Gondar and Bahar Dar, Ethiopia
Written by Robert WilsonLast updated 2005-05-29 04:38:41
Because I wanted to arrange these travel log according to historical chronology, I started with my visit to Axum, then wrote about my visit to Lalibela. Lalibela was the capitol of the Zagwe dynasty, which ended in 1270. After that the capitols of Ethiopia were mostly camps that moved about. It was not until the 1630?s that a permanent capitol was established at Gondar.
The era after the fall of the Zagwe dynasty, corresponding with the middle ages in Europe, was quite well documented. Literature in Ge'ez flourished at this time. It was in the 1300's that the Kebra Negast, Ge'ez for "Glory of the Kings," was written. Up to that time a number of stories and legends had been floating around about Solomon and some of the early, legendary kings. The Kebra Negast became the officially accepted version of events and many Ethiopians take it to be the truth. The origins and the author of the book remain a mystery, and it may have been intended that way.
In the late 1400?s an embassy from Portugal arrived in Ethiopia. The chaplain of the embassy, Francisco Alverez, later published his observations, many of which are corroborated by other sources and seem free of sensationalism. He records the existence of a very powerful and vast empire, ruled by an emperor who was unquestionable due to his decent from Solomon. Each emperor was crowned in Axum, but otherwise there had been no capitol since the time of the Zagwe dynasty. Instead, the emperor and his court moved about from one part of the kingdom to another, rarely staying for more than one year. Thus the "Capitol" was more of a huge, mobile camp complete with tents used as palaces, barracks, a court of justice, churches, a prison, a treasury, etc. The princes and lords governed over the provinces and were directly answerable to the emperor. The princes, lords and vassal kings provided for the army, thus the emperor did not spend much in times of war. Despite the prosperity of Ethiopia at the time, which amazed Alverez, there was no currency except bars of salt. Alverez recorded that the church was highly autonomous, and held lands with villages that paid taxes solely to the church rather than a prince or lord. In addition, the church received lavish donations from the emperor. He noted that wherever he went, at least 3 - 5 churches or monasteries were visible and they had a large population of priests, monks and deacons.
Alverez could not have known that he was witnessing the last days of the medieval empire. A few years later, the Sultan of the Muslim state of Adal became independent of Ethiopia and declared a jihad to Islamize Ethiopia once and for all. The result was a catastrophic 25-year Muslim-Christian war. The armies of Adal destroyed churches and monasteries and burned manuscripts and books where ever they went. Many Ethiopians were forcibly converted. After more than 25 years of devastation, the Ethiopians, with help from the Portuguese, finally took Adal and, hungry for revenge left it in ruins and killed the Sultan. But the end of the Muslim-Christian war began another war. Along with Portuguese soldiers, several Jesuit priests came on a secret mission to convert Ethiopia to the Catholic church. They succeeded in converting the emperor who tried to forcibly impose the faith on the rest of the country. This led to a bloody civil war which ended in victory for the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The Jesuits were executed and all Europeans were banned for 130 years, thus isolating Ethiopia from Europe just as the renascence was starting.
With the carnage over, a period of stability, albeit in isolation, followed and a permanent capitol was established at Gondar in 1636. Ethiopian art, literature and monastic life were revived and Gondar became recognized as a great capitol. All this fell apart in 1755 with the death of a king who left no clear heir and disputes over the throne began. The Ethiopian capitol soon left Gondar and eventually ended up in Addis Ababa.
The day after my stopover in Shire, I took the 12-hour bus ride to Gondar, which passes through some of the most spectacular scenery in Ethiopia. It didn't start out that way, it first passed through windswept planes with fields growing the native grain, teff. Along the way we passed the shells of old tanks and artillery guns, reminders of a less pleasant past, though their advanced state of decay says a lot about how far the country has come. Along the way we passed through several towns and villages, allowing me a glimpse into a typical day in some typical towns in Ethiopia. If there is one material I have come to despise its corrugated iron, specifically on roofs. Many buildings all over the world have been cleansed of all charm by corrugated iron roofs. But it's not hard to see why they are so popular. In every town we passed through, and often along the road far from any towns, people (usually women) were carrying water from the local well. Sometimes this was with the aid of mules and usually the water was stored in plastic gas canisters. Occasionally I saw someone with a huge clay pot strapped to their back. These were about 2 feet high and shaped like huge Ethiopian coffee pots which have a large, spherical body, a spout, a handle and a long, very thin neck. The quaintness of this method of carrying water was totally lost on me as I tried to imagine how heavy they must be! In the rainy season, there is no need to carry water because it can be collected in barrels set under the edge of the corrugated iron roof. So can you blame them for sacrificing the charm of thatched roofs for ugly corrugated iron?
