Historical Attractions

HISTORICAL ATTRACTIONS

Ethiopia has a wide range of tourist attractions from abundant species of wildlife, historical sites, religious sites and cultural attractions (including more than 80 tribes all with different traditions).

Queen of Sheba
Legend has it that Emperor Menelik I, the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, brought the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Axum, where he settled and established one of the worlds longest know, uninterrupted monarchical dynasties.
This is only one example of Ethiopia’s magnificent history, which encompasses legend and traditions, mystery and fact, from a powerful and religious ancient civilization. The well-trodden path thought Ethiopia’s famous and fascination historic sites takes you’re though a scenic, magnificent world of fairy-tale names, such as Lalibela, Gondar, Debre Damo and Bahar Dar.
Traveling the route by plane, car or both will offer you a glimpse into a truly remarkable past. As well as many priceless historical relics, you will also see the castles at Gondar, the churches of Lalibela – hewn out of living rock, the mysterious giant stealea at Axum the ruins of the Queen of Sheba’s palace, and the monastery at Debre Damo, whose access is limited to men and then only by way of a rope lowered by the friendly monks above.
Taking the historic route north from Addis Ababa, the first stop is Debre Markos, 305 kilometers north of the capital. Here you will find the 19th century church of Markos (Saint Mark), with its pale but beautiful paintings depicting scenes of biblical and religious history.

Lake Langano
Lake Langao is situated some 210 kms. south of Addis Ababa. It has sandy beaches and is a popular resort for swimming, aquatic sports, sunbathing, camping and bird watching. The western lakeside is covered with thin acacia while the eastern shoreline is partially covered by dense forest. The forest and lake host a variety of wildlife, birds, amphibians like hippos and reptiles.

Lake Abiyata & Shala
Situated in the heart of the Rift Valley near Lake Langano. Lake Shala is thought to be the deepest lake in Africa north of the equator. Lake Abiyata is circled by a 60 km. white shoreline. As well as there beauty they are known for the abundance of bird life. Different kinds of water birds such as greater and lesser flamingos, along with white-necked cormorants, many species of heron, storks, spoonbills, African ducks, gulls and sterns can be seen around these lakes. During the northern winter thousands of Asiatic and European ducks and waders migrate to Lake Abiyatas shores. Lake Shala is well known for its large colony of great white pelicans.

Awash National Park
Awash National Park is located 225 kms. east of Addis Ababa with an area of 756 sq. kms. It is the oldest and most developed wildlife reserve in Ethiopia. The park is entirely established on the plain of the Rift Valley. With the exception of 600 meter high Mount Fantale the park area is mainly covered with acacia trees and Savannah grassland. The main attractions of the park include 46 major species of mammals and 453 species of birds of which 6 are endemic to the country. The mammals are mainly composed of East African plain mammals such as greater and lesser kudu, oryx, bush-buck, dik-dik, cheetah and lion. The birds include secretary birds, Abyssinian ground hornbill and turaco. Another interesting feature of the park is the Awash River Gorge that makes up the parks southern boundry. Its waterfall is a favourite with visitors. There is also a palm-lined, shimmering, aquamarine hot spring pool and the Fantale volcano activity.

Bahar Dar
Bahar Dar, the next stop, is 578 kilometers from Addis Ababa, is located on the southern shores of Lake Tana, the source of the blue nile, with its ancient island monasteries and both the blue and the whit nile’s most spectacular feature, the Tis Lsat waterfalls.
On the island of Dega Estefanos, you will find the church of Saint Stefanos which has a priceless collection icons and manuscripts and houses the mummified remains of a number of Ethiopian emperors.
For the modern traveler, the starting point of any visit to the Blue Nile falls, or to the island of lake Tana, is the bustling market town of Bahar Dar on the lake’s south-eastern shore. The colorful markets and variety of handicrafts and weaving centres also make it a comfortable base for excursion by land and water, Bahar Dar port provides access by boat to a number of historical lake-side churches an monasteries near and far. Most date from the 17th century and have beautifully painted walls. Many such places of worship now have fascinating museums, at which the visitor can see priceless illustrated manuscripts, historic crowns and fine royal and ecclesiastical robes, some monastic islands are forbidden to women, but others can be visited by both sexes.
Visitors to Bahar Dar can also see tank was, locally made canoes, made out of the papyrus reeds growing by the lake shore, as well as a historic old building erected, in St. Georges church compound, by 17th century Spanish Jesuit, Pero Paes.

