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I ran into a group of Spaniards. They have visited Niagara Tisisat. Has anyone over there explained to them who was the first European who saw that place? They shrug their shoulders. No, nobody has told them anything. When I tell them that it was a Spanish man, they seemed perplexed.
The Falls
Susinios provided Páez the opportunity to visit the sources of the Blue Nile south of Lake Tana, in the Sahala mountains, close by the waterfalls of “the water that smokes,” located 30 kilometers down a dirt road from the pleasant lakeside city of Bahir Dar. An event that took place on April 21st, 1618.
“And I confess I was glad to see what the former King Cyrus and his son Cambyses, the famous Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar wanted to see.” He wrote in his book History of Ethiopia.
Although the flood has subsided due to a power plant and is not as spectacular as before, I confess that I am also glad to see what Páez saw, one of the Spanish men with whom history has been unfair.
Gorgora
The road becomes gravel for fifty miles. A large cloud sits on the horizon. Soon it starts to turn a shade of grayish lead, pregnant with rain. Then it starts pouring. The ground becomes a slippery skating rink. However, impossible to relent. No more shelter for me than the huts of peasants.
I take the muddy path, go through another village full of animals, children and curious eyes, I climb a hill and then I see it. In the background, brown and rough, Lake Tana. A long straight line leads to Gorgora, a village of just a hundred mud houses.
Shortly afterwards another signal, “Tim and Kim camping.” After a left turn, paradise arises. Before me appear a few small conical lodges with thatched roofs. A young European man with long curly hair greets me with a smile. It’s Kim, the wandering Dutchman, that governs this simple overlanders’ complex.
Susinios’ Conversion
During dinner we drink beer. I tell him that I am looking for the Spanish “discoverer” of the Blue Nile source.
“Ah, Pedro Páez,” says Tim.
I look at my host with surprise. “Do you know about him?”
“Yes,” he nods. “I love the history of Ethiopia.”
As the darkness surrounds us, mosquitoes buzz obsessively and unforgivingly.
“Did you know that Páez converted the Emperor Susinios to Catholicism?” Tim nods.
This conversion had much to do with politics. Susinios had a tremendous enemy: Islam. The Portuguese were a great ally, but they assisted him in exchange for admitting the Jesuits into the territory. After the official conversion of the emperor to the foreign faith, a civil war began which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of peasants. Fasilides returned to orthodoxy and expelled the Portuguese settlers. It was the end of Catholicism in Ethiopia.
“But at least there was the palace that Páez designed for Susinios,” I say with a worried tone in my voice. For me it is vital to visit it. Páez came several times to Gorgora to supervise the construction of the complex. Each trip should have been a big effort for a man who was almost sixty years. On his last visit he got sick. On May 25th, 1622, Páez died and was buried there.
“It’s a ruin covered by bushes. You must go by boat. The road is impassable. I have never managed to get over there in my 4x4.” says Tim.
The Tomb of Páez
The next day I go out in search of the Palace of Susinios. The first hurdle announced in the sketch drawn by Tim is the fallen bridge. I ford a stream whose channel is filled with large stones. The rocks are sharp and loose and will be a constant anguish. The rocks come from the old road. It’s like a giant plow had scraped its metal down the middle of the road, leaving the stones in the worst possible position. Sometimes there is only a very narrow path by which a person can barely pass a cow, donkey or a pair of goats.
I accelerate; putting the wheels into the furrows, flying over the edges. In these compromising moments I really appreciate having provided myself with a set of custom-made Dutch TFX shock absorbers. They have reservoirs of oil for the front and rear, and do not reach their limit, not even once. The recovery is amazing for such a heavy saddle. As for the grip, I ride on Continental TKC 80s. The best on the market. With both upgrades I never fear a fall. The bike is reinforced with all types of defenses by the German manufacturer SW-Motech.
After reaching a plateau, I admire the stunning views. The lake is about 10 kilometers away in a succession of rolling hills, lush in fields, forests and farms. At the end stands a mountain on a small peninsula. Farmers and cows roam this idyllic horizon. Over my head fly predatory birds, the true lords of the skies in Ethiopia.
