Chapter 9
Visit on Lake Tana
As time passed my wife was able to sit again into my car, and we would visit all places not far from the capital. Then, when Easter was near, we decided to visit Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile, and the famous falls on the Nile not far from its outflow, its actual source. We consulted it with John, the TESCO representative, who helped us get a permission from state authorities – and probably spread news about our plans.
The route there is north-westerly and about half of the 400 miles to the lake was asphalted, the rest an "African” gravel road. It means, trucks push aside gravel and make two furrows by their wheels. For a car it is impossible to use the furrows, wheels on one side have to be led on the ridge between furrows. If you drive with a speed of more than 35 miles per hour, to switch from one side to the other in case of necessity is not possible. Not only wheels, even the whole car can be destroyed. This 400 miles we planned to make in 14 hours.
First leg of the route ended on the other side of bridge over the Nile not far from the river. From that point on, it was gravel road. The Blue Nile valley is a sight not to forget. The river flows on bottom of the gorge and is spanned by a bridge. When we descended the gorge on a serpentine and drove up on the other side, we could see almost as far as to the capital. Subsequent ridges of mountains could be seen as walls behind each other. Being on the highest point we had a view really wonderful.
The route was too long for my driving abilities. After 10 p.m. my drive was like a dream. Fortunately nothing happened and at 11 we arrived.
The next day has been set for the falls to see. Lake Tana is a vast natural sweet water reservoir that is fed by all the small rivers and creeks around it. Its drain is at its south-east corner and water finds its way first south-east, then turning in a great U-turn flows to north-west and joins the White Nile at Khartoum. Radius of its turn around the lake is about 200 miles.
Ten miles from its source the river encounters a steep fall in the ground more than 100 feet in hight, and there the water falls down in many branches. It is a wonderful sight and its noise is heard from many miles. The local name of the falls is "Tis Issat”, that means thundering smoke. The falls actually take one wall of a canyon and the river is turning at right angle into the canyon to follow its route. From the other side of the canyon you are facing the falls, and the sight is unique. The canyon is not wide enough to have all branches of the falls in one shot with an ordinary lens, only wide-angle lenses can take it in completely.
In the nearby there is a small settlement, whose males are employed as guards to save tourists against crime. They are walking with rifles everywhere. They are used to photography – and tips.
On our backward journey we changed our minds and did not do all the distance in one day. Just before the descend to the river we stopped in a village. It was a 3-birr (1.50-dollar) room in the small "Blue Nile” hotel, but it was clean and safe. We might have been the first foreigners to use it ever.
First proofs about unreliability of our friends, the doctors D., we have got after our return from Lake Tana. We told them our calamity with the room and they said:
"The S.s told us they were going, too. They said they would not bother with reservation, until there are others, who would.”
It had not occurred to them to warn us before our trip.
At the lake we wanted to take a crocodile skin, but we did not succeed. We bought handicrafts and they were worth more than the skin of a dead animal.