In the towns houses are made from stone and mortar and sometimes have painted stucco over them, much like in Axum (this is still Tigray province.) They usually have a rectangular building for the people and several round buildings for keeping animals, with a stone wall around the entire compound. Ping-Pong and table hockey, along with the occasional pool table, are often seen under trees by the road and have a crowd of local youth around them. Otherwise life seemed to go on as usual as people walked with their cattle, mules or camels, washed their cloths and gathered water at the well or communal faucet, sat in the shade talking, poured teff flower onto metal trays over wood fires to make injera bread, etc. Not much work was done in the fields that time of year. One thing that always surprised me was the position in which the people seem most comfortable while walking. Most Amharic and Tigray people carry a staff they call a "dula" and will never start on a long walking journey without it. As the walk (or rest under a tree) they place the center of the dula on the back of their necks and will place their arms behind them over the dula. It looks incredibly uncomfortable yet they seem perfectly at ease with it.
The scenery started taking a turn for the spectacular as the Simien mountains came into view. They're the highest mountains in Ethiopia, the highest being 4620 meters, or about 15,000 feet. At one point we suddenly descended, very slowly, into a deep canyon. At the bottom was a rocky gorge with a river that would have been quite spectacular in the wet season. After that we ascended, even more slowly, to the town of Adi Arkey. We stopped there for lunch. Stepping off the bus I realized how cool it was and how darned hot it was in the bus. But Ethiopians will not open the windows! They firmly believe that the air flow will make them sick. Thus, Ethiopian busses are ovens on wheels.
After leaving Adi Arkey we passed into Amharic territory and again descended into a huge canyon. Mile after mile the scenery became more and more stunning. It blows my mind to think about what this place must be like in the wet season and immediately afterward when it is all a deep emerald green. Did I mention that Ethiopia is not a desert? After a few hours of breathtaking views from the oven door... er, bus window, we slowly claimed to Debark, a town that makes Mordor from Lord of the Rings look inviting. As we left that dreary town the scenery changed completely. We were now in a landscape dominated by plains and gently rolling hills. It was evening, and a very peaceful one as the light became less harsh and shepherds with crooked staffs were leading their sheep home. Arrival in Gondar (not from Lord of the Rings) was a bit of a shock. Bus stations are the worst places for the 1% of Ethiopians that drive you crazy. As I got off the bus a swarm of touts came out of nowhere, wanting to know where I was going. When I said the Faisal hotel they insisted that it was full, run down, infested with bugs, etc. Even when I got in a taxi 3 of them hopped in and kept arguing that I should go to their hotel. The Faissal was neither full, run down, nor infested with bugs.
Gondar, known as "Africa's Camelot," is not filled with attractions, but what it has is certainly impressive. Gondor was established after a period of instability and decline that followed the incredible destruction of the Muslim-Christian and Jesuit-Orthodox wars. How the emperor decided on Gondar as his capitol is not clear, but there is a legend that states that the Angel Raphael appeared to Emperor Lebna and told to build a capitol in a city that started with the letter "G." A couple of places starting with "G" were tried but without success. Finally the emperor settled on Gondar. A more likely explanation is the fact that three caravan routes converged at Gondar. Emperor Fasilidas built the first castle in the 1630's and several were added on later. It is not clear who built these castles, they seem to be a fascinating mixture of Axumite, Indian, Moorish and Portuguese styles.
Many of the castles really do look like something out of Camelot, the largest of them was built by Fasilidas himself. His successors also built great castles and palaces until the place came to cover 75,000 square meters (240,000 square feet.) The most attractive of the palaces was built by the wife of Emperor Bakaffa. That palace has a number of attractive windows and false windows with Ethiopian crosses over them. To the rear of it is the building that served as the library. Today it is the Gondor public library and a number of people were seated outside reading. I spent plenty of time sitting in a shaded doorway looking out at the complex and savoring every molecule of the cool, dry breeze after 1 1/2 years in hot, humid Thailand. Along with the many palaces there were banquet halls, stables and other buildings making in almost a city within a city.
As for the city of Gondar it's self, it could not have been more different from Axum. Axum feels like a rural town that just happens to sit upon the center of an ancient civilization, and could have been any other rural town were in not for what lay under the ground. Gondar had a different feel. I can't entirely put by finger on it, but there is a certain sophistication to the city that give the feeling of faded glory rather than glory lying almost entirely under the ground. There were many bookshops, art galleries and a certain cultural vibrancy that was totally missing in Axum. Where the people of Gondar seem to be inheritors of a once illustrious capitol, the people of Axum seem to be as surprised and baffled by what's been discovered in their town as anyone else. To this day Gondar has more than it's share of writers, poets and artists. An 18th century poet once wrote, "Gondar, which emulated the City of David, the land of Salim! She will be a myth unto eternity!"
