At the height of its power (4th century A.D.), the Axumite civilisation dominated a territory stretching from the Red Sea coast to the western plains of Sudan and south-western Arabia. It was a flourishing empire of which only a few important vestiges remain today. Vestiges of a past that are worth celebrating as you drive along the roads of the plateau, almost up to the Ethiopian border.

It is not only the enchanting Sycamore Valley that justifies a foray into the region south of Asmara. Continuing on the plateau, you arrive at Kohaito and Metera, where rock engravings, a stele, a tomb and archaeological finds dating back to Axumite and pre-axumite times tell the earliest history of Eritrea. The story of a great civilization that now lies buried in a vast and spectacular territory, which is worth a visit if only for the beauty of its landscapes, between gentle slopes and dizzying peaks that offer magnificent views of the valleys below.