Debra Damo

[tomcat]

After living in an eastern Ethiopian village for an academic year, Peace Corps assigned me to travel north to Makelle, Tigre province to teach in a summer program there. Two friends and I decided to add a bit of adventure on on our way: a visit to an Ethiopian monastery named Debra Damo. It is situated on top of a mesa about 5 kilometers from the main road through Tigre Province. A provincial bus made an unscheduled stop (the only kind at that time) for us and we trekked across a semi-arid savannah under the afternoon sun to reach the base of the flat-top mountain (amba in Amharic). There we were told that the only way up the steep side was climbing with a goat skin rope attached around the waist to reach a hollowed out structure that would allow us to climb the rest of the way on foot.


This pic^ shows a thick climbing rope, unavailable when we attempted the climb. We had only a goat skin rope to pull ourselves up. Another goat skin rope was used as a safety in the event of a slip. It was anchored to a 50-pound monk who would have easily been yanked out by my (then) 160 pound frame. My friends and I discussed the relative safety of this adventure, but were persuaded to climb when informed by the line of monks behind us that those who stayed over night on the stony ground at the base might be attacked by hyenas. Up we went. No shoes allowed on the ascent as this is holy ground. So, our feet had to use the carved footholds for extra leverage. Painful.



At the top, we were shown around the structure that housed the holy icons. My kodak instamatic wasn't up to the task of clearly showing all the ancient artwork. Apparently, these monks allowed the icons (perhaps for a larger donation) to be moved outside for pictures.




After a brief tour of the mesa, we stopped at the step-down well for a refreshing sip of highly mineralized water.



We retired early (reed mats on a stone floor) in our guest hut as we had to leave just before dawn to have a chance of reaching the main road before a bus (any bus going north) that would take us to Makelle.

Notes: We had all been intensively trained in Amharic, but were in a Tigrinya-speaking area. Fortunately, some of the younger monks had been to government schools where Amharic is required. We enjoyed a goat stew (only male animals hauled up to the mesa top) with injerra for dinner...and also for breakfast. The monks were very hospitable as their last visitors had been years before when a Japanese camera crew arrived in a helicopter.

These pics recently surfaced on my FB page...otherwise there would exist no record of this suburban youth having an adventure.

[DrWilly]

That’s really cool, thanks for sharing. How long ago was this?

[tomcat]

How long ago was this?

...1969...

[david44]

great stuff did it survive the many conlicts?

LOTS OF TEFFLOURS HERE

[BLD]

Just when I thought teakdoor was fucked beyond repair, tomcat pulls an amazing thread out of the ole wazoo. Nice one TC

[tomcat]

great stuff did it survive the many conflicts?

...yes, indeed...there's a reason the monastery was built atop a mesa...