Surface Tension
Thousands of tourists are discovering Ethiopia’s other-worldly beauty and the treasures of Lake Tana. But can these pristine waters withstand the rigours of modernity?
WORDS | ALEX RAYNER
PHOTOGRAPHY | TIM WHITE
Image – Tim White
IT WAS ONLY ONCE WE WERE A GOOD DROWNING DISTANCE FROM THE LAKE’S shore that I saw our boat was without life jackets. Bad news. Inside the hull, water rolled with the engine’s motion. Voyager’s photographer, Tim White, sat aft, beside our guide and tillerman, the two local boys who had charged us just 200 Birr (under £10) for a late-afternoon trip from the jetty beside the Hotel Ghion in Bahir Dar to the monastery in the lake, Debre Maryam, and the mouth of the Blue Nile. I stuck myself further along the vessel, weighing down the bow and trying not to think too hard about what would pass for an emergency drill.
Lake Tana is certainly big enough for us to perish in, but not gigantic by world standards. It remains the largest body of water in Ethiopia; and larger than anything you’d come across in Western Europe, you could fit Lake Garda in almost 10 times over. Yet it’s outclassed by the great lakes of North America and Central Asia.
It isn’t especially deep either, though on a good clear afternoon such as today, we can’t see more than a few centimetres beneath the shimmering blue-green surface.
What sets Lake Tana apart for both casual visitors like us, the 200,000 or so people who live along its shore and the multitude of species that swim in its waters, is the lake’s position as cultural and biological sanctuary, albeit one under threat from the very people it nurtures.
The boys cut the engine once we’ve reached a modest-looking inlet. Yet this unassuming gap in the lake’s rim is in fact the source of the Blue Nile, one of the two tributaries that run into the world’s longest river.
“Look,” points Lemo, the more voluble of our two boatmen. About 200 yards from the boat a hippo has just surfaced; too distant to photograph, but certainly one to tick off the list of life’s must-sees. This beast is part of an incredible aquatic menagerie.
“Of the five million lakes that exist worldwide, Lake Tana is among 250 of the most important in terms of biodiversity conservation,” explains Lisa Borre, co-founder of LakeNet, a global network working for the conservation and sustainable management of lakes. “The World Wildlife Fund includes the lake on its list of globally important ecosystems known as the Global 200.”
Hippos aside, Tana is a major bird-watching destination: over 200 species have been spotted along the shores. Yet the truly unique diversity lies below the surface.
“From a global perspective, Lake Tana shares a special kinship with Lake Lanao, the second largest lake in the Philippines,” says Borre. “Both lakes have endemic populations of fish of the genus Barbus, but the fishery of Lake Lanao has been greatly disrupted by the introduction of invasive alien species. Lake Tana has the only intact flock of this species in the world.”
This may not sound that exciting, but the habitat that these 15 species of cyprinid, or carp-like fish, thrive in is a delicate ecosystem that is often compared with the wetlands, jungles and nature parks which are usually protected from man-made intervention.
One age-old enemy of Tana’s aquatic life floats about us, paddling silently across the lake’s surface on a canoe-like papyrus raft. Yet these line fishermen only catch enough to sustain themselves and their family, and simply make up some of the lake’s human dependants.
There are 37 islands in Lake Tana, upon which some 15,000 people are said to live. Plus, 20 ancient monasteries also stand on Tana’s islands and archipelagos. These religious outposts helped preserve Ethiopian Christianity from commercial pressures, ensuring its idiosyncratic, antique qualities.
Locally it is claimed that the Ark of the Covenant, which housed the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, was once kept by monks on the island of Tana Qirqos, in the lake’s eastern waters. More reliably, the monasteries were established in the 13th and 14th centuries, sheltering church treasures during a time of local instability. Some house mummified Ethiopian emperors, others medieval murals and shelves of ancient manuscripts.
Although Debre Maryam hasn’t the riches of its rivals, this, the most easily accessed of the monasteries, remains the high point of this afternoon’s trip. Having moored up at a rough jetty, Lemo accompanies us down an earth path lined with papaya and coffee plants, through a wooden gate and into the monastery grounds.
The monk – dressed in a holy man garb of a staff and rough hat that has more in common with Ancient Israel than the Roman Catholic tradition – shows us around his modest place of worship. Though the outer walls are no more than a few decades old, the paintings on the inner chambers wouldn’t look out of place in Trinity College’s display cases beside the medieval Book of Kells.
Maryam’s brother talks us through the apostles in his 400-year-old vellum bible, calling them by both their Ethiopian and Western names, as sunshine from an open shutter falls on the pages and all thoughts of modernity are put on hold.
On our return journey, as lightning crosses the sky, we discuss the likely effects of a bolt striking our boat. Once back in the Hotel Ghion’s ramshackle dining area, we’re able to order two plates of fish stew before a power cut puts out the lights.
It’s a perfect illustration of the kind of pressure currently being placed on Tana. Commercial, mechanised fishing began in 1986, and while it brings in cash and puts food on plates, it is one of the activities threatening Tana’s long-term stability. Teff grains for the injera pancakes that accompany our food could soon be cultivated using a proposed irrigation project to drain and fertilise tens of thousands of hectares of wetlands along the shoreline. While locals may rejoice in the possible gains, environmentalists like Borre are counting the natural costs.
As the lights flick back on once more at the Hotel Ghion, locals give praise to the Tis Abay II hydroelectric power plant, just down the Blue Nile. Completed in 2001, the plant provides cheap power for the surrounding area, but has also reduced the flow of water over the nearby Blue Nile Falls – once a major tourist attraction – and affected water levels in the lake.
“Before 2001, the lake level fluctuated about a metre above and below its mean height on an annual cycle,” says Borre, “but since the power plant became operational in 2001, the level has fallen as much as two metres below the mean and no longer exceeds the previous average level. This threatens the biodiversity of the lake as well as disrupting ferry traffic from the main town of Bahir Dar.”
The winners in this struggle are uncertain, yet today we’re able to enjoy the simple joys of electric light and antique ecclesiastical traditions, and one of the finest tilapia stews. For these alone we should give the lake thanks. www.ghionhotel.com.et www.worldlakes.org
FIVE MUST-DOS IN ETHIOPIA
In the ancient walled city of Harar, see the men who make a living by feeding wild hyenas in the evenings.
Hike or horse-ride in the Simien Mountains National Park.
Go bird-watching in the Bale Mountains and the Rift Valley lakes, where you can spot ravens and turtle-doves. www.naturetrek.co.uk
You can explore the dramatic Ethiopian highlands or take a camel-trek in the remote and wild Sinai desert. www.community-tourism-ethiopia.com
Chill out in an eco-friendly hotel.
The Strawberry Fields lodge (www.permalodge.org) offers an organic restaurant, while the Wenney Eco Lodge is surrounded by beaches and the jungle (www.wennyecolodge.com).
