You have to be at the airport two hours before the scheduled flight time (even for domestic) and talk about stringent security. You can’t even enter the terminal without showing tickets and passport or identity card. Ethiopian Airlines gives a boarding pass with a seat number, but when you board, it’s open seating. Also, all domestic flights (without exception) make multiple stops. A fast 45 minutes to Bahirdar to begin the Northern portion of this journey around Ethiopia. Bahirdar is on the shore of Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake. There are 37 islands in this immense body of water and 20 of them shelter historic churches and monasteries.

Everyone takes a boat trip onto the lake. The obvious highlights are the monasteries but this is also a big area for birders. Many of the monasteries date from late 16th-to-early 17th century. Kebran Gabriel, Debre Maryam, Ura Kidane Meret is the most famous one, Narga Selassie, Dega Estefanos – one of the lake’s most sacred, has mummified remains of former Ethiopian emperors. Tana Cherkos (men only…) hid the Ark of the Convent (so it is said) for a time. There were still more: Mitsele Fasiladas, Beta Giorgis, Beta Maryam and Azuwa Maryam. Impossible to see them all and I truthfully wouldn’t want to.

flying in over one of Bahirdar’s island monasteries, Ethiopia
Met by Jimmy, our Bahirdar guide, we immediately boarded a boat on Lake Tana for the one hour ride to Ura Kidane Meret Church on the Zaga peninsula. Around 10,000 people live on Zaga, 15% Muslim, the rest Orthodox Christians, From the small pier, a 20-minute walk to the Church passing locals and tourists coming and going.

small church in Zaga, Ethiopia 

men inside Ura Kidane Meret Church, Ethiopia
Today was the once a year Feast of St. Mary at Ura Kidane Meret Church and was an amazing beginning to the trip. Jimmy took us into the church from the 16th century, made of mud and straw. …View image… They have to add a new layer of mud to the existing walls around every 30 years or so with the result the church walls keep getting thicker. The paintings within the church were so vivid, colorful and primitive from the 18th century and never restored. They were originally painted on cloth and then attached to the walls. These are the original colors, some dating from the 6th century. …View image… And then the service was over and the excitement really began.

 

original paintings inside Ura Kidane Meret Church, Ethiopia 

another exquisite 6th century painting, Ethiopia
Singing, beating drums, dancing, that tribal trill that we’ve heard in many Arabic countries. The hair stood up on my arms and goosebumps ran up and down my back. The locals all dressed in white and looking as if they just stepped out of the pages of the Bible. All we could keep repeating was how lucky to be here today. Spine-tingling. Every church has a copy of the Ark of The Covenant kept in the Holy of Holies and the Ethiopians firmly believe the original is in Axum, brought by Menelik.

joyous celebration after church services in Bahirdar, Ethiopia
TIP: Jimmy said you want to take your boat trip in the morning because the wind blows up in the afternoon and Lake Tana becomes choppy. Jimmy was our first guide, a free-lancer, and excellent. If you travel on your own, and want a private guide (recommended!) his e-mail is ephyz@yahoo.com.

ex-Marine and Jimmy returning to Bahirdar, Ethiopia
Back to the very nice Dibanbessa Hotel overlooking Lake Tana and Bahirdar’s very clean streets. Tomorrow, the Blue Nile Falls.