Dangerous climb to the Church in the Sky
traveled to the Tigray region in Northern Ethiopia to make the dangerous climb to a monastery in the Gheralta mountains, called Abune Yemata Guh. It is one of the most inaccessible and hardest churches to get to
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00:00New destination! Just arrived in Mekelle, which is in northern Ethiopia near Tigray.
00:12This is actually the area that was going through all the conflict. They've been through a lot
00:17and now it's settled down and it's safe to travel to. So there's a place called Garata
00:24and they have these monasteries that are really high up in the rocks. I've been wanting to
00:27do it for a while and so I'm finally having the opportunity.
00:33And we are traveling with World Sun Ethiopia Tours. This is Nagasi. This is our driver.
00:38We have two other solo travelers, Lakshmi and Khadija. They've been traveling backpacking
00:45all over Africa, right? Yeah, that's true. Still friends. Still friends. We have not
00:51heard of each other yet. So we are all going to be traveling together to Abune Yamata.
00:59Abune Yamata is a church high up in the sandstone mountains of Garata. It sits over 8,000 feet
01:05in the air and the only way you can get there is to climb straight up and barefoot.
01:12After breakfast, the plan was to stop by the oldest mosque in Africa and then make our
01:16way to Hauzen, the city right beside the Garata Mountains. And then the next morning,
01:22wake up early and start our trek to the monastery.
01:25So we're going to have a typical Egyptian breakfast. And what is this called? Special
01:32ketchup. Special what? Ketchup. Ketchup is the bread. Ketchup. It's like mixed. Oh, that's
01:41ful. That's ful. That's ful, which are beans. Fava beans, right? Fava beans.
01:56We made a pit stop on the way to buy some kola. Can I see?
02:03They're like smoky, kind of like popcorn seeds. We just bought kola and gugara.
02:09Gugara. Gugara. Gugara. Gugara.
02:15We are about to see the oldest mosque in Africa. They said it got a little bit destroyed from the Tigrayan War.
02:23Al Najashi Mosque was built back in 613 CE in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. According
02:29to some sources, it was one of the first, if not the oldest mosque in Africa. Others
02:34dispute this claim of being the oldest, but I'll stick with what I was told. We're going
02:39to go check it out, though. During the two-year Tigrayan War, which started in 2020, the mosque
02:45was damaged by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, but luckily still stands and is currently
02:50being repaired.
03:04They want to see your house. Oh, in America.
03:35One of the many things I love about Ethiopia is the diverse cultures throughout the country.
03:43Each region has its own uniqueness and distinct traditions.
03:47It's good. It's good. It's like tender.
03:49From the food to the style of dressing, as well as the jewelry and hairstyles, a person
03:54can tell exactly which region someone is from.
03:57The women in the Tigrayan region have their hair braided like this, and then you can see
04:02the silver hoop earring that she has in her ear.
04:06So it has like a really, really cool baby carriage. It's beautiful. I love this.
04:19After a few hours driving, we finally made it to Hauzen, the city right before the Goodalta
04:24Mountains. And as with many parts of Ethiopia, it was lush and green and just beautiful.
04:29We met a farmer who was plowing the land using oxen, and I wanted to try it out.
04:33But somehow I honestly probably caused him more work and trouble than anything.
04:47I'm not a good farmer.
04:49Behind me are the Goodalta Mountains, and tomorrow morning we're going to be climbing
04:53somewhere up in there or somewhere back in here.
04:57It's going to take us about an hour, they said, for us to hike straight up one of those
05:02mountains.
05:04And the views here right now are gorgeous, but it's storming.
05:10All of that is rain.
05:12You can hear the thunder.
05:17So this Goodalta Mountains are a chained mountain, which covers about 48 kilometers.
05:24And we have 30 rock churches in every peak of the mountains.
05:30I had this brainiac idea to try to hurry and fly my drone to the mountains before the storm
05:35came and before it got dark.
05:37Guys, I'm new at flying a drone.
05:39I practiced once in Lalibela, and this was only my second time.
05:43Let's just say my prayers earlier at the mosque didn't include my drone.
05:51I lost my drone!
05:53And I think I hit a tree.
05:54This is what happens when you're new and you fly a drone.
05:58The guys ran off immediately to try to find it, but I flew it one and a half kilometers
06:04before it crashed.
06:06Unfortunately, I flew it really far away, and it's getting night, and it's getting like
06:13it's going to rain.
06:15I don't know what I got myself into.
06:17So I lost the guys.
06:19I have no idea where they went.
06:22I yelled for Nagasi's name, and nobody answered.
06:27So I pray, I pray, I pray that they find it.
06:32I see the car.
06:34We made it back to the car, and we're locked out.
06:40They're back.
06:41Did you find it?
06:43You got it!
06:45Yay!
06:46My heroes!
06:47You got it!
06:48Yay!
06:52Oh my gosh, they have it.
06:54It's even in one piece.
06:56Yay!
06:58It still works!
07:02Good morning!
07:05It's 6.30 in the morning.
07:07We are on our way to Abuna Yamana.
07:11Everyone is dressed in white.
07:13It's a saint day, Saint Gabriel.
07:16That's where we're going.
07:22We woke up extremely early to try to make the climb,
07:24before it became too hot.
07:28So we have an hour hike up the mountain.
07:34There's a couple people that will be there to help us,
07:36and supposedly we'll be putting our hands in holes
07:40and like going like straight up.
07:44I asked if anyone's ever fallen before, and they said no.
07:48So that's a little bit reassuring.
07:52Abuna Yamana
08:03It says it's a holy tree.
08:05Holy tree.
