gloryethiopiatours

The founding of Gonder as the capital of early 17th century Ethiopia, by Emperor Fasilidas (1632 -67) after king Fasilidas, Numerous castle like placed dated from early 17th century to mid 19 century.
Gondar was the first capital city of the Ethiopian empire, which began in 1632 with the reign of Fasilidas. In Gondar, there are dozens of castles built by various emperors over the course of 236 years. The city is more European than African and has various Churches to visit Debre Berhan Sellassie (Light of the Trinity), which is known for the unique ceiling paintings and surrounded by fortified walls. As an additional tour or Excursion, Gondar is the nearest spot to the semein Mountains and a visit the village of the “Felasha” (African Jews) most of the mountain peaks exceed 4000m; the highest is Ras Dejen, at 4543m above sea level. These mountains consist of volcanic masses…

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Why do people make Ethiopia a unique travel destination?

Ethiopia is truly a land of contrasts and extremes; a land of remote and wild places. Some of the highest and most stunning places on the African continent are found here, such as the jaggedly carved Simien Mountains, one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites – and some of the lowest, such as the hot but fascinating Danakil Depression, with its sulphur fumaroles and lunar-like landscape. Ethiopia is old; old beyond all imaginations. As Abyssinia, its culture and traditions date back over 3,000 years. And far earlier than that lived “Lucy” or Dinkenesh, meaning ‘thou art wonderful’, as she is known to the Ethiopians, whose remains were found in a corner of this country of mystery and contrasts.

Many people visit Ethiopia – or hope to do so one day – because of the remarkable manner in which ancient historical traditions have been preserved. And, indeed, the ceremonies and rituals of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, open a window on the authentic world of the Old Testament. In no other country is it possible to find yourself so dramatically transported back in time or to participate with such freedom in the sacred rituals of an archaic faith.

Few if any tourist, looks to Ethiopia as the ideal tourist destination in view of the decades of wars, droughts and all other calamities that had befallen the country in the twenty years from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Even the few tourists who would have considered Ethiopia as a tourist destination would have expected the typical game park as the only attractions in the country, given Ethiopia’s location in Africa. Simply put, it will truly take a knowledgeable tourist in order to have the realization that Ethiopia offers a lot more than the typical ‘safari’ attractions of its African neighbors. Although Ethiopia has numerous other tourist attractions, it still stands “heads-and-shoulders” above its regional competitors within the typical African tourism niche of safari parks in view of the numerous flora and fauna, which are endemic to Ethiopia. In short, Ethiopia’s wide selection and variety of tourist attractions offer tremendous opportunities for market differentiation and segmentation. To highlight a few examples,

 

• The world’s first churches. mosques and temples are found in Ethiopia, which in turn offer opportunities in Religious Tourism
• Ethiopia is also a land of ancient obelisks, buildings, castles and other structures that rival the famous pyramids of Egypt. These heritages in turn create opportunities in Archaeological Tourism
• Ethiopia’s longstanding independence from subjugation has also served as a natural ‘incubator’ of some 80+ ethnic societies and cultures, thus offering opportunities in the creation of Cultural Tourism packages
• Ethiopia is also blessed with many wonders of nature, from the heights of the Semien Mountains at more than 4,000 meter in altitude to one of the lowest locations on earth, i.e. the Danakil Depression at 300 feet below sea level. Other wonders of nature include the Blue Nile Falls, the cave rivers of Sof Omar and many more natural attractions that are ideal for Nature Tourism, Adventure Tourism and other tourism market niches
• As the land of “Lucy” and “Ardi”, Ethiopia again offers tremendous opportunities for launching Paleontological Tourism activities as well

 

Ethiopian tourism products and services are defined across three (3) major categories. These are: –

 

• The traditional “Northern Route”, which offers the historical and religious tourism products and services of Lalibela, Axum, Gondar and Bahr Dar. Wildlife tourism products and services are also offered through visits to the Simien Mountain National Park
• The “Eastern Route”, which offers the Awash National Park, caving around the city of Dire Dawa as well as the walled city of Harar and its Muslim religious products and services
• Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. , a national pride often expressed with the popular coffee ceremony in each house, big hotels and restaurants.
• The only African nation having an ancient written language and unique calendar still in official use It is the only 
• The county has a beautiful weather Tropical monsoon, with wide topographic variation.
• Ethiopia offers visitors a doorway in to its cultures through its tradition of incorporating language into visual arts. This tradition spans centuries: from the religious and spiritual traditions that use texts to underscore iconic images, to contemporary fine art in which language symbols become monumental images canvas.
• Among the many countries of Africa, Ethiopia is unique in having the continents only ancient written language: like the western languages from left to right.
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• The Sabena’s, speaking a Semitic language related to Phoenician and Hebrew, with an alphabet almost devoid of vowels; found among the Axumite s a local language with an organized written system.
• Over time, Axum indigenous language absorbed elements of Sabean and evolved in to Geez and the Ethiopia script, with a syllabify of 228symbols.
• Geez is steel refereed to us the “Latin” of Ethiopia and. The Amharic /Ethiopic script of today evolved out of Geez in the Lasta-Lalibela and Gonder Provinces in the north around the 11^th –12^th centuries. At that time, influenced by Christian illuminated manuscripts, monks added significant rounded embellishment to the earlier, more geometric, language characters.
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The “Southern Route”, which is a relatively recent addition to Ethiopian tourism but offers a wide selection of wildlife, cultural and other tourism products and services 

