Ethiopia had nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites when Africa.com published a travel guide to them in August 2019, and UNESCO has since added three more, bringing the total to 12.
Bete Giyorgis, the Church of St. George, one of the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, photographed on November 8, 2012. (Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]
The guide, written by the travel blog While In Africa, covered seven of the nine sites then listed: the Konso Cultural Landscape, Aksum, Lalibela, Fasil Ghebbi in Gondar, the Lower Valley of the Omo, Simien and Tiya. It did not include Harar Jugol or the Lower Valley of the Awash.
Konso, in southwestern Ethiopia, is known for dry-stone terraces that protect soil from erosion and for fortified hilltop settlements with walls up to five meters high, the guide said. It also noted the waga, wooden memorial statues carved by the Konso. UNESCO inscribed the landscape in 2011.
At Aksum, the ruins of the ancient kingdom include giant stelae, royal tombs and castle ruins dating from the first to the 13th century, according to the guide. It said King Ezana left trilingual inscriptions in Greek, Sabaean and Ge’ez, and that the largest stela, 33 meters long, lies where it fell.
Lalibela’s 11 monolithic churches were cut from rock in the 12th and 13th centuries, the guide said, as King Lalibela sought to build a “New Jerusalem.” It described Biete Medhani Alem as believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world and noted the cross-shaped plan of Biete Ghiorgis.
In Gondar, Fasil Ghebbi holds the 17th-century palace of Emperor Fasilides, which mixes Portuguese, Indian and local styles, and the fortress city served as the seat of government until 1864, according to the guide. Nearby stands Debre Berhan Selassie church, known for its ceiling of painted faces.
The Lower Omo is valued for fossil finds that shed light on human origins, while Simien Mountains National Park is home to the Walia ibex, a wild goat found nowhere else, the guide said. The park also takes in Ras Dashen, Ethiopia’s highest peak. Tiya, south of Addis Ababa, has 36 monuments, including 32 carved stelae whose symbols are still difficult to decipher.
UNESCO lists Simien National Park and the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela from 1978, Fasil Ghebbi from 1979, and Aksum, the Lower Valley of the Awash, the Lower Valley of the Omo and Tiya from 1980. Harar Jugol, the fortified historic town, followed in 2006 and Konso in 2011.
Bale Mountains National Park and the Gedeo Cultural Landscape were inscribed in 2023, and Melka Kunture and Balchit, a cluster of prehistoric sites in the Upper Awash Valley, in 2024, according to UNESCO. The agency says those sites, 2,000 to 2,200 meters above sea level, preserve records, including footprints, of hominin occupation from two million years ago.
Ten of Ethiopia’s 12 World Heritage properties are cultural and two, Simien and Bale, are natural, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Sources: Africa.com: “Travel Through Ethiopia’s UNESCO Sites” (Wayback Machine archive), UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Ethiopia, UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Melka Kunture and Balchit