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Lake Tana is Ethiopia's largest lake and famous for the churches and monasteries on 20 of the lake's 37 islands. The Lake is known as the home of the Monasteries founded on some of the 20 of its 37 Islands. Lake Tana is fed by the Lesser Abay, Reb and Gumara rivers; and its surface area ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 km,² depending on season and rainfall. The lake level has been regulated since the construction of the control weir where the lake discharges into the Blue Nile. This controls the flow to the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Abbai) and hydro-power station.

Tankwas!!!!

The lake has a number of islands, whose numbers vary depending on the level of the lake; it has fallen about 6 feet (1.8 m) in the last 400 years. According to Manoel de Almeida (a Portuguese missionary in the early 17th century), there were 21 islands, seven to eight of which had monasteries on them "formerly large, but now much diminished.”

When James Bruce visited the area in the later 18th century, he noted that the locals counted 45 inhabited islands, but stated he believed that "the number may be about eleven.”

A 20th-century geographer named 37 islands, of which he believed 19 have or had monasteries or churches on them.

Papyrellas, or papyrus boats, are often represented on the terracottas, paintings and mosaics of ancient Egypt The papyrus plant, however, disappeared from the Egyptian countryside centuries ago, and one must travel to Ethiopia to see such craft, locally known as tankwas.

The papyrus reed grows on the banks of Lake Tana, a lake that lies at 1850 metres above sea level and through which the Blue Nile flows, by more than 4000 km far from the river's mouth. The local inhabitants use the long stems of this plant to build their boats.

Bundles of dried papyrus, laid end to end with a slight overlap, are lashed to an untrimmed pole of eucalyptus wood that acts as a sort of keel. The boat has a short life span of some three months and costs the equivalent of 3 euros. Its length depends on the end use: from 1 metre for those built for children, up to 12 metres for the largest that are used to transport cargoes of wood or as ferries carrying a dozen passengers from one bank of the Nile to the other.

Hundreds of these tankwas crisscross Lake Tana, as they have for millennia, representing an essential part of commercial exchange and reflecting a sustainable and respectful exploitation of the local ecology.

According to the Ethiopian Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 1,454 tones of fish are landed each year at Bahir Dar, which the department estimates is 15% of its sustainable amount

Covering 3,500 sq km, it is not only the largest lake in Ethiopia but also the home of the numerous orthodox monasteries on some of its thirty-seven islands.

As a source of the Blue Nile, its water is like the milk which quenches the thirst and provides the livelihood for more than a hundred million people in Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

souvenirs sold on the street in almost every tourist site in the country

Waiting for tourists

The most attractive souvenirs sold here are mysterious, exotic and colorful

Lake Tana, Exit from Ura Kidane Mihret monastery

The intricate Ethiopian Orthodox crosses in different churches have always been unique and rarely identical.

Lake Tana Monastery of Kebran Gabriel

Nearly every church in Ethiopia possesses similar books with Geez written on sheep skins. The ages of these books are often unknown but believed to be a few hundred years.

Lake Tana Monastery of Kebran Gabriel

Among the bible stories, the killing of the serpent by St. George is the most common graphic depiction. Exhibition of the books to visitors has become a standard procedure of the churches

Lake Tana Monastery of Kebran Gabriel

Lake Tana Monastery of Kebran Gabriel

Interesting and historic churches and monasteries on or around the lake can be found on the islands of Birgida Maryam, Dega Estefanos, Dek, Narga, Tana Cherkos, Mitsele Fasilidas, Kebran and Debre Maryam, as well as the peninsulas of Gorgora, Mandaba, and Zeghe, which has long been renowned for its coffee. These places all have excellent churches. Though founded much earlier, most of the buildings date from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. Many have beautiful mural paintings and church crosses, and house crowns and clothes of former kings. Access for the most part is closed to women, who are allowed to land on the banks of the islands but not permitted to proceed any further. The clergy, who are usually very good humoured, can some times be prevailed upon to bring some of their treasures to the water's edge. Women are, however, permitted to visit churches on the Zeghe peninsula and the nearby church of Ura Kidane Mehret, as well as Narga Selassie.

Kebran Gabriel, the nearest monastery to Bahar Dar, is a principal tourist attraction for male visitors only, as this is one of the places where women are forbidden. Originally established in the fourteenth century and rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Iyasu I (1682-1706), it is an unassuming but impressive building with a distinct cathedral atmosphere.

Lake Tana Monastery of Kebran Gabriel

Ethiopia is your mother: love her Ethiopia is your country: defend her Ethiopia is every to you: die for her

Emperor Johannes IV (1837-1889)

Men sitting by the road. Bahir Dar

Sound: Alemayehu Eshete-Filiklike; Habeshia

Text: InternetPictures: Sanda Foişoreanu Sanda Negruţiu Alin Samochis Daniel Scrãdeanu InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda