Cyber Ethiopia

Next to the church compound is a museum, which is very nice for the artefacts, but not very well marked or organized. I have to say that there is a real trade off between the highly interactive and information rich modern museums of the ‘First World’ versus the artefact rich but information poor museums of countries like Ethiopia or Egypt. I have to say that my preference is exploration amongst the dusty and disorganized but fabulous reality of relic museums. This museum has plenty of small statues, pieces of pottery, coins, and so on. There are other sites right in the town of Axum, especially at King Ezana park where you see stone carved writing and a stone bench which is gruesomely said to have been

used to clean dead bodies. Archaeologists guess that the stelae with the writing was brought from another site near town. King Bazen’s tomb is also in the park. I suspect the park has been preserved as a tourist site, which is good considering that so many of the buildings excavated and drawn by the ‘Deutsche Expedition’ in 1906 have been completely overtaken by settlement and are not available to see. Detailed information on the sites in and around Axum is provided in David Phillipson’s scholarly The Monuments of Axum and much more readable Ancient Ethiopia. Around Axum You can’t go to Axum without looking at the other sites. On the edge of town is ‘Sheba’s Reservoir’, a large stone lake which probably has nothing to do with the Queen of Sheba, but is a nice place to visit. There are stairs for locals to climb down to take water or participate in ceremonies, but otherwise the sides are quite steep. People swim in the reservoir, but there are reports of fairly frequent drownings. Beyond the reservoir you walk or drive up a hill to some of the other must see places. There is a modest house which contains Ezanas’ stone, a trilingual monument which the Greek helped to translate. Further up, past a number of holes in the ground, which are dubbed rock hewn churches, are the double tombs of Kings Kaleb and Rumhai. These are well built tombs that can be visited, with sharply carved square rooms underground reached by stairs. The tomb of Kaleb is said to have a secret tunnel that goes all the way to Eritrea or Yemen. It is fascinating to think that both of these tombs were once part of an enormous mansion or temple which has now almost completely disappeared. A few km out of town lies the so-called Sheba’s Palace, or Dongur Edifice. This is a large ruin discovered only in the 1950’s, across from a stelae field which would be fascinating if it wasn’t under the shadow of the more impressive Axum field. Although it was quickly attributed to the Queen of Sheba by locals, and guides still tell you the same thing, archaeologists date the structure as about 1500 years younger than the time of Solomon and Sheba. Regardless of the source of the ruin, it is large and fascinating. It is difficult to believe that this was completely undiscovered and dug up less than 50 years ago - it appears to rise above the surrounding countryside. There are plenty of rooms to wander through and corners to explore. Further on is the quarry where the stelae were obtained. A climb up a hill through a field of stones and past some picturesque hamlets brings you to a large rock with a carved lion. The lion is large and quite impressive. On the same stone is the carving of a cross, which Graham Hancock cites as possible proof of the visit of Crusader knights to the area. The small boys who eagerly guide you up to the stone also try to sell you rocks with crystals inside. There are fabulous stones, ordinary looking on the outside, but when broken open they reveal different colored crystals, with their sharp and intricate designs. Purple and orange mix with clear crystal in these marvellous rocks. For only five or ten birr you can pick up many of these rocks. However, transport of minerals out of the area is carefully monitored. At the Axum airport your bags and hand luggage are searched, and any crystals found are confiscated. There are big buckets in the corner of the ramshackle check in room filled with the crystals. A cynic would expect them to find their way back into the hands of the little boys to be sold to the next set of tourists! The officials are firm, even the pathetic pleas of foreign children wanting to keep their pretty new acquisitions can’t move the stoic police. There are other places to see in Axum, and stopping for at least 3 days is advisable. The nicest and most expensive hotel in town is the Yeha, a government hotel, wonderfully sited on a hill above the main stelae field. In the center of town is the Axum hotel, now in private hands, which has a nice air of faded charm. The round restaurant inside has a nice set of typical Ethiopian paintings depicting the story of Sheba going to Israel. The main building has some lovely old woodwork, but it is shabby. The outside restaurant and bar is comfortable, with CNN or BBC giving you news updates on the satellite TV (although wrestling seems to be the most popular entertainment). Most of the rooms are in long separate buildings, although the tukul at the far back is my favourite. There are a number of other comfortable and cheaper hotels, including the Genet with a nice inner courtyard. Whichever place you choose, Axum like the rest of Tigray is quite pleasant and relatively hassle free. There are tour guides touting you and people trying to sell things, such as old coins (probably fake) and cheap little replicas of the obelisks. The craft shops have plenty of Ethiopian paintings on goat skins and Axum style ‘silver’ crosses. Axum to Gondar From Axum you can take the spectacular but difficult road back to Gondar. If you want to drive this road, give yourself a long day to make it to Debark or Gondar. You must cross the deep gorge of the Tekkeze River, and the quality of the road is not the best. In the rainy season (especially July - September) it can be difficult to get through, although it is an ‘all weather’ road. Apart from the unremarkable town of Inda Selassie (also called by the name of the district, Shire), there are no significant towns between Axum and Debark. At the bottom of the Tekkeze there are a couple of interesting turn offs. One is the Shire Reservation, with the Ras Hotel for accommodation. To be honest, this is not a place to make a special trip to see, especially when the wonderful Simien National park is so nearby. The other trip is from Adiarkay to the Monasteries of Waldiba (alternatively Weldiba, Woldeba). This is a trip that can only be taken by foot and mule, and I admit I haven’t made it there yet. I’ve been told the trip to the closest one is a nice, if somewhat long, day trip, and the monastery is well worth a visit. Sarah and Charles Sherlock and their children made the trip last April, and Sarah was kind enough to share their experience and her -in depth knowledge of the place. Waldiba has one of the oldest teaching monasteries of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Probably the most famous reputed visitors was the family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, who are said to have come here during their sojourn in Egypt, described in the Bible. There are many stories about the visit of the Holy family to Ethiopia, but the stop at Waldiba is the most famous. While there, the Holy family received a divine message that it was time to return to Jerusalem, and they conveniently took a tunnel from Waldiba directly back (or to Eritrea or Yemen). There are a series of monasteries, so the serious visitor can spend several days travelling deep into the Takkeze Valley to see them. If you visit Waldiba there is basic accommodation at nearby Sekwar Maryam, named after the famous visitor. From Adiarkay it is a relatively short drive to Debark, the jump off point to the Simien Mountains.