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Michael Lewis Photo Workshop
January 9th – 19th, 2006
Land Cost $3,500; Single Supplement $250
Day 1 - Addis Ababa
You arrive Addis Ababa about 8:30pm and transfer to the Sheraton Hotel. We'll have a late dinner and turn in early for a busy next day.
As you may know, we are visiting during Timkat, The Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s celebration of Epiphany, the baptism of Christ. This significant religious holiday is observed with the same fervor as Christmas in the Western world. We will observe and be part of many celebrations leading up to the festive day in every town we visit.
We spend much of our workshop time discussing the photography of people and architecture.
Sheraton Hotel - B & D
Days 2 & 3 - Bahir Dar
We will transfer to the airport for the flight to Bahir Dar. Bahir Dar is an attractive town, well laid out with tree lined avenues and with the blue of the lake in the background.
On arrival, we’ll check into the Tana Hotel, situated on the shores of Lake Tana, headwaters of the Blue Nile. 68 km wide and 73 km long, Tana is Ethiopia’s largest lake and is dotted with islands. There have been many churches and monasteries found on the island.
We’ll have lunch in the hotel and then leave by boat for the Zeghie Peninsula, which is known for its 14th century, round, grass roofed churches and their magnificent wall murals. We’ll visit two churches, Betra Mariam and Ura Kidane Mehret, walking through dense forest with lots of bird life, before returning to our hotel.
Bahir Dar has several clubs and bars where visitors can see traditional and modern Ethiopian music and dancing, and is also quite safe for wandering around at night.
On our second day, we’ll take an early morning excursion to the Blue Nile Falls, some 30 km from the town. A 20 minute walk brings us to the falls themselves, which are at their most spectacular during and after the rainy season (from about June to January). Here the Blue Nile, which contributes 85% of the main Nile flow, starts its long journey to the Mediterranean.
We return to Bahir Dar and after lunch in the hotel, explore the town. We visit the palace of Haile Selassie at Bizeit, with great views of the town, and then visit the markets.
Tana Hotel - B, L & D
Day 4 - Gondar
We’ll leave by road for Gondar, a distance of about 180 km or 3 hours’ drive. On arrival at the Goha Hotel, we’ll have lunch and start our city tour. The Goha Hotel is situated on a hill with a panoramic view of the town and monuments, and with great sunsets from the terrace. Occasionally visitors will see the giant Lammergeyer, with its 3 metre wing span, soaring on the air currents by the hotel.
Gondar was the imperial capital from the 17th to mid 19th centuries, and today visitors can see the imperial compound, with castles still in good condition (some recently restored) and the bath of King Fasilides, where at Timkat (Ethiopian Epiphany) a nearby river is diverted to fill an area the size of a small swimming pool. Worshippers plunge into the cold water in a re-enactment of the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.
Although many of Gondar’s churches were destroyed during the Mahdist invasion from Sudan in the 1880s, one very fine example, Debre Berhan Selassie, was saved, according to the legend, by a swarm of bees which routed the invaders. The walls and ceiling are completely covered with murals. We end our tour today with a visit to the ruined palace of Queen Mentowab, and the church of Qusquam.
Goha Hotel - B, L & D
Days 5 & 6– Lalibela
After breakfast, we’ll head to the airport for the flight to Lalibela. At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries King Lalibela of the Zaghwe dynasty built a series of rock hewn churches – the New Jerusalem as he called it – now rightly acknowledged to be one of the wonders of the world. There are 11 churches in the town named after him, with others in the surrounding countryside. All are still in use today.
It is estimated that the churches took 25 years to construct – for the Kingdom based on Roha (later renamed Lalibela) to have kept a large work force engaged in economically unproductive labour for such a long period means that it disposed of a large economic surplus and was very wealthy. The area then was clearly fertile and agriculturally productive, whereas now deforestation and other forms of ecological degradation have made it barren. The area is particularly prone to drought.
The Timkat celebrations will be happening while you are here. We will meet the young man, Kebkab, studying for priesthood, who was featured in, and photographed by Michael Lewis in the National Geographic book and television series, “Africa”. You will have an incredible photographic experience while viewing the procession and water splashing.
After checking into the Roha Hotel, we will start our tour of the first group of churches, returning to the hotel for lunch, and continuing the tour in the afternoon.
