Axum Ethiopia

Axum

Get out your Indiana Jones hat and whip as the "Ark of the Covenant" can be found right here in Axum, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Axum is the best place to start your Ethiopian safari (in our opinion in any case), the start of the countries history and religion is right here.

The town and area are steeped in history, the Aksumite Kingdom was one of the four great powers along with Persia, Rome, and China. The Kingdom dates back to 100 BC and they ruled for some 800 - 900 years. It is the Aksumite Kingdom that built the "Stelae" that are on show near the town's centre and a must visit destination.

From a religious point of view, Axum is the home of the Church of St. Mary of Zion, the Ark of the Covenant as well as the site for the First Christian Church in Africa.

There is of course also the so-called "Queen of Sheba's Palace" and the "Queen of Sheba's Bath" although the ruins date some 1500 years after her time!

Axum Ethiopia

  • Axum Stelae Field

    This amazing Stelae field is around 1700 years old and is found on the opposite side of the road from the St. Mary of Zion Church and around 2 minutes drive from the centre of town. These Stelae are believed to be the grave stones of past Aksumite Kings.

  • St. Mary of Zion

    Around 300AD the first St. Mary of Zion was built in the town of Axum by the first and largest Christian Kingdom outside of the Roman Empire. The church itself has been rebuilt several times over the past 1700 odd years, with the latest version (as you can see below) having been finished in 1964.

  • Queen Of Sheba Palace

    The Queen of Sheba who was an "exotic and mysterious woman of power" is one of the great religious figures who appear in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible and the Muslim Koran. And her Palace is found right here in Axum. Why would you not want to stop by here and take in the scenery and snap a few photographs?

  • The Town Of Axum

    Getting to and from The Town Of Axumis best done via aircraft from any of the surrounding tourist destinations including Addis Ababa. The town is too far North for one to travel realistically here by vehicle from Addis Ababa. From Addis Ababa, by road will take you at least 2 full days whereas a flight is only about 80 minutes.
Ethiopia Travel Topics

  • Palace Of Haile Selassie

    Haile Selassie, King of Kings, Lion of Judah, by the grace of God, Emperor of Ethiopia. Quite a mouthful of a title for a single man or, as the Rastafarians would have it, the son of God. So awe-inspiring are the adjectives that you would have expected him to live in a magnificent palace made of the finest Carrara marble or a granite stone castle in the tradition of Gondar.

  • Visiting The Lalibela Rock Churches

    Your correspondent has been travelling in Africa for over three decades. I feel that I know sub-Saharan Africa; its smells, its peoples, its geography and its wildlife. Ethiopia is different, as different as snow is to sand. So different that you could get a very sharp knife and detach it somewhere in the Red Sea because it is not similar to any of its Arab world neighbours either.

  • Where To Travel In Ethiopia

    New on Uyaphi.com is our Travel in Ethiopia portfolio featuring safaris and tours to this somewhat new African safari destination; we are very excited about Ethiopia and all that she has to offer. Think of Ethiopia as a more cultural safari destination than what one is used to in Africa.