Tigray Rock Hewn Churches

Many of the Tigrayan rock churches lie along the main road between Adigrat and Mekele, or can be visited from it. Four main clusters are covered in this chapter, of which the churches that lie along the main road between Sinkata and Wukro are the most accessible to those without private transport or limited time. The pick of these churches is undoubtedly Adi Kasho Medhane Alem, part of the highly accessible Teka Tesfai cluster 10km south sinkata. A second rather loose cluster consists of Wukros Chirkos – the most accessible of all the Tigrayan churches, as it lies 500m from the main road in the town of Wukro – and the magnificent Abreha we Atsbeha church along the Hawzen road. The most extensive cluster is found in the Gheralta region, which lies to the south of Hawzen and includes some the most stunningly situated churches anywhere in Ethiopia. Gheralta can easily be explored out of  Hawzen with a vehicle, or over a few days of hiking, bearing in mind that the region’s finest churches are reached by long, steep walks that require a fair level of  fitness. A fourth and more dispersed cluster lies in the Atsbi area, to the east of Wukro. With one exception, the Atsbi churches can be explored only with a vehicle.

THE LAKES DISTRICT

The part of the rift that forms 1230m at L. Chamo in the south to approximately 1800m at Awash River watershed is known as the Lakes District. Seven lakes of tectonic or volcano-tectonic origin occur in this district. From south to north they are L. Chamo, Abaya, Awassa, Shala, Abjata, Langano, and Zway .One of the routes from Addis Abeba, the capital, to the Lakes District is with in this rift valley, running SSW from Mojo for 700 km to the Kenyan border.

The Lakes District is bounded on the East by the Arsi-Bale massifs and in the west by the Shewan plateau. The region is hot and dry with an annual rainfall of 1000mm.The area is densely populated and completely deforested.

As the Zway-Shala and Awassa lake basins are all closed the rivers in the area flow into the lakes. Though L, Shala and Awassa have no out lets, L. Awassa must be losing water by underground seepage.

Lake Zeway is a slightly alkaline lake in the central section of the Ethiopian Great Rift Valley. It lies to the east of Zeway town, 160 km south-west. The lake is 29 km long and 20 km wide, with a maximum depth of 8 m (mean c.2.5 m), and a seasonal variance of 0.5–1.2 m. Within 10 km to the east and west of the lake are higher faulted ridges. To the north, the land rises gently to 1,670 m where it meets the watershed of the Awash river and Koka dam reservoir.

There are several islands, some inhabited, the largest probably for 1,000 years and supporting an Orthodox Christian community. The Zay are a small ethnic group of about 5,000 people in the country They are also known as the Zeway or Laki.(Rower). They live on the islands of Ziway, south of Addis, and engage mainly in fishing. The Zay language belongs to the Southern branch of the Ethiopian Semetic language family and is closely related to the languages spoken by the neighboring Gurage ethnic group. The language is one of the extinct Semitic languages of Ethiopia. We will make a 3hours round boat trip to the island to visit the Zay community to explore, Language and culture and the Church on the island.

Geologically, the area is flooded by thick lacustrine sediments underlain by older ignimbrites and basalts. Recent volcanic centers are abundant. The evidence of lake terraces shows that in the recent past the lakes were once more extensive than at present, and indeed were once joined together as Abaya-Chamo basin to the south, and Zway –Shala and Awassa basin to the north .It was assumed that these major basins were separated as a result of late Pleistocene (<1myear) earth movements which involved different systems of faulting and/or drier climates.

Caving in Ethiopia

The Sof Omar cave system, in Bale region is one of the most spectacular and extensive underground caves in the world. Formed by the Wybe River as it changed its source in the distant past and carved a new channel through limestone foothills, the 16 kilometer cave system is an extraordinary natural phenomenon of Ethiopia has. The dry, cool cave contains many marvels of natural architecture, including pillars of stone 20 miters high, fluted archways, and tall airy vaults. The river itself is reached flowing through deep gorge. Anyone can explore the caves on foot, without special climbing equipments with proper precautions have been taken. Torches or other lightings are needed and a map or an experienced guide is a must. The most direct route thorough the first part of the caves takes about an hour.

