newspaper described it. Most folks describe its shape as "snail-like." At any rate, the food is not bizarre but quite good, a blend of traditional Ethiopian fare and Scottish favorites like shepherd's pie. Shepherd's pie appeared on another buffet we encountered in the Omo Valley.
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| Sky goblets, photo courtesy of Ridge Art |
After lunch some of our group opted to tour the inside of the Church of Saint George, but Noel and I decided to take the afternoon off. We took the time to visit a couple of small souvenir stands near our hotel and bought a really nice polished steel processional cross and a beautifully illustrated new prayer book as gifts. The family that was running the shop was enjoying that wonderful, freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee in the late afternoon. They invited us to join them, but we gratefully declined and headed for the hotel bar to enjoy some good Ethiopian wine.
Back to the Present
We flew back to Addis Ababa the next morning to prepare for our evening flight home on fabulous Ethiopian Airlines. We had changed a significant amount of US dollars into birr at a currency exchange at the Radisson at the start of our journey and didn't spend very much of it, so the first thing we did was change it back. Major word of warning, when changing money abroad, always keep your receipts and understand any restrictions in changing it back. At the Radisson currency exchange you have a limit on how much can be changed back into dollars and you can only make the exchange once. Fortunately, we were within our limit and had the receipts, but a few hours later when I found a few more birr, we weren't allowed to change that back. But that was okay because we spent it at the airport. We ran into a similar situation in Argentina a few years back.
We had a final dinner and farewell with our fellow travelers before heading to the airport. During dinner Chris Rainier did a terrific presentation on Ansel Adams and talked about his, Chris', evolution as a professional photographer and how he discarded the notion of objectivity in journalism when he was on assignment in Somalia. He reiterated his commitment to using his skills to empower indigenous people and document their cultures. I strongly suggested he get to know the work of the late Milton Rogovin. I need to mention the really hard work and meticulous attention we enjoyed from JD Kling who handled the thankless, but most vital task of the logistical arrangements. And lastly but definitely not least, we want to acknowledge Henok Kebebe, our local Ethiopian guide, who enthusiastically led us to enjoy and begin to understand the incredible time machine that is Ethiopia.
