Everything about Lake Tsana totally explained
Lake Tana (also spelled
T'ana,
Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ
Ṭānā Hāyḳ,"Lake Tana," an older variant is
Tsana,
Ge'ez ጻና
Ṣānā; sometimes called "
Dembiya" after the region to the north of the lake) is the source of the
Blue Nile and is the largest
lake in
Ethiopia. Located in the north-western
Ethiopian highlands, according to the
Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the lake is approximately 84 kilometers long and 66 kilometers wide, with a maximum depth of 15 meters, and an elevation of 1,840 meters. Lake Tana is fed by the
Little Abbai,
Reb and
Gumara Rivers and its surface area ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 km² depending on season and rainfall. The lake level has been regulated since the construction of the control
weir where the lake discharges into the
Blue Nile, which regulates the flow to the
Tis Abbai falls and hydro-power station.
The lake has a number of islands, whose numbers vary depending on the level of the lake; it has fallen about 6 feet in the last 400 years. According to
Manoel de Almeida (who was a
Portuguese missionary in the early 17th century), there were 21 islands, seven to eight of which had monasteries on them "formerly large, but now much diminished." When
James Bruce visited the area in the later 18th century, he noted that the locals counted 45 inhabited islands, but stated he believed that "the number may be about eleven." A more modern geographer named 37 islands, of which he believed 19 have or had monasteries or churches on them.
Lake Tana supports a notable
fishing industry; according to the Ethiopian Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 1,454
tonnes of fish are landed each year at
Bahir Dar, which the department estimates is 15% of its sustainable amount.
Remains of ancient Ethiopian emperors and treasures of the
Ethiopian Church are kept in the isolated island monasteries. On the island of
Tana Qirqos is a rock shown to Paul B. Henze, on which he was told the
Virgin Mary had rested on her journey back from
Egypt; he was also told that
Frumentius, who introduced
Christianity to Ethiopia, is "allegedly buried on Tana Cherqos." The body of
Yekuno Amlak is interred in the
monastery of St. Stephen on
Daga Island; other Emperors whose tombs are on Daga include
Dawit I,
Zara Yaqob,
Za Dengel and
Fasilides. Other important islands in Lake Tana include
Dek Island and
Meshralia.
The monasteries are believed to rest on earlier religious sites and include the
fourteenth century Debre Maryam, the
eighteenth century Narga Selassie,
Tana Qirqos (said to have housed the
Ark of the Covenant before it was moved to
Axum), and
Ura Kidane Mecet, known for its
regalia. A
ferry service links
Bahir Dar with
Gorgora via Dek Island and various lakeshore villages.
Further Information
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