Travel Guide Mont Zuquala

Located 27 km south-west of Dabra Zeit, this mount, whose crater reaches 600 m above the plain, is the dominant point of the central Rift Valley (2 989 m above sea level), offering a magnificent view of the surrounding area in clear weather.A bad 9 km trail, difficult to reach in rainy season, winds on wooded slopes, where colobes monkey colonies and many bird species have been established, before entering a very old monastery flanked by two more recent churches.Founded in the th century by Saint Gabra Manfas Qeddus - whose legend reports that he refused his mother a day of fasting - on a site long occupied by hermits, the monastery now houses a community of monks living in quasi-autarky. The visit of the site (50 birrs) allows you to discover large frescoes illustrating biblical scenes, as well as very old manuscripts. A 60 m below the summit is a lake whose waters, declared sacred, are prohibited for bathing outside specific festivals; women are asked to keep their distance respectable! (Each one evaluates its distance-respect report…) Every 5 November is the occasion for a great celebration. A colourful procession, followed by hundreds of faithful, wins the shores of the lake, at the rhythm of music and religious dances. If it is sometimes possible to obtain asylum, rather spartan, within the monastery, a camping night in the surrounding area is possible on the authorisation of the monks, and allows to take advantage of this wild, calm and preserved environment.