Lake · Ethiopia
Lake Tana
Lake in Ethiopia
- Area
- 3,059km²
- Max depth
- 14m
- Average depth
- 9.3m
- Elevation
- 1,786m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 485km
- Volume
- 28.4km³
Lake Tana is a lake in Ethiopia. It covers 3,059 km². On average it is 9.3 m deep, and 14 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,786 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Tana?
The water is warmest in October, around 23 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 20 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from January to December: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 28 °C on average in April and 21 °C in August. The driest month is January (3 mm of rain), the wettest July (376 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (128 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 21 | 26 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 10.4 | 13 |
| February | 21 | 22 | 27 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 10.4 | 14 |
| March | 23 | 23 | 28 | 19 | 25 | 7 | 10.1 | 13 |
| April | 23 | 24 | 28 | 20 | 49 | 11 | 10.0 | 13 |
| May | 23 | 24 | 27 | 20 | 126 | 18 | 8.9 | 14 |
| June | 22 | 23 | 25 | 18 | 179 | 27 | 8.1 | 14 |
| July | 22 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 376 | 30 | 6.3 | 13 |
| August | 22 | 23 | 21 | 17 | 348 | 31 | 6.1 | 12 |
| September | 23 | 23 | 23 | 18 | 178 | 25 | 7.9 | 11 |
| October | 23 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 64 | 11 | 9.3 | 12 |
| November | 22 | 23 | 24 | 16 | 22 | 6 | 10.0 | 12 |
| December | 21 | 22 | 25 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 10.4 | 12 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 5.3 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 15,133 km² of land.
- About 170 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Tana
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- —beaches and swimming spots
- 3campsites
Hotel Ghion (unofficial camping), Campsite Zege Ararat, Tim & Kim's Village
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 4marinas and slipways
- 14ferry piers
Ferry to Bahir Dar, Azwa Mariam, Kunzila Pier, Gorgora Terminal and 10 more
- 5viewpoints
Bahir Dar - Viewpoint, Pelicans view stp, Free view on the lake from the relaxing restaurant, Bezawit palace
- 71hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Ghion Hotel, Hotel Tana, Alefa Health Centre (Delgi), Kuriftu Resort and Spa, Bahir Dar hotel and 66 more
- —fishing spots
- 74restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Bahir Dar350,000 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Gondar Airport (GDQ), 50 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 25.5 | 27.3 | 28.0 | 28.2 | 27.4 | 24.8 | 21.3 | 21.1 | 23.1 | 24.0 | 24.4 | 24.7 |
| 2020 | −0.1 | −0.4 | +0.6 | −0.3 | −0.8 | −0.5 | −0.4 | −0.3 | ±0.0 | −0.6 | −0.1 | +0.1 |
| 2021 | −0.1 | −1.6 | +0.8 | −0.4 | −2.1 | +1.3 | −1.1 | −0.2 | −0.3 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.2 |
| 2022 | −1.4 | −1.0 | +0.8 | +0.1 | +1.2 | −0.2 | −1.3 | −0.9 | −0.2 | −0.5 | ±0.0 | −0.8 |
| 2023 | −0.5 | ±0.0 | −0.9 | −0.8 | −0.6 | −0.3 | +1.2 | +1.2 | +0.8 | +1.0 | +0.3 | −0.4 |
| 2024 | −0.4 | −0.2 | +0.5 | +1.1 | +1.6 | +1.0 | −0.2 | −0.8 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.1 | ±0.0 |
| 2025 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | −0.4 | +1.0 | +0.8 | −0.7 | −0.8 | −1.1 | −0.7 | −0.8 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
SudanAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q116685) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
