Due to my relatively short amount of time in Ethiopia and difficulty in finding information on buses etc, I decided for the first time on my trip to do a 'package tour', at a cost of my entirely monthly budget for 8 packed days visiting the 'historic route' of northern Ethiopia. As part of this tour I would fly on Ethiopian Airlines to each location where I would be picked up by a guide and wisked off to see the sites and what not. Not exactly my style, but I have to admit I was looking forward to some hassle free site-seeing for once, and price dictated my expectations. Unfortunately we got off to a rocky start with a 3+ hour delay of my flight.
The first stop along the way was Bahir Dar, a town in the Amhara region located at the south of Lake Tana and a short distance from the Blue Nile falls. Lake Tana holds 37 islands of which 27 host monastaries. Since I arrived late Monday afternoon we decided to get an early start the next morning head to the falls and then come back to see a couple of monastaries before catching my afternoon flight to Gondar. The drive to the falls was fairly long, along a dusty gravel road followed by a quick hike to the falls. Unfortunately the river that feeds the falls is now being used for hydro power and so only 40-60% of the water flows to the falls now, but none-the-less it was still worth seeing...although my memories of Victoria falls easily put it to shame. On the way to the falls my guide, Misteru, called the airline to confirm my afternoon flight and was told that the flight was actually going to be early and that I needed to check in an hour earlier. So after snapping a few photos we rushed back down to the van and headed back to town.
We hopped a small orange boat to visit one of the island monastaries and again I was treated to a fairly lengthy ride; we reached the island after 30 mins putting along and rushed to what looked more like a small church than monastary and the sole priest in sight appeared to be closing shop. 
He was kind enough to show me the church's ceremonial cross and umbrella, as well as the first in what would become a long line of sacred goat skin bibles/books. Apparently the church, like most others on the historic route, was built about 800 years before and was still in active use. After the showing of the artifacts we were ushered out so the place could be locked up and we hopped back on our boat, from which my guide pointed out the start of the Blue Nile and we witnessed some men fishing from small papyrus boats.
On the way back to shore Misteru was insistent on getting a picture of me driving the boat and in the haste to get a good photo I almost ran us into some rocks! We picked up my bag from the hotel and raced to the airport. Misteru drops me and I check in and am told there will be a slight delay...alright no problem. After waiting about an hour I decide to head upstairs for some lunch, since I'd failed to eat any in my rush to get to the airport (good thing). Half way through my plate of scrambled eggs I'm told that the flight has been canceled and they will be putting me up in a hotel for the night to catch a flight in the morning at 9am.
Photos: Bahir Dar
The first stop along the way was Bahir Dar, a town in the Amhara region located at the south of Lake Tana and a short distance from the Blue Nile falls. Lake Tana holds 37 islands of which 27 host monastaries. Since I arrived late Monday afternoon we decided to get an early start the next morning head to the falls and then come back to see a couple of monastaries before catching my afternoon flight to Gondar. The drive to the falls was fairly long, along a dusty gravel road followed by a quick hike to the falls. Unfortunately the river that feeds the falls is now being used for hydro power and so only 40-60% of the water flows to the falls now, but none-the-less it was still worth seeing...although my memories of Victoria falls easily put it to shame. On the way to the falls my guide, Misteru, called the airline to confirm my afternoon flight and was told that the flight was actually going to be early and that I needed to check in an hour earlier. So after snapping a few photos we rushed back down to the van and headed back to town.We hopped a small orange boat to visit one of the island monastaries and again I was treated to a fairly lengthy ride; we reached the island after 30 mins putting along and rushed to what looked more like a small church than monastary and the sole priest in sight appeared to be closing shop. He was kind enough to show me the church's ceremonial cross and umbrella, as well as the first in what would become a long line of sacred goat skin bibles/books. Apparently the church, like most others on the historic route, was built about 800 years before and was still in active use. After the showing of the artifacts we were ushered out so the place could be locked up and we hopped back on our boat, from which my guide pointed out the start of the Blue Nile and we witnessed some men fishing from small papyrus boats.On the way back to shore Misteru was insistent on getting a picture of me driving the boat and in the haste to get a good photo I almost ran us into some rocks! We picked up my bag from the hotel and raced to the airport. Misteru drops me and I check in and am told there will be a slight delay...alright no problem. After waiting about an hour I decide to head upstairs for some lunch, since I'd failed to eat any in my rush to get to the airport (good thing). Half way through my plate of scrambled eggs I'm told that the flight has been canceled and they will be putting me up in a hotel for the night to catch a flight in the morning at 9am. Photos: Bahir Dar
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