With more than half a million residents, modern Dessie is one of the biggest cities in Ethiopia. The town is set at an altitude of 2.600 m at the foot of local Mount Tossa right at the north-south link between Adigrat, Mekele, Weldiya, Dessie and Addis Ababa. Around Dessie, the ancient trading routes of the […]
Kategorie: photography
Genna – Christmas at Lalibela – Weihnachten in Lalibela
Genna (or Lidet) is the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas that is celebrated on January 7th, according to the Julian calendar used by the Ethiopians. In leap years, the celebration is shifted for one day. But not in Lalibela where Genna has a special significance. Legend has it that king Lalibela had been born on the same […]
Lalibela – Jerusalem in Africa – Jerusalem in Afrika
It was the village of Roha on an altitude of 2.630 m in the remote Lasta highland at the foot of 4.190 m high Mount Abune Yosef, that king Lalibela had chosen after a change of power at the end of the Aksumite rule to have his nowadays world famous rock-hewn churches being built. The […]
Lasta highland (A pilgrim’s journey to Lalibela) – Das Lasta-Bergland (Pilgerfahrt nach Lalibela)
Lasta is an ancient district in the northern parts of Ethiopia’s central highland. The highland surrounds Lalibela and reaches more than 4.000 m in altitude. In lower altitudes, the people grow Teff, maize and vegetables, but the barren plateaus are dominated by barley and livestock. They breed everything up there, from goats to cattle, from […]
Tigray & Mekele
The bizarre mountain landscape of Tigray is characterised and has been formed and shaped by the sheer tectonic forces of the Rift Valley, that starts in the neighbouring Danakil depression in the east. Coming from this starting point, the Horn of Africa, and East Africa in general are breaking off the continent. West to the […]
Aksum
Aksum is located at 2.130 m above sea level in the far north of Ethiopia near the border to Eritrea, and it is the oldest continuously inhabited place south of the Sahara Desert with today around 60.000 inhabitants. That the town has been the capital of the empire of Queen Sheba as early as 1.000 […]
Simien mountains – Die Simien-Berge
The Simien mountains (Semen = Amharic for north) in northwest Ethiopia, north of Gondar, is the highest part of the country, including peaks of 4.000 m or more in altitude as well as the highest mountain, Ras Dejen, with 4.533 m. That makes the Simien mountains the “Roof of Africa”. One landmark of the mountains […]
Gondar – City of palaces – Die Stadt der Paläste
The important imperial city of the 17th and the 18th centuries, Gondar, is a nice mixture of a modern-day town and its historic remains, among them the most famous palace area Gemp. Today’s Gondar has 600.000+ inhabitants and is located at 2.300 m in altitude near the Simien mountains and northeast of Lake Tana. Because […]
Tis Issat – Die Fälle des Blauen Nils – Blue Nile Falls
Southeast of Bahir Dar, the 400 m wide water masses of the Blue Nile plunge down a 45 m high cliff. Due to the construction of a waterpower station upstream, there are strong fluctuations of the water level, even though the power station became less important after the construction of another one at Beles river. […]
Bahir Dar & Lake Tana – Bahir Dar & Der Tanasee
The region around Bahir Dar (1.880m) at Lake Tana in Ethiopia´s northeast is referred to as “Tuscany of Ethiopia” because of the warm climate as well as its idyllic location at the southern end of the country’s largest lake. More than half a million people are living in Bahir Dar today, making their living with […]
docugrAfrica 