Blue Nile Falls

Tis Issat means smoking water, and when the Blue Nile is in flood the falls throw up enough spray to justify it: a curtain up to four hundred metres wide dropping around forty-five metres over a basalt lip a short way downstream of Lake Tana. For most of the year, though, the sight is much smaller than the name promises, because a hydroelectric scheme upstream diverts the flow and water is released to the falls only at certain times; the difference between a full-flow day and a dry-season trickle is dramatic. The walk in from the village crosses a seventeenth-century Portuguese-style stone bridge and climbs to viewpoints, and a boat can shorten the return. Local guides and children accompany visitors, and payment arrangements are informal.

What you actually see

• The basalt lip - the wide ledge the river drops over.
• The old stone bridge - the seventeenth-century crossing on the walk in.
• Viewpoints - the path circuit giving the falls from several angles.
• Spray and rainbows - when the flow is released and the falls are full.

When to go

September and October, just after the rains, give the biggest flow. Outside that, the amount of water depends on releases from the hydro scheme, which vary; asking locally before travelling out is worth doing. January to May is often disappointing.

Honest expectations

The falls are frequently far smaller than photographs suggest because of the upstream diversion, which is the single most common disappointment here. The walk is an hour or more with a climb. Guides, ticket sellers and children asking for money are persistent. Paths are slippery in spray.

Nearby

Bahir Dar lies northwest; Lake Tana and its monasteries are beyond it.