Un week-end à Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar

Its long avenues lined with palm trees, its palace perched on the heights of an overlooking hill, betray Haile Selassie’s ambition to make Bahir Dar the modern capital of Ethiopia. While the project did not materialize, Bahir Dar, with its Riviera-like atmosphere on the shores of Lake Tana, remains the elegant Amhara capital. We invite you to fully enjoy its seaside atmosphere with a meal at one of its best restaurants.

Overnight at Jacaranda Hotel

Bahir Dar

This morning from the dock, we will depart for a cruise on Lake Tana to discover very ancient monasteries hidden on the Zeghie Peninsula. Lake Tana in Ethiopia, where the Blue Nile takes its source, where hippos love to bask, where papyrus canoes glide on the waters, but also where, far from the hustle and bustle of the world, monasteries slumber in meditation. Lake Tana, also called Tsana, with its surface area of more than 3,600 km2, is the largest lake in Ethiopia. There are about 37 islands, some of which are completely submerged during the rainy season. Twenty of them house magnificent monasteries or sanctuaries. The islands best known for their religious buildings are Nerga Sellassié, Dega Estefanos, Tana Cherqos, Kebran Gabriel, Debré Maryam. Two magnificent circular sanctuaries are also located on the Zeguié Peninsula accessible by lake. A persistent legend claims that one of these sacred enclosures lost in the middle of the lake once served as a refuge for the mythical Ark of the Covenant.

Overnight at Jacaranda Hotel

Bahir Dar

After a morning stroll through the wide avenues of Bahir Dar adorned with jacarandas, we will take you on a short hike that will lead you to the Blue Nile Falls. During the rainy season, a torrent 400 meters wide plunges into an enormous 45-meter gorge and diffuses a mist that envelops the surrounding countryside. This pillar of clouds in the sky, lavish with magnificent rainbows, explains the name « Tiss Issat » – the smoking water – given to this geological marvel.

Late afternoon flight to Addis Ababa