At the same time, the taxi that took me to the Debre Berhan Salassie church had to stop frequently for mules loaded with firewood, camels and sheep, but rarely other cars. The church, whose name means "Light of the Trinity", looks quite modest on the outside. Pillars of stone and mortar, walls of mud and straw, and a thatched roof inspires at best the word "quaint." But inside, the artwork that covers most of the interior tends to inspire more refined adjectives. If the outside is a masterpiece in charming simplicity, the inside is a masterpiece period. Paintings depict the exploits of the saints, Mary and Jesus, Ethiopian Emperors, a depiction of Hell, and, having been painted shortly after the Muslim Christian wars and an invasion by Sudanese Dervishes, a mural of Mohammed on a camel being led by Satan. Over the Holy of Holies is a painting of the crucifixion. Above that, and dominating the whole place is the trinity. The trinity is often depicted in Ethiopian art as three elderly, white haired men all with the exact same expression and holding shiny spheres in their right hand while the thumb and forefinger of their left hands point upward. What impresses visitors the most, however, is the ceiling where 88 Ethiopian angels (with just heads and wings) are painted, all with slightly different expressions.
From Gondar it was another bus ride to Bahar Dar, which sits on lake Tana, the source of the Nile. It was the same distance but flat, so it was a 4-hour journey instead of 12. I was lucky to get to the bus station in time as Ethiopia has a funny 6-hour clock that causes no end of confusion. Ethiopia also adopted the Julian calander. Ethiopia has 13 months in it's year, thus the Tourism Commission's slogan, "Ethiopia: 13 months of sunshine" (now, is that really the best slogan for a country trying to shed it's image is a famine-prone desert?) They are also 7 years behind the western calendar, so when I visited it was the year 1994 (New year comes in September.) Thus the other slogan of the Tourism Commission, "Visit Ethiopia and be 7 years younger." Of course, I was coming from Thailand where the year was 2545 of the Budhdist Era, so I got to be 551 years younger! I sure felt old coming back.
Besides being the source of the Nile, Lake Tana is famous for it's many islands on which are ancient monasteries. They are especially rich in culture because many ancient art treasures and other artifacts (including the Arc) were kept in the island monasteries during the Muslim-Christian wars, from which the islands were spared. Many were left there when the churches they belonged to were destroyed. One monastery has the mummified remains of 5 emperors. I consider myself rather lucky to have missed that one. The Ghion told me that there would be a group tour of Lake Tana at 1:00 the next day. Of course, they didn't have the people they claimed to so I waited while the sent someone out to pester some tourists to death to join. No one did, so I only went to one island.
It was, however, the one that most people consider the best and usually not included on the half-day tours. Called Kabran Gabriel the church had an exterior that, like the cathedral in Gondar though a bit more impressive, masked the grandeur inside. The building was oval shaped and on the inside there was another wall, also oval shaped, that concealed the Holy of Holies. In the space between the two walls, 12 columns reach up toward the very high ceiling, ending in graceful arches before they reach it. Both the interior of the outer wall and the exterior of the inner wall were lavishly painted. One of the more famous paintings was of Jesus and Satan below. Another shows a one-legged saint with three wings and the other leg with one set of wings. It is said that he prayed for 7 years while standing on one leg until it fell off. God gave him three sets of wings to reward his devotion. As in many churches, a red curtain guards the Holy of Holies, which only the priest may enter.
The priest spoke impeccable English and was quite friendly, not at all the starry-eyed mystic one would expect to find on an island monastery (though the other monks seemed to fit that description.) He showed me to his small dwelling which is guarded by a wooden pole. One by one he brought out the treasures that have been kept here for centuries. Among them were illuminated manuscripts from the 1300's that were moved there during the Muslim-Christian wars, a number of Ethiopian crosses which, like all Ethiopian crosses, we so decorative they hardly suggested a cross. He brought out a 600 year old cross with the life of Jesus painted on one side and the crufixion on the other, various wooden crosses that opened into paintings, crowns worn by deacons and even a couple of Emperors and several works of art, many dating back hundreds of years. Ethiopian artists are very fond of flat, wooden squares with various motifs carved into them that have tiny "doors" which open to reveal paintings. This keeps many of the painting looking new for many years, even centuries. All these were kept in his tiny dwelling.
The last leg of my trip took me to Lalibela, which I?ve already written about. After that it was back to Addis Ababa and the next day back to Thailand. On the way I got an unexpected glimpse at one more country: we had a layover in the neighboring Republic of Djibouti. As we passed over Djibouti Town, the one major city in the tiny country, it looked like a rather bleak place, though I hear there are better parts of the town. The area around the airport was desert, though the quicksand pits just across the fence from the runway was an interesting touch. From Djibouti it was back to Thailand, from one world to another in 8 hours.
If I have painted an accurate picture of Ethiopia, then I have painted an image that is very different from a desert filled with starving, fighting nomads. One of the world?s poorest nations is a land with a cultural richness that is hard to fathom. And it can afford the luxury of being greedy with that richness. Other tourists I talked to who had been all over Africa all agreed on one thing- that Ethiopia is unlike any other place in Africa and unlike any place in the world. Years of isolation have made the only country in Africa to successfully resist colonization a place unlike any other on the face of the earth. It is a place that is not easily forgotten.
Did I mention that it's not a desert?
