Travels With Maria

Lake Tana

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
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Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
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Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More