The large central hall of the Sof Omar cave having pillars of limestone is the most dominant feature of the natural cave system.

Sof Omar Natural Cave

An incredible experience in the largest cave system of the world.

The cave system of at sof Omar, formed by the Weyb river as it goes underground, is said to be the biggest in the Africa and one of the biggest in the World. Its passage extends for a total of 16 Km, although the route normally takes by visitor covers1.7 Km and can be covered in an hour. 

Local people worshipped animist deities and spirits there long before the arrival of Islam, and traces of these influences and beliefs persist till today in various ceremonies and sacrifices carried out around the cave entrances.

The cave is located above the entrance to the caves 120Km from Goba . On the area more than 501 specious of birds have been recorded.

One of the most striking features of the cave system is the chamber of columns, where limestone pillars soar up to 20 meters as in some ancient temples.

Another is the great dome, where the roof is 50 meters high. Generally, the shapes and color of the rocks, the magnificent pillars and sound of the river as it makes its way through the subterranean passages makes the trip a special and unique experience.

Sheikh Hussein

The greatest Muslim pilgrimage in Bale. Situated 180Km from robe at tourist attractions of bale mountains national park and sof Omar cave in the area.

There are two pilgrimage a year (dates are according to the Islamic calendar)

On 9^th and 10^th Duhu Hijjah, or Eid Al_Arafa, and the 14^th and 15^th of of Jimad al-thani. The next pilgrimage will take place on 22 February.

 

DISCOVER THE TRUE WONDER, Ethiopia

Rock Architectural in the ancient Abyssinia:-
Ethiopia is a country where majority of unique architecture on solid rocks are found some of them are registered as world heritage site by UNESCO. To site, but a few the giant steles of Axum, the famous hewn churches of Lallibela “Africa Petra” the rock hewn churches of central and eastern Tigray
The purpose of this article is actually to give few remarks of the architecture and type of Rock Churches in Ethiopia.
1. Rock- hewn Monolithic churches which seems built up structure but out from one piece of giant rock and purely separated from it in all sides by French. This makes it unique and nowhere else in the rest of the world. The famous bête giyorgis at Lalibela is a single reference.
2. Semi-Monolithic – rock hewn churches which are cut from the big rock where the entrance is curved as a vertical cliff Abreha- Weatsbeha at tigray Aba libanos at Lalibela are example of this architectural Style.
3. Built up Cave Churches: – these all ordinary structures inside a Natural rock Cave Yimrihane chirstos which is found 60KmNorth east of Lalibela is one of the best built up Cave Churches. Regarding who how and how many peoples participated sufficient archaeological research details are required prior to the accurate theories. However visible technical details :- heavily drainage, the side of roof proportional Supporting internal and external pillars with the Arches uniquely designed doors and windows this all prove that the knowledge and Architectural advancement of Ethiopians.

Rafting

White water rafting is a highly popular activity enjoyed on all continents. Ethiopia’s river especially Omo River, Awash and Blue Nile have played an important role in this international sport.  Sprinted rapids, side cracks and waterfalls sheer canyons and gorges hot springs abundant wild life and the exotic local culture together make the Omo River one of the world’s best river adventure. River trips are also organized on the Awash with short but equally demanding rafting conditions and other more adventures are organized on Blue Nile especially at September to early November.

MURSI

The Mursi number about 5,000 and are primarily pastoralists categorized in the Nilo-Saharan language family. Some practice flood retreat cultivation by the Omo River, an area where tsetse infestation prevents livestock husbandry. They collect honey fro heir stick fights.

In her early twenties, an unmarried woman’s lower lip will be pierced and then progressively stretched over the period of a year. A clay disc indented like a pulley wheel is squeezed into the hole in the lip. As it stretches, ever-larger discs are forced in until the lip, now a loop, is so long it can sometimes be pulled right over the owner’s head. The size of the lip plate determines the bride price, with a large one bringing in fifty head of cattle.  The women make the lip plates from clay, colour them with ochre and charcoal, and bake them in a fire.  

 

Stick fighting or “donga”:  At a fight, each contestant is armed with a hardwood pole about six feet long with a weight of just less than two pounds. In the attacking position, this pole is gripped at it’s base with both hands – the left above the right, in order to give maximum swing and leverage. Each player beats his opponent with his stick as many times as possible with the intention of knocking him down and eliminating him from the game. Players are usually unmarried men. The winner is carried away on a platform of poles to a group of girls waiting at the side of the arena, who decide among themselves which of them will ask for his hand in marriage. Taking part in a stick fight is considered to be more important than winning it. The men paint their bodies with a mixture of chalk and water before the fight. contact us at info@gloryethiopiatravel.com