{"id":8810,"date":"2021-11-30T21:12:02","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T21:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/?p=8810"},"modified":"2021-11-30T21:12:02","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T21:12:02","slug":"gardens-of-eden-the-church-forests-of-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/gardens-of-eden-the-church-forests-of-ethiopia","title":{"rendered":"Gardens of Eden, the church forests of Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press-Ethiopia<\/a> Seen by their guardians as sacred, Ethiopia\u2019s church forests are protected and cared for by their priests and their communities. Photographer Kieran Dodds\u00a0has brought together his images of these oases and the story of the country\u2019s spiritually driven conservation movement in a new book,\u00a0The Church Forests of Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

outh of the Sahara, and just north of the Great Rift Valley in landlocked\u00a0Ethiopia, the Blue Nile flows from Lake Tana, the largest lake in the country. Radiating out from the sacred source is a scattering of forest islands, strewn across the dry highlands like a handful of emeralds. At the heart of each circle of forest, hunkered down under the ancient canopy and wrapped in lush vegetation, are saucer-shaped churches \u2013 otherworldly structures that almost seem to emit a life force. And in a sense they do.<\/p>\n\r\n