Lesser Abbay (ግልገል ዓባይ, Gǝlgäl Abbay) is a river of central Ethiopia. Rising in the mountains of Gojjam, it flows northward to empty into south-western Lake Tana at 11°48′N 37°7′E. Tributaries of the Lesser Abbay include the Ashar, Jamma, Kelti and the Koger. It was regarded as the true source of the Nile for a long time and the Jesuit priest Pedro Paez visited it in 1618. The name Lesser Abbay means Lesser Nile, as Abbay is the name for the Blue Nile.

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See also

• List of Ethiopian rivers
• Gilgel Abay

Further reading

• S. Uhlenbrook, Y. Mohamed, and A. S. Gragne, "Analyzing catchment behavior through catchment modeