127km from Mekelle a rugged place of sharp mountains and plateaus in between, home to several hundreds of tens of magnificent rock churches, hosting Ge’ez manuscripts, beautiful paintings and monastic lives, and breathtaking landscapes, you find Gheralta.
Gheralta is a dry plain with steep outcrops of cliffs and table mountains with very dramatic landscapes. But for most tourists to Tigrai, the main reason to come to the Gheralta region is for its about 50 churches, the largest concentration of cliff churches in Africa.
These chain of mountains extend south to meet their Tembien counterparts, together of which form the longest chain plateau in the horn.
It is where Abune Yemaeta, the church in the sky, the most inaccessible church in the world, is found. You can travel in the mountains, hike, trek, and enjoy the adventure of the magic land.
Maryam Qorkor & Daniel Qorkor, Abuna Yemata Guh, Abraha We Atsbeha, Abune Gebre Mikael Qoraro, Abune Abraham Debre Tsion, Maryam Papasetti, etc are some of the monolithic churches found scattered on the mountain ranges and mountainsides.
These majestic mountains have been nominated for UNESCO and are at their tentative list as part of Tigrai’s Sacred Landscapes. We should work towards recognizing them and push the World Heritage Center.
The Sacred Landscapes of Tigray are therefore unique as large and complex sacred landscapes containing numerous rock-hewn monuments with a cultural continuity of more than 1,600 years, with a high degree of authenticity and integrity.
The above quote is taken from the end of the document submitted for UNESCO nomination process.
