Northern Ethiopia - Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland - page 222

GHERALTA CLUSTER
The Gheralta cluster is home to the most famous, most visited and simply the most (about
30) rock-hewn churches. Since it gets by far the most visitors, there are more reports of
hassles: see the boxed text, Click here . It's the improbably high and remote locations as
much as the churches themselves that provide the attraction and visitors must be properly
fit to reach many of them. There's no public transport, and little traffic at all, between
Wukro and Megab, where most of the churches lie. The exception is on Wednesday, mar-
ket day, when two buses leave Wukro for Hawzien (Birr21, two hours) in the morning and
return (completely full, so you can't rely on them stopping to pick you up) in the after-
noon. Gheralta Lodge hires 4WDs and there are some people with motorcycles in Hawzi-
en and Megab who charge around Birr500 per day to drive you, depending on the dis-
tance. Ask for them at your hotel, the bus station or the guide office.
In addition to those below, other churches of note in this cluster include Giyorgis
Debre Mahar Offline map (admission Birr50) , Mikael Minda'e Offline map (admission
Birr50) and Tekla Haimanot Hawzien Offline map . The latter is just on the edge of
Hawzien town, but as only the maqdas is hewn into the rock it's not too interesting.

Abuna Yemata Guh
Offline map
Although less impressive architecturally than most, this church is among the most reward-
ing. It's spectacularly located within a cliff face, halfway up a sheer rock pinnacle 4km
west of Megab. The first 45 minutes of the climb is mildly challenging, with a couple of
tricky sheer sections requiring toehold action. The last two minutes require nerves of steel.
Even if you can't make the final scramble and precarious ledge walk over a 200m drop,
it's still worth getting that far as the views from the baptism chamber are astounding. In-
side are beautiful and well-preserved frescoes that adorn two cupolas, while the bones of
monks from the open-air tombs lie around.

CHURCH

Maryam Korkor
Offline map
Although an unsightly green from the outside, this impressive, cross-shaped church is
known for its architectural features (cruciform pillars, arches and cupolas), fine 17th-cen-
tury frescoes and church treasures. It's also one of the largest churches in the area. The
path begins around 1km from the road just southeast of Megab and involves a fairly steep
one-hour ascent. Just a couple of minutes' walk from Maryam Korkor is the seldom-used

CHURCH