08:07There is a priest who climbs to the top of the mountain
08:09every single morning, to a church carved into the sandstone.
08:13It is said to be one of the most inaccessible places of worship on earth.
08:17It's also said to be a place that brings you closer to God.
08:27So this is the part we take off our shoes now,
08:29and we climb the rest barefoot.
08:30We have about 15 minutes to go.
08:37This way here by using hand grips and foot holders,
08:40by barefoot.
08:42By barefoot.
08:44For those of you who might be wondering,
08:46there is a guy who climbs up first,
08:48bringing a rope for you to be able to use.
08:50Somehow though, I completely missed that.
08:53I didn't get a ton of footage of the actual climb,
08:56but it's one of the scariest things that I've done in a very long time.
09:00The grooves in the rocks are all made by weather over time,
09:03and they're very smooth,
09:04so I never really felt like I had a secure grip,
09:06on top of having a hard time even reaching the holes.
09:09I'm short. Are you sure people see this?
09:12Oh my God.
09:17Once I made it, I felt extremely accomplished.
09:20I attempted to fly my drone again,
09:22despite the earlier crash.
09:24I was told that many people have crashed
09:26and lost their drones forever up here,
09:28because of the wind and the tall rocks.
09:30At one point, birds even started circling my drone,
09:33so I didn't stay up here for too long.
09:35I was a little bit nervous.
09:37The name Abune-Yamata-Ga is derived
09:39from an ancient language called Ge'ez.
09:41Abune means father,
09:43Yamata was one of the nine Syrian saints
09:45that came from the Eastern Byzantine Empire
09:47during the 6th century,
09:49and Ga is the name of the countryside
09:51surrounding the mountains.
09:54After climbing, you then have to walk on a ledge
09:56to get inside the cave church.
09:58All of this climbing and walking on the ledge
10:01is not for the faint of heart,
10:03but just for the faint of heart.
10:06First of all, we would like to say you're well done
10:08and welcome to Geralta.
10:10Geralta is normally the name of the whole
10:12chain of mountains here,
10:14and the word Geralta is a Ge'ez word,
10:16which means a place with lots of up and down hills.
10:19So this church is believed that it has been built
10:21during the 6th century AD.
10:23And when you see the paintings,
10:25they are done by the Ge'ez,
10:27which means the Ge'ez.
10:29The Ge'ez are the ones who built this church.
10:31The Ge'ez are the ones who built this church.
10:33And when you see the paintings,
10:35they are directly painted in the rock.
10:37And the color that they used to paint
10:39is from natural colors.
10:43We found out that the current priest is 35 years old,
10:45and he's been coming up to this church
10:47every morning for the last 8 years.
10:49So as I was telling you there,
10:51it has meaning why they built the church
10:53in the top of the mountain.
10:55The first reason is the ancient people believed that
10:57the top of the mountain is closest to God.
10:59And the second reason is to protect from such enemies.
11:01And the third reason is they want to isolate themselves
11:03from the local people
11:05and get a very quiet area to pray.
11:07Here we have the paintings of the Twelve Apostles.
11:09So here are nine,
11:11and three of them are here.
11:13Peter, Paul, and Thomas are here.
11:15Those are the Twelve Apostles.
11:17The paintings. Here we also have such a very old book.
11:19A book which is dated back
11:21to the 14th century AD.
11:23So this is a book which deals about
11:25a miracle of Virgin Mary.
11:27And it's a book which is made up of
11:29God's skin.
11:33Do you touch it up ever?
11:35Never been touched up?
11:37No, never restored.
11:39Those are the original paintings.
11:41It's well preserved, directly painted in the rock.
11:43The priest,
11:45who has the key of this church,
11:47comes every morning to open the church,
11:49make the incense, and read the book.
11:59Right outside the church,
12:01there is another cave where they baptize people.
12:03So we just have like a jar of water,
12:05which is blessed.
12:07That's how you baptize people.
12:21Then we made our way back down
12:23the same way we went up.
12:29Yes, Zan, how was it?
12:31I did it. It was a little scary.
12:33A little crazy.
12:35But it was amazing up there.
12:37Well done.
12:39Thank you.
12:41Ciao.
12:43After our successful climb,
12:45we headed back to the airport
12:47and stopped at a market along the way.
12:49Today is market day in Hausen,
12:51which is Wednesday.
12:53So everybody comes to trade
12:55and buy the goods for the week.
12:57This man is selling chickens.
12:59They're about 200 berg for one chicken,
13:01which equals about $4.
13:13So here in the market,
13:15they do their measuring by a can.
13:17So you're basically paying per can
13:19for the grains.
13:21So you're basically paying
13:23per can for the grains.
13:25So like this woman,
13:27she's selling Hamza,
13:29which is 50 berg for one can of grains.
13:43Many of the locals wear these
13:45rubber shoes that in some ways
13:47they look like jelly shoes
13:49back in the day,
13:51or now kind of even Crocs.
13:53They're really good
13:55because they're waterproof,
13:57but yet they're sturdy.
13:59So you see people walking through
14:01even the mountains in these shoes.
14:03I was told that this man here
14:05wears his scarf in this particular way
14:07that symbolizes he fought
14:09in the Tigrian War.
14:11We just stopped along the road,
14:13which is a place, I guess,
14:15that is famous for selling the cactus fruit.
14:19She's multitasking.
14:21She's peeling some cactus,
14:23and she's got a baby behind her.
14:25Strong woman.
14:31I'm on my way back to Addis now.
14:33I swear,
14:35Ethiopia never fails to amaze.
14:37I mean,
14:39Guralta was awesome.
14:41Abune Yamase was just so cool.
14:43It was another challenge.