The Roha hotel frequently arranges cultural music and dancing with dinner.
The next morning we set off after breakfast on mule or on foot to the church of Ashetun Mariam, about 4 hours round trip. There are wonderful views from the top of the mountain where the church is located. If visitors prefer a shorter journey, we can go a shorter distance to the cave church of Neakuto Leab.
Roha Hotel - B, L & D
Days 7 & 8 - Axum
We have an early flight to Axum. From around 200 BC to 700 AD, Axum was the seat of an Empire which extended across the Red Sea to Arabia, traded with India and China, had its own alphabet and notational system, constructed great engineering works and dams and which was reckoned in the 4th century to be one of the four great powers of the ancient world. Today the visitor can see stelae (the largest single pieces of stone erected anywhere on the world, it is still not understood how they were transported from the quarry and erected), the tombs and castles of kings, Axum Museum and Mariamtsion Church, built on the site of Ethiopia’s first church. A chapel within the church compound is believed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to house the Ark of the Covenant, or the original tablets of Moses (see Graham Hancock’s The Sign and the Seal).
On arrival we’ll check into the Yeha Hotel, situated on a hill overlooking the stellae and Mariamtsion Church. We start our tour after lunch with a visit to the museum and stellae, and then ascend a hill to see the castle of King Kalab. Coming back into town we will see the tomb of King Basen, visit the small museum inside the church grounds (women are not allowed inside, nor into the 17th century church, but the priests usually bring out some crowns of kings for women visitors to see), and end the day with a visit to the site known locally as Queen Sheba’s Palace, although in fact it is of a later date, the villa of an Axumite notable from around the 1st century AD.
The next day, we finish off any sites we might have missed the day before, and then set off on the 55 km trip to Yeha, Ethiopia’s first city – settlement in the area dates back more than 2800 years. There are the remains of a temple dedicated to Ilmuqeh, the moon god, and next to the temple is the church of Abune Aftse, one of the “9 saints” who did much to spread Christianity in Ethiopia.
Some 5 km out of Axum on the road east we come to the top of a hill and are confronted with the dramatic mountain backdrop of the “teeth of Adua” – the striking scenery around the area where in 1896 King Menelik II defeated the invading Italian forces. We can probably take better photos later in the day on our return, with the sun behind us.
We will have a picnic lunch in Yeha, returning to Axum late afternoon.
Yeha Hotel - B, L & D
Days 9 & 10- Addis Ababa
We catch a morning flight back to Addis Ababa. We will begin with a city tour. We first drive north up to Mount Entoto. In 1881 Emperor Menelik II made his permanent camp there, after remains of an old town (believed to have been the capital of 16th century monarch Lebna Dengel) were discovered, which Menelik took was a divine and auspicious sign. Addis Ababa at between 2300 - 2500 meters is the third highest capital in the world and Entoto is several hundred meters higher - as we drive up the hill there is an appreciable drop in temperature and the air is filled with the scent of the Eucalyptus trees which line the road.
From the top, there is a panoramic view of the capital and surrounding countryside. Entoto is an important watershed; to the north, water flows to the Blue Nile, to the south to the Awash River. Your guide will point out the important landmarks of the city.
Entoto was soon abandoned as a site for the capital - it was cold, difficult to provision and there was a shortage of wood. Empress Taytu was said to have led the move down to the plain of Finfine, and to have named the new capital Addis Ababa, or New Flower. However, two important structures remain within the old imperial compound on Entoto, the churches of Mariam and the Archangel Raguel. It was in the church of Mariam that Menelik was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1889, and in the small museum in the compound there are various clothes, court and household implements and weapons dating from the period. The church of Raguel is unusual in that it is octagonal, rather than round. There is a first story balustrade around which Menelik liked to stroll.
Leaving the churches we descend to Addis Ababa, stopping off at the National Archaeological Museum. Here visitors can see exhibits ranging from the 3.5 million-year-old bones of Lucy, from the Axumite and Gondarene periods through to the period of the monarchs Tewodros and Menelik II.
Timkat celebrations will be surrounding us. We will visit and observe the festive celebrations around town. We have the afternoon free to do any last minute shopping. Our guide can take us to the best places for basketry, jewelry and coffee. We have an early dinner before we head towards the airport for your late evening departure.
Sheraton Hotel - B, L & D
Before You Go to Ethiopia
Booking Info
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