Lay Gayint

Lay Gayint
ላይ ጋይንት
Flag of Lay Gayint
Lay Gayint is located in Ethiopia
Lay Gayint
Lay Gayint
Coordinates: 12°00′N 38°20′E / 12.000°N 38.333°E / 12.000; 38.333
ZoneDebub Gondar
RegionAmhara Region
Area
 • Total1,522.43 km2 (587.81 sq mi)
Population
 (2012 est.)[1]
 • Total225,830
 • Density150/km2 (380/sq mi)

Lay Gayint (Amharic: ላይ ጋይንት, lit.'Upper Gayint') is a woreda in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Debub Gondar Zone, Lay Gayint is bordered on the south by Tach Gayint and Simada, on the southwest by Misraq Este, on the west by Farta, on the north by Ebenat, and on the east by the Semien Wollo Zone. The administrative center is Nefas Mewcha; other towns in Lay Guyint include Gobgob and Sali.

The altitude of this woreda varies from 1,500 to 3,100 metres (4,900 to 10,200 ft) above sea level. The annual rainfall is erratically distributed and varies from 400 to 1,100 millimetres (16 to 43 in).[2] A notable landmark in Lay Guyint is the church of the village of Betlehem, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) southeast of Debre Tabor; inside an ordinary round church structure is an ancient church with a trussed roof of identical construction as the church of Debre Damo. The writer Thomas Pakenham was the first non-Ethiopian to visit this church in 1955.[3]

  1. ^ a b Geohive: Ethiopia Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "AMAREW 2005 extension plan" Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, p. 2 (accessed 15 April 2009)
  3. ^ He describes the village and church in Pakenham, The Mountains of Rasselas (London: Reynal and Co., 1959), pp. 124-137