Mitraha Island

Mitraha Island is about a mile off the lake's shore in Ethiopia's northeastern part of Lake Tana. A handful of churches have been destroyed on the island. Imam Ahmad Gragn set fire to the first church built on the island by Ethiopian Emperor Dawit I. A large masonry church built by Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes I and the Emperor Iyasu I's mausoleum are examples of later constructions. Dervish raiders set fire to these structures in 1887. Arthur J. Hayes described Mitraha as "a very picturesque islet, with quaint thatched houses amid vegetation and a ruined old church" — the one where Iyasu was entombed.

Despite the fact that the locals' food sources were limited to poultry and "durrah when we can obtain it," they had stopped fishing the lake since Emperor Yohannes I's death, according to Hayes. "The island is traversed in all directions by narrow tracks marked by trodden leaves, and there is a dense undergrowth of weeds, thistles, and thorns," Hayes continues. A spider "about the size of a shilling, with a speckled abdomen and gigantic legs" that appeared to be found only on Mitraha piqued his interest.

Location: Lake Tana, Ethiopia