Ethiopia - 2014

Around Tigray, there are hundreds of churches cut in to rock. We only visited 3, and each felt very different. This is Medhane Alem Kesho in the cluster of churches called Takatisfi.

A priest unlocks the door to the main church chamer at Medhane Alem Kesho, Tigray.

Believed to be the largest single piece of stone that humans ever attempted to erect, the Great Stele apparently never quite made it. Somewhere in the 4th century, while being put in to place, it seems it came crashing down and caused the collapse of other nearby monuments and tombs. Quite spectacular, I'm sure.

Reputedly over 1,000 years old, this bible was on display in St Mary of Zion Old Church in Aksum.

Most of us have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark with Indiana Jones and the Nazis digging lots of holes in the sands of Egypt. Well, most Ethiopians believe that the Ark of the Covenant has resided in Ethiopia since about one or two generations after the time of Solomon. Whatever they have, it is here, in Aksum. Most people will never get to lay eyes directly on the alleged Ark, although a replica is paraded through the streets at important religious times. The front building is where it is, but the room there is leaking, and the new building at the back will be ready soon. Whether it is the genuine article or not, the mystery and controversy is all part of the charm that is Aksum.

Some of the lovely decorations in one of the churches of Aksum.

This is a restaurant that specialises in tere sega, raw meat. Quite the delicacy, here in Ethiopia, and very tasty with various spices and presentations. We enjoyed kitfo again (raw mince, like steak tartar), and gored gored which was delightfully tender raw cubes lathered in spices.

Gonder

Fasiladas Palace inside the Royal Enclosure of Gonder. It dates from the mid 17th century.

Some of the identified remains of victims killed by the Derg during the Red Terror of the 1970's and 1980's. Also on display were piles of bones from unidentified victims. Somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed or went missing during Mengistu's time as ruler. Yet another place where you can stand and ponder how incomprehensible it is what some people are capable of doing. And again, as we have seen at similar memorials in a number of places around the world remembering victims of various horrible regimes, people write in hope "Never Again!"

A hyena takes a strip of meat off a stick that I hold in my mouth. As night comes, the Hyena Men of Harar call the hyenas in from outside the city. At first, they skulk and dart in the shadows, snatching a few scraps of meat. But eventually, they come up to the man and begin to eat from his hand. I was asked if I wanted to give it a go, and seeing how healthy they looked, and how gentle they were with the man feeding them, I did not hesitate. First a scrap of meat on a stick hand held, and then he gestured for me to hold the stick in my mouth. It was a truly beautiful moment and I never thought I would see such a gentle and careful nature in an animal with such a horrible reputation. She gently grabbed the meat and lifted it off the stick.

There were no claws. I felt the big padded paws as the young hyena climbed on my back to take a piece of meat offered by the Hyena Man. Harar.

Gidir Magala is a market in the old town of Harar. There are a number of butchers in the market, mainly selling goat and camel meat. Kites sit around the market and swoop down whenever there are scraps and offcuts thrown in to the street. Sometimes they swoop at people who are carrying meat!

Kites look down from the walls, waiting for scraps of meat from the butchers. In the foreground, some women take their donkeys for water.

Outside Erer Gate, Harar. About 5 or 6 donkeys were tied to the pole, and the others were then tied to one of those. I'm not sure how anybody identifies their own donkey when they come back out!

A typical scene in one of the warren-like laneways within the walls of Harar's Old Town.