From Axum we travelled east to Hawzen, a town very close to Ethiopia’s northern border and part of the Tigray region. During our few days there, our adventures focused on cliff-top churches, some of which required memorable and sometimes successful ascents. 

Debra Damo Debir Monastery, Ethiopia’s oldest continuously inhabited monastery, can only be reached by climbing a 15 meter-long leather strap hanging beside a vertical cliff face. Women are not allowed to enter the secluded, 6th century monastery, so only Jerry expended energy for this activity. After ascending a ways up the strap, he realized he probably didn’t have the required fitness to reach the top and came back down. 

Nicknamed the Chapel in the Sky, Abuna Yemata Guh Church was carved into the sandstone on a tall cliff face in the Gheralta Mountains. The church, dedicated to one of 9 saints fleeing religious persecution in what is now Europe and Syria, is a special destination for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. The trail was quite crowded on the morning we began our climb. As we progressed, the pathway become steeper, narrower, and more congested with people climbing in both directions. And after our guide Zewdu explained what the trail was like ahead of us (sheer 300-meter cliffs and several 50-centimeter-wide ledges) we told him we weren’t having much fun. And we assured him that we were OK with not reaching the church, named one of the world’s most inaccessible places of worship. 

Our trek to Mariam Papaseti Monastery Church only required a walk across a dry, sandy riverbed. When we arrived at the church we were greeted by several curious children from the local village. Zewdu explained that because of the civil wars no tourists had come to this part of Ethiopia for over 5 years and that we were probably the first white people the children had ever seen. The guardian priest took us inside the cave church to see the cloth paintings of Old and New Testament scenes, some over 200 years old. 

We succeeded in our next hike to a cliff-top church. Accompanied by Zewdu and two local guides, we climbed the steep, rocky passage to reach Debre Maryam Korkor. 

The interior of Debre Maryam Kokor features colorful frescoes dating back to the 17th century. An abandoned nunnery stands adjacent to the church. Only the elderly guardian priest and an aged nun live on the plateau. Upon their deaths they will be buried in the church walls, as were their predecessors.