The ancient dam
A pool of water.
Clay Gilliland from Chandler, U.S.A. — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0
Qohaito is a major ancient city in Eritrea's Southern Region, on a plateau over 2,500 metres high at the edge of the Great Rift Valley. It was a pre-Aksumite settlement that thrived in the Aksumite period, about halfway between Aksum and its port of Adulis. Its stone ruins remain largely unexcavated. Rock art near Qohaito suggests people lived here from the fifth millennium BC, and the town survived until the sixth century AD. Scholars often link it with Koloe, a town described in the Greco-Roman Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. It was submitted to the World Heritage tentative list in 2011. You see a flat rocky plateau with an ancient Aksumite dam holding a pool of water that is still used, and scattered stone columns. At the plateau's edge a very deep canyon drops with sheer cliffs, green terraced fields on its floor and slopes. From the rim a vast view spreads over the mountains. It is about 7 km from Adi Keyh in a straight line. The canyon rims have no barriers, so keep back. Mount Emba Soira, Eritrea's highest mountain, is nearby. The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Eritrea, and all travel near its land borders, so read the current advice before you plan.
A pool of water.
Sheer cliffs.
On the floor.
Near Adi Keyh, Southern Region, Eritrea
It was an important town between Aksum and the port of Adulis.
Yes, the UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Eritrea.