The 2nd Portuguese Bridge is located in Ethiopia on the Blue Nile River gorge approximately 50 kilometers below the rivers headwaters, Lake Tana. The 2nd Portuguese Bridge (called "Sebara Dildi" by the Amahara Highlanders, which means "broken bridge") is approximately 360 years old (built during the reign of Ethiopian Emperor Fasilides 1632-67) and is built of stone, sand, lime, and eggs!! The eggs acted as an early elastomeric adhesive.
It was thought to be designed and constructed by the descendants of Portuguese soldiers that were invited to the country by Regent Mother Eleni in 1508 to fend off the advance of the Muslim Grangn (see Layers of Time by Paul B. Henze). It was built solely as a pedestrian/donkey crossing, for each of its approaches end up against a cliff. This bridge acted as the connection point for a major caravan route between two trading regions: the Gonder region and the city of Debra Tabor to the north, and the Gojjam region and the city of Debre Markos to the south.
Throughout its 360 year history, it has often been broken, hence the reason for the broken bridge name. It was repaired once in 1908 by Emperor Menelik II. In 1936, during World War II, the middle arch of the bridge was destroyed by Ethiopian Patriots to hinder Mussolini's Italian invasion force. During the effort to cut away the arch by using farming plow points, it collapsed and killed 40 men and the Ethiopian resistance leader, Fitaurari Tamrit (see The Blue Nile Revealed by Richard Snailham). After the Italian defeat, it was never repaired, except for temporary rickety structures of logs/sticks/mud. The Amhara people still use it as a crossing to avoid the 150 kilometer round trip needed to use the next closest bridge to the north. They cross the broken span with the use of ropes bound together in knots and 6 men on each side to pull people across one at a time.