Yeha, Axum, Debre Damo
The journey thought Ethiopia’s historic routes takes you on rough tracks, through dramatic highland scenery and eventually ends in a beautiful and serene agricultural hamlet. It is here that you may see the towering ruins of yeha’s temple of the moon, an imposing rectangular edifice built more than 2,500 years ago. The temple speaks eloquently of the works of an early high civilization, although little is actually known about the people who built this great edifice.
Much more is known about the historic highland city of Axum, once a great commercial center, trading via the Red Sea port of Adulis and founded perhaps 500 years after the decline of Yeha. Axum stands in the highlands of north western Tigray, commanding spectacular views over the nearby Adwa hills. This ancient settlement is frequently referred to as “the sacred city of the Ethiopians” – a description that adequately sums up its significance in national culture as a centre of Orthodox Christianity. Many remarkable monuments here attest to the great antiquity of religious expression in this country, and as a former capital that has never lost its special appeal to the hearts an minds of all Ethiopians.
Axum is renowned for its cathedral of St. Mary of Zion, where legend has it, the original ark of the covenant is housed. Axum is also famous for its seven mysterious monolithic steal, hewn from single peace of solid granite. The most notable are carved to resemble multi-storey houses; several weigh more than 500 tones and stand twenty meters high. They seem less like prayers of stone and more like lightning-rods to heaven.
Axum’s greatest significance, however, is as the epic centre of the Queen of Sheba’s dynasty. Upon which rests the notion for the sacred kinship of the Semitic peoples of Ethiopia - a notion that links the recent past to ancient times. The former Emperor Haile Selassie claimed to be the 225th monarch of the Solomonic line. His death in 1975 marked the end of an era and the beginning of the end of an entire way of life.
Some four hours drive from Axum – plus a further two hours stiff uphill walk from the point where the road ends lies the monastery of Debre Damo, situated on a cliff top in one of the wildest parts of Tigray. Debre Damo is unique and unforgettable. The bluff on which Damo stands is a real-life Shangri-La. Remoter and beautiful, far from the hustle and bustle of the 21st century, the cool celestial island of rock offers panoramic views over the surrounding countryside and complete seclusion and peace for the hundred or so monks and deacons who live there. The monastery’s treasures include an extensive collection of illuminated manuscripts and intricate carvings on the beams and ceiling of the ancient church around which the monastery is built.

Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa is situated some 515 km. east of Addis Ababa on a small plain surrounded by hills and mountains. The town was established as a half way point on the Addis ABABA-Djibouti railroad. It has an international airport that makes it strategically important for transportation on the eastern route. Its main attractions are the Taiwan Market called the «chat» market and the enormous market place frequented by the Oromo, Somali, Issa and Afar people.

Gondar
The next stop on the historic route is the graceful city of Gondar, founded by Emperor Fasiladas in 1635. the city was Ethiopia’s capital until the reign of the would-be reforming Emperor Tewodros II, also known as Theodore. During its long years as a capital, the settlement emerged as one of the larges and most popular cities in the realm. It was a great commercial centre, trading with the rich lands south of the Blue Nile, as well as with Sudan to the west, and the Red Sea port of Massawa to the north-east.
Gondar is famous for its many medieval castles and the design and decoration of its churches. The earliest of the castles was created by Fasilidas himself and is still in such an excellent state of repair that it is possible to climb its stairs all the way to the roof, which commands a breathtaking view over much of the city. Besides the famous palaces, visitors should inspect the so-called ‘Bathing Palace of Emperor Fasiladas’, which is used for the annual Timket or Epiphany celebrations, and the abbey of the redoubtable eighteenth century Empress Mentewab at Qwesquam, in the mountains just outside Gondar.
Lalibela
Hundreds of miles to the south and east of Axum is another ancient settlement, Lalibela, which is also famous for its architecture. Lalibela, is a city carved from legend a mediaeval settlement in the last are of Wollo that is the site of eleven remarkable rock-hewn monolithic churches, believed to have been built by King Lalibela in the late 12th or early 13th century. These notable structures are carved inside and outside of the solid rock, and are considering among the wonders of the world. Each building is architecturally unique, and several of them are decorated with fascinating rock paintings. The unadulterated biblical atmosphere and vivid local color of the Timket celebrations provide an ideal opportunity to see Lalibela as a sacred centre whose roots go back to man’s very early years.

Harar
No journey along Ethiopia’s fabled historic route would be complete without a visit to the medieval walled city of Harar, which stands amid green mountains on the east wall of the Great Rift Valley. Harar’s heritage is almost entirely Muslim and Oriental.
Harar has probably always had a great deal more in common with the horn’s coastal culture than with the life of the highlands and it retains to this day a certain redolence of the Orient. The most dominant features, apart from its strong encircling walls, is its rich and exciting market place is the most colorful in Ethiopia. Its Islamic character is best expressed in the grand Mosque (Al Jami), which dominate the town.
Rightly renowned for its intricately worked filigree jeweler of silver, gold and amber, Harar’s Megalo Gudo market is also a centre for beautiful baskets of woven grass, decorative wall-mats and bright shawls, as well as all the fruits, vegetables, species and grains of the province. Harar’s five gates the only means to enter or leave the city centre have been strongly guarded over the years.

Lake Tana
Ethiopia boasts seven of the great rift valley lakes. Some are alkaline brown, yet surprisingly good for swimming; some are tropical in setting; some are bordered or fed by hot mineral springs; some play host to large flocks of flamingos, pelicans, cormorants, herons, storks and ibises; with 831 recorded bird species, Ethiopia is a bird watcher’s paradise.
Ethiopia’s lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile, the lake is dotted with island monasteries, which house many treasures of medieval art, only 30 kilometers from the lake, the river explodes over Tis Isat falls (meaning ‘smoke of fire’) a sight that inspired wonder from the 18th century explorer, James Bruce, Before the Blue Nile joins the White Nile, which flows north from lake Victoria, it runs from 800 kilometers through one of the world’s deepest and most dramatic gorges.

