In the twelfth century, King Lalibela decided to build 12 churches in honor of the 12 apostles. To make then unique, he decided that they would be carved out of solid rock, straight into the ground. The town around them now takes his name.

For 900 years, they have been in continuous use. They could not have been more remote – it is only in the last 15 years that an all-weather dirt road has been built to them; as recently as 50 years ago Lalibela was a 3 day mule-ride from the nearest town.

The tourists have started arriving in earnest in the last ten years, and in the last 5 the town has changed beyond recognition; a large drive to collect donations centrally and to use them to provide housing, work and food for beggers and street children has changed it from being one of the worst spots for hassle Ethiopia to an oasis of relative calm.

The churches are unique, not only in the sense that there is nothing else like them in the world, but that they have been in continuous use since they were built. The reverence and awe they inspire is not at wondering about the lives of some long-dead civilisation, but from seeing them in day to day use as Christian Churches.

The only country in Africa to have a significant indigenous Christian population, Ethiopia has a culture and heritage significantly different from its neighbours. Added to this is the fact that it has never been successfully colonised, leaving the history of the country much more intact and continuous to the modern day than most countries in Africa.

Despite its unique history, culture and landscapes, modern Ethiopia has a reputation as being a difficult country to visit. The high population density makes wild camping difficult or impossible, while nosy, rude children everywhere have no qualms about barging in on your personal space. Imagine heading off behind a bush with a spade (the usual camping ritual) with an audience of 30 kids from 2 to 20 years old shouting “You! You! Money! Pen Pen Pen” and you might get the idea. Previous visitors bear much of the blame, handing out sweets, pens and money to every kid they saw. The guilt complex is a weird thing – through their “kindness,” an entire generation of kids now act as disgusting, aggressive, spoilt beggars.

We visited Ura Kidane Mihret Church on the Zege Peninsula as our first taste of Ethiopian churches. The building is some 700 years old, with the paintings and murals between 100 and 250 years old, depicting scenes from the Bible and lives of Ethiopian saints in what the guide-book rightly calls “Chaucerian in their physicality, ribaldry and gore.”