Destination: LAKE TANA
Lake Tana is Ethiopia’s biggest lake with a total area of3,600 square kilometers whilst being 85 Km long and 66 km at its widest but rather shallow at a maximum depth of only 9meters. The lake is also the source of the Blue Nile River which drains out of AbayMench (Abay Spring). But the lake is more famous not for its size or marine life, but for its centuries old monasteries as far back as 6th century BC. About 20 monasteries are well kept and functioning in those different islands. Tana Kirkos, Daga Estifanos, Kibran Gabriel, Ura Kidane Mihret and Azwa Mariam are some of the most venerated monasteries on Lake Tana Islands. The inside of the churches are decorated withthe most spectacular colorful wall paintings of stories from the Holy Bible and Ethiopian Saints. The museums in most of these monasteries are packed with rare and oldest manuscript and countless crowns (gift from different emperors of the 17th and 18th century), crosses and even mummified remains of medieval Ethiopian kings. The islands are inhabited by a variety of wetland birds, hippos, crocodile and other animals.
Interestingly, around 70% of the fish species found in the lake are endemic. After all it is one of the four UNESCO biosphere reserves in Ethiopia since 2015.
As Lake Tana is vast and the monasteries are located in different part of the lake, it is convenient to group them into southern and central monasteries group. The monasteries in the southern group are very close to the city and located on the outlet of the Abay River and on Zege peninsula. Debre Maryam, Kibran Gebriel, and the Zege Peninsula monasteries (zwa Mariam, EntosEyesus, Bete Mariam, BeteGiorgis and UraKidane-Mehret) belong to this cluster.
The central monasteries group is relatively far from the city. As the name indicates, they are located in the far eastern central part of lake. These monasteries fall into two main clusters: one close to the eastern lakeshore, consists of Tana Kirkos which stands out with its mysterious sacrificial stones, the beautiful decorated Narga Selassie on Dek Island, the historic Daga Estifanos and many others including the far northern which are near to reach from Gondar. Almost all the monasteries have their own museum packed with centuries old valuable treasures and worth a visit.
Adventure Paragliding
It is generally believed that when hundreds of sheep were disappeared from the place where the temple stands today, the shepherds prayed to get their sheep back. Surprisingly they had a vision of the Devi herself who asked them to sacrifice a few of the sheep to get back their lost ones. It is said…
From
Br3,400.00
Br3,000.00
