Generally regarded as the longest river in the world, Nile is one of the most famous of the rivers, mainly because it provided a crucial role in the development of Egyptian civilization. It has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile, which meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself, evern if the Blue Nile is the source of most of the water and silt.
The Blue Nile, originating at Lake Tana, is called the Abbay in Ethiopia, where many regard it as holy. Some have long identified it as the River Gihon mentioned as flowing out of the Garden of Eden in Genesis. Although a number of European explorers contemplated tracing the course of the Blue Nile from its confluence with the White Nile to Lake Tana, its gorge, which begins a few kilometres inside the Ethiopian border, has discouraged all attempts. Only in 1933, R.E. Cheesman managed to map its upper course, after 8,000km covered in 6 years driven on mules.
Known as Tis Abay in Amharic (smoking water), the Blue Nile Falls is situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 km downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. The falls are estimated to be between 37 and 45m high, consisting of four streams that originally varied from a trickle in the dry season to over 400m wide in the rainy season. It isolated the ecology of Lake Tana from the ecology of the rest of the Nile, and this isolation has played a role in the evolution of the endemic fauna of the lake.
About the stamp
The stamp, depicting Menelik's Bushbuck (Tragelaphus Scriptus Menelik), is part of a definitive series, about which I wrote here.
References
Blue Nile - Wikipedia
Blue Nile Falls - Wikipedia
Sender: Adam Wole (direct swap)
Sent from Addis Ababa (Addis Ababa / Ethiopia), on 30.11.2015
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