Abuna Yosef (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: አቡነ ዮሴፍ) is a prominent mountain in the Lasta massif of the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , whil ...

. At it is the 6th tallest mountain in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and the 19th highest of Africa. It is located in the

Semien Wollo Zone North Wollo (Amharic: ሰሜን ወሎ) also called Semien Wollo, is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south by South Wollo, on the west by South Gondar, on the north by Wag Hemra, on the northeast by Tigray Region, a ...

of the

Amhara Region The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...

Afro-alpine environment

The Abuna Yosef massif is home to Ethiopian wolves, Gelada baboons,

Erica arborea ''Erica arborea'', the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also cultivated as an o ...

Lobelia ''Lobelia'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae comprising 415 species, with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate r ...

and other afro-alpine vegetation. The Abuna Yosef Community Conservation Area covers about 70 km of the Abuna Yosef massif.

Major towns

At the eastern part of the mountain range, the town of Wandatch (on the

Kobo Kobo may refer to: Places * Kobo (woreda), a district in Ethiopia ** Kobo, Ethiopia, a town * Kōbo Dam, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan * Mount Kōbō, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan People * Kobo (name) * Kōbō-Daishi, a posthumous name of Kūka ...

Lalibela Lalibela () is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches designed in contrast to the earlier monolithic churches in Ethiopia ...

road) is the main entry point to the Abuna Yosef afro-alpine massif. At 3500 m above sea level, it is one of the most elevated towns in Ethiopia. The towns of Muja, Kulmesq and

are located on the footslopes of the massif.

Monolithic churches on the footslopes

A notable landmark on this mountain is the Church of Gennete Maryam, a

monolithic church A monolithic church or rock-hewn church is a church made from a single block of stone. Because freestanding rocks of sufficient size are rare, such edifices are usually hewn into the ground or into the side of a hill or mountain. They can be of ...

which tradition reports was excavated during the reign of

Yekuno Amlak Yekuno Amlak (); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, from 1270 to 1285, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern-day Wollo and ...

. Also notable are four free-standing churches build inside caves in the mountain, the oldest and most famous being Yemrehana Krestos Church, built by the

Zagwe The Zagwe dynasty () was a medieval Agaw monarchy that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 1137 to 1270 AD, when the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the ...

king of the same name. The other three are Emakina Medhane Alem (probably built by Yekuno Amlak in the late 13th century), Lideta Maryam, and Zammadu Maryam (probably 15th century). The churches of

lie in its foothills.

Climate

Due to the mountain being having the 6th highest elevation in the country it makes it one of the coldest locations and in winter months temperatures nightfall temperatures are typically below freezing. However, due to the dry season also being during the months where temperature fall below freezing this causes a lack of snow on the mountain even though it occurs multiple times yearly.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Abune Yosef Massif: Birds and Mammals of a Hidden Jewel of Ethiopia
Universitat de Barcelona. 2009. Abuna Yosef Amhara Region