For most people in the West, going to church is preceded by getting into their car and rolling up to their preferred house of God.

It’s a little different at this church in Ethiopia. Going to it means defying death.

The church, which is dug into the side of a cliff, sits roughly 2,500 feet above the ground. To access it, you must scale a portion of the cliff, walk on numerous narrow bridges and finally hop skip and jump your way into the entrance.

Like so:

I’d visit, but they’d have to helicopter me in (and out). Photographer Philip Lee Harvey, however, was undaunted by the climb and the nerve-wracking “bridges” that are literally an old dead tree laid across a dizzying abyss. I don’t think he found God up there, but at least daredevils like him are rewarded with lovely frescoes and magnificent views.



