Blue Nile Falls

Today we went to the Blue Nile Falls.  It was a wonderful and tiring adventure. 

I asked Misgana, a staff member from the street ministry, if she had time to go with us to the Blue Nile Falls.  She arranged a van for us and off we went.  It was about an hour's drive out into the countryside.  The pavement came to an end, and though the road was straight, through fields, pastures and villages, it was very rough.

There was so much to absorb along the way in terms of how the people live and make a living in the rural areas.  We saw small fields of teff, corn, and sugarcane.  Along the road was a little irrigation ditch or canal for the fields, and where people were washing themselves and the laundry.  The houses in the villages we passed through were very basic.  There were also very small shops, pool tables, and restaurants.  Cows, sheep, donkey, and goats were everywhere and our driver was very good at navigating around them and all the people that were walking along the road.  Life in the rural area looks hard.

We came to the Tis Abay village which was at the entrance to the falls.  After paying the entrance fee and picking up a local guide, we began our adventure.

First it was a short walk through the village to a boat dock.  The boat looked real sketchy, but it was just a short ferry ride across one channel of the river.  From there it was an easy walk across a pasture until we came upon the falls.  They were beautiful.  Definitely worth the hype as a tourist attraction.  It's just after the rainy season so there was a lot of water, and spray mist that reached us as we stood at a distance.  To get closer would have been much too slippery.

We continued on and came upon a suspension bridge built across a tributary of the river.  We began walking across, and half-way we had pause to let some donkeys walk past us.  They didn't seem to be scared at all!  Besides the main falls we saw several other smaller falls.  The ground was very rocky so I'd be watching my step and then when I paused and looked up there was another waterfall.  Very beautiful.

Hilda and Misgana.  It was great to have a friend with us.

The more we walked, the more animals and people were walking towards us.  It was market day and now they were all on their way home.  We'd have to pause to let cattle, goats and donkeys pass us on the narrow stony path. They hardly gave us a passing glance, whereas the people were trying to sell souvenirs to us, the 'ferenjis'.  It was good to have a local friend along.

In time we came to a stone bridge built by the Portuguese around 1632.  It was a beautiful bridge.  But beyond that bridge the path, like a series of uneven stone steps, went sharply up.  We were hot and tired by the time we returned to the van.  Once home, it was time for a shower!