Lake Tana’s Monasteries - Day 60

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We arranged for a boat to take us out to the islands in the Lake to see the monasteries there. The most interesting, they claim, is on a remote island necessitating a 2.30 hour boat trip there and back. We could not face the prospect of 5 hours on a boat so opted for nearer sites.

The first was a small church situated on an equally small island where there were a few monks living in solitude - except for the occasional visitors such as us. There were information boards placed around, all printed in Aramaic except for one sentence; “Please make a donation towards the upkeep of this church”. Such is life! We were not enthralled by this place so motored on to another church site, not all that far from our birdwatching location of the previous day. This was much more like what we had expected. We walked a few hundred yards from the landing jetty and were met by a charming young guide who showed us all round the church, explaining everything in detail, particularly the display of paintings depicting biblical stories. We spent more than an hour happily in his company before making our way back to the boat.

On our return to base we took a short detour to see where the Lake actually discharged into the Blue Nile - the very start point of the long flow to the Mediterranean. A strange feeling! The afternoon was spent quietly in camp before we dined once again in the hotel where we had the most delicious (bought) meal of our entire journey. It was Fish Dulet, fresh tilapia from the Lake, a sort of fish stew, with a hint of spice, which we had had a small taste of the previous night.

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Photos

Monastry Boat Trip Lake Tana
Chris, Gail and Milla