By boat on Lake Chamo

We are always at Arbaminch, in Ethiopia; this morning we took a car safari inside the Nechsar National Park; this afternoon, instead, we take a boat ride on Lake Chamo, that is always part of the national park.

After spending the hottest hours on the terrace of our hotel, Swayne Emerald Hotel reading and relaxing, we leave by our car and drive just outside Arbaminch, where the boarding of the boats of Lake Chamo is located.

In practice it is a dirt road in the shade of tall trees where there are two people, they are the renters of the small boats; we pay the tickets to one of them while the other prepares and comes with us on the small pier.

On the boat we climb the two of us, Jimmy, our guide, and the guy who accompanied us, he will sail the boat and be our local guide.

We leave and, as we cross a part of the lake, he tells us some things about the Nechsar National Park and Arbaminch; it is always interesting to learn information and curiosity about a place where we find ourselves.

We arrive at a point where there is a strip of sand that juts out into the water from one of the shores of Lake Chamo, here there are several Nile crocodiles that are lying in the sun; they are immobile, the noise of our little boat does not disturb them at all.

This place is called the "crocodile market", we were told that the name is due to the fact that once there was indeed a market where crocodiles were killed and sold, but fortunately this activity has now been banned.

We remain here a while to admire these majestic reptiles that seem to doze, but we know very well that instead they are always vigilant and could capture, with a lightning-fast shot, an unwary prey that comes too close to them.

Not far away we see a Goliath Heron standing in the still water and staring at what is happening beneath the surface of the lake, it is undoubtedly fishing.

While we observe it, the heron launches a very rapid attack, immerses the beak under water and when it returns to an upright position we see that it has caught a fish; the time to take some pictures and the fish is no longer there, swallowed alive and whole.

On the trees that are on the opposite shore of the lake we see several African fish eagles, while on the lake there are several pelicans, saddle billed storks and yellow-billed storks.

As we approach the shore of the lake to better see the birds, we also see some hippos immersed in water that, from time to time, rise to the surface of the water, snort and then submerge again.

The lake is very beautiful and, despite being big, there are only us with our little boat, the water is a bit shaky but not much; as we sail along and look around every now and then we get caught up in some water spray.

We loved this boat ride, the late afternoon sun, the fresh air, the green vegetation of the Nechsar National Park and the blue of the water won us over.

When we get back to the dock we get off the boat and say goodbye to our friend who made us have this wonderful experience, go back to our car and drive back to the hotel; it is the right time to drink something fresh while admiring the beautiful view from the terrace overlooking Lake Chamo, Lake Abaya and the Bridge of God.

Tomorrow another interesting day awaits us, we will visit a Konso villageand learn about the culture of this population.