Nechisar National Park
Located some 535 kms. south of Addis Ababa. It was established as a sanctuary for the Swanes Hartebeest an endangered subspecies throughout Ethiopia. The park is located in the rift valley at an altitude of 2000 meters between Lake Abaya and Chamo in south central Ethiopia. Although mainly open grassland it also contains sparse areas of Savannah woodland and highland forest. Eighty four mammal species can be found including Hippo, Zebra, Greater Kudu, Reedbuck, Grants Gazelle, Defarssa Waterbuck and lion. A total of 343 bird species have been recorded in the park.

Arba Minch
Arba Minch is known for its large number and variety of wildlife, species of endemic birds and the natural landscape. It is a paradise for photographers.

Bale Mountains National Park
Bale Mountains National Park is a magnificent high altitude plateau with numerous volcanic plugs, seasonal tiny alpine like lakes and cascading mountain streams. It is about 400 kms. from Addis Ababa. It stretches over an area of 2400 sq. kms. and ranges in altitude from 1500 meters to nearly 4400 meters. Here are the greatest Afro-Alpine moorlands in the world. The dynamics of this eco-system extend far beyond Ethiopia and are responsible for environmental change and climatic conditions in Somalia and East Africa. Among its endemic mammals are the Mountain Nyala, Red Fox and Meneliks Bush Buck. Seven of Ethiopias 28 endemic bird species are to be found here. The Weyb River flowing partly underground has formed the Sof Omar Caves considered to be one of the most spectacular in the world.

Nature & Wildlife
Ethiopia’s mountains rise up to a height of over 4,000 meters, with Mount Batu, the second highest peak in Ethiopia, rising to 4,307 meters.
The national parks enable the visitor to enjoy the country’s scenery and its wildlife, conserved in natural habitats, and offer opportunities for travel adventure unparalleled in Africa.
Awash National Park is the oldest and most developed wildlife reserve in
Ethiopia. Featuring the 1800 meter Fantalle Volcano, numerous mineral host-springs and extra ordinary volcanic formations, this natural treasure is bordered to the south by the Awash river and lies 225 kilometers east of the capital, Addis Ababa.
The wildlife consists mainly of East African plains animals, but there are now no giraffe or buffalo. Oryx, bat-eared fox, caracal, aardvark, colobus and bushbuck, hippopotamus, boomerang’s gazelle, cheetah, lion, kudu and 450 species of birds of all kind live within the park’s 720 square kilometers.
The Bale mountain with their vast moorlands the lower reaches covered with St, john’s wort and their extensive heath land, virgin woodlands, pristine mountain streams and alpine climate remain an untouched and beautiful world. Rising to a height of more than 4,000 meters, the borders Ethiopia’s southern highlands, whose highest peak, mount Tullu Deemtu, Stands at 4,377 meters.
The establishment of the 2,400 square kilometer Bale Mountains national park was crucial to the survival of the mountain nyala, menelik’s bushbuck and Simied red fox. This fox is one of the most colorful members of the dog family and more abundant here than anywhere else in Ethiopia. All three endemic animals thrive in this environment, the Nyala in particular being seen in large numbers. The Bale Mountains offer some fine high altitude terrain for horse and foot trekking, and the streams of the park which become important rivers further downstream are well stocked with rainbow and brown trout.
The Baro river area, accessible by land or air through the western Ethiopian town of Gambela, remains a place of adventure and challenge. Traveling across the endless undulating plains of high Sudanese grass, visitors can enjoy a sense of achievement in simply finding their way around. This is Ethiopia’ true tropical zone and here are found all the elements of the African safari, enhanced by a distinctly Ethiopian flavor. Nile perch weighing 100 kilos can be caught in the waters of Baro, snatched from the jaws of the huge crocodiles that thrive along the riverbank. The white eared-kob also haunts the Baro, along with other riverbank residents that include the Nile Abyssinian reedbuck, warthog, hartebeest, lion, elephant and hippopotamus.
The simian mountain messif is a broad plateau, cut off to the north and west by an enormous single crag over 60 kilometers long. To the south, the tableland slopes gently down to 2,200, dividing by gorges 1,000 meters deep which can take more than two days to cross. Insufficient geological time has elapsed to smooth the contours of the crags and buttresses of hardened basalt.
Within this spectacular splendour live the Walia (Abyssinian) ibex, Simien the Hamadryas baboon, klipspringer and bushbuck. Birds such as the lammergeyer, augur buzzard, verreaux’s eagle, Kestrel and falcon soar above this mountain retreat. Twenty kilometers north-east of Gondar, the Simien Mountains National Park covers 179 square kilometers of highland area at an average elevation of 3,300 meters. Ras Dashen, at 4,620 meters the highest peak in Ethiopia, stands adjacent to the park.
The simian escarpments, which are often compared to the Grand Canyon in the United States of America, have been named by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.