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Our driver picks us up at 5:30AM for the short drive to the airport for a 7:30AM flight to Bahir Dar, on the shore of Lake Tana - the largest lake in Ethopia, and the source of the Blue Nile.
A local driver and guide pick us up at the airport in Bahir Dar and drive us to our hotel to drop off our suitcases. From there it is a short walk to catch a lake boat that takes us across the lake to visit the 14th century monsatery of Ura Kidane Mihret. As usual we are impressed with theconstruction of these 600-year-old buildings - plus all the paintings (some of which have been retouched), as well as the old manuscripts that have been written and illuminated on goat-skin parchment.
From there we take a another boat ride across Lake Tana to see the source of the Blue Nile - threading our way through the papyrus rafts carrying fishermen and also being used for transporting firewood. It is a scene which would look quite at home in the Bible.
We do a short trip into the start of the Blue Nile (although I have to say at the moment it looks a bit more like the muddy Yarra River). We get several photos, then head back to our hotel for lunch.
After lunch, our driver resurfaces - with a mini-van - and we go for a short drive to see the Blue Nile falls. Short in distance, but the road is reminiscent of the south, and it turns out to be a bumpy old ride, since we are in a mini-bus, which doesn't have the suspension of our trusty old 4WD. A tough drive, but well worth it.
When we reach our destination, we have to hike over a rocky path for about half an hour to reach the actual falls. On the way we pass an old stone bridge over the Nile built by the Portuguese in the 1600s. The water is deceptively calm flowing under it - and it's not until you see the falls themselves that you realise how deceptive it is. The depth of the water under the bridge is 18m, which explains the calmness of the flow.
The falls themselves are spectacular - 3 separate falls, of which the largest is horseshoe in shape. Around a quarter of the water has been diverted for electricity generation, so the horsehoe falls is not fully inundated at the moment, even though it is the end of the wet season. Our guide tells us it is the best time to be here, as all the falls are at their maximum extent.
He also tells us that Ethiopia is building a hydro-electric plant on the river where it crosses into South Sudan, and that when they finish it, the hydro-electric plant here will be put into stand-by mode, so the water will be returned to the falls.
After the obligatory photo shoot, we trek back over the mountain-goat path and return to the mini-bus for the trip back to town.
The next day our regular driver has caught back up with us after the drive up from Addis. He collects us from the hotel in the morning, and we have a drive around the Bahir Dar area, and see the Blue Nile between its origin and the falls. We also visit the old palace of Haille Selaisse, where there is a guard in a sentry box with an old rifle - probably nearly as old as he is. We ask if we can take a photo, and he shakes his head and says simply "No photos." We suspect this is probably good advice and continue on our way.
We continue our lesiurely drive around Bahir Dar for another hour before continuing north towards Gondar.
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