About 35 km downstream of Lake Tana, the Blue Nile plunges over a 45 m high rock face to form one of Africa's most spectacular waterfalls, know locally as "Tis Isat", meaning "water that smokes".
The 18th century Scottish traveller James Bruce famously described the Blue Nile Falls as a magnificent, unforgettable sight that "struck me with a kind of stupor, and a total oblivion of where I was, and of every other sublunary concern".
Unfortunately, the falls are less impressive now than in Bruce's day, as the width of the river entering the waterfall has been reduced from 400m to a maximum of 160m by the construction of a hydro-electric plant, but the falls are still spectacular in the rainy season (late July to early October).
