Ethiopia 21, Trip to the Blue Nile Falls

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ETHIOPIA
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Trip to the Blue Nile Falls
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LakeTana Shepherd Tree
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Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is
the largest lake in Ethiopia. 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 Isat) and hydro-power station.
The Blue Nile Falls is a waterfall on the Blue
Nile River in Ethiopia. It is known as Tis Abay
in Amharic, meaning "smoking water". It is
situated on the upper course of the river, about
30 km downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and
Lake Tana. The falls are considered one of
Ethiopia's best known tourist attractions. The
falls are estimated to be between 37 and 45
metres high, consisting of four streams that
originally varied from a trickle in the dry
season to over 400 metres wide in the rainy
season. Regulation of Lake Tana now reduces the
variation somewhat, and since 2003 a
hydro-electric station has taken much of the flow
out of the falls except during the rainy season.
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The Blue Nile Falls (Tis Issat) are located 28km
southeast of Bahir Dar down a bad dirt road
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The Blue Nile River
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Crossing the Blue Nile river by motorboat. The
boat service usually operates 7am to 6pm, but
when the river runs too fast the boats cant cross
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Strangler fig
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Senna didymobotrya - Patio Cassia Tree
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Senna didymobotrya - Patio Cassia Tree is
originally from South America, and is highly
attractive to bees and butterflies
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Boscia albitrunca Common names shepherd's tree
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The entire walk is about 5km and takes about 2½
hours
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Pencil tree (Euphorbia tirucalli) is a medicinal
and poisonous shrub native to Africa
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Catha edulis (khat, qat, or edible kat) is a
flowering plant that is native to the Horn of
Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Among
communities from these areas, khat chewing has a
history as a social custom dating back thousands
of years. Khat contains a monoamine alkaloid
stimulant, which is said to cause excitement,
loss of appetite, and euphoria. In 1980, the
World Health Organization (WHO) classified it as
a drug
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Coffee Kiosk
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The falls after the rainy season in September is
dropping over a sheer chasm more than 45 meters
deep, the falls throw up a continuous spray of
water droplets which drench onlookers up to a
kilometer away. This misty deluge produces
rainbows that shift and shimmer across the gorge,
and a perpetual forest of lush green vegetation
much to the delight of the innumerable monkeys
and coloured birds that inhabit the gorge.
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deep basaltic rift
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The site overlooking the waterfall has been
visited over the years by many notable travelers,
including the Scottish traveller James Bruce,
travel writer who spent more than a dozen years
in North Africa and Ethiopia. In 1965 Queen
Elizabeth II paid a state visit to the Ethiopian
Empire. As an excellent host Emperor Haile
Selassie took her to the impressive Tississah
Falls of the Blue Nile
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You are Africa's black soil that produce
lifeYou are the milk that quench the thirsty
multitudesYou are the messenger of my gospel, O
NileThat bring my abundant harvest to the mouth
of the needyYou are the elegant pilgrim of my
mercyYour are the first fountain you are the
first ever EthiopiaYou are the appeaser of the
lustful greedYou are the first Earth Mother of
all fertilityRising like the sun from the
deepest core of the globeYou are the conqueror
of the scorching pestilenceYou are the source
you the Africa you are the EthiopiaYou are the
Nile. Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, Ethiopian Poet
Laureate
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Text Internet Pictures Sanda Foisoreanu
Sanda Negrutiu Alin
Samochis Daniel Scradeanu
Internet All  copyrights  belong to
their  respective owners Presentation Sanda
Foisoreanu
2014
Sound Iwan Fals - Ethiopia