Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lake Tana & its Monasteries
Lake Tana's beauty can only be truly appreciated when you get out beyond the city and
see its azure waters lapping on lush shores, islands dotting its distant horizon and squad-
rons of pelicans flirting with its surface. There's also some artificial beauty in the form of
centuries-old monasteries full of paintings and treasures.
This lake is Ethiopia's largest, covering over 3500 sq km, and its waters are the source
of the Blue Nile, which flows 5223km north to the Mediterranean Sea.
Sights
While the boat engine's buzz is anything but a throwback to ancient times, your first
meetings with the cross-wielding priests after stepping onto the islands just may be. Most
monasteries date from the late 13th and 14th centuries, though the current church build-
ings were erected later. There are no architectural wonders like those at Lalibela and Ti-
gray, but the murals adorning the monasteries' walls are full of all the colour, life, wit and
humanity of Ethiopian art at its best and provide a compendium of Ethiopian saints, mar-
tyrs and lore. If you want help deciphering them, check out Know Your Ethiopian Saints,
