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 […]
Schlagwort: photography
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 […]
Addis Ababa
Today, Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa is one of the fastest growing cities on earth with around 4.5 to 5 Million inhabitants. It has been Emperor Menelik II who had founded Addis Ababa in 1889 and made it the capital by moving from nearby Entoto hill down to the plains. But it was only after the […]
Ethiopia from above – Äthiopien von oben
With more than a hundred Million inhabitants in a country of 1.1 Million square kilometres in size, Ethiopia is one of the most populous countries on the continent, and since Eritrea gained its independence in 1993, it is the most populous landlocked state on the planet. Great parts of Ethiopia are highland over 2.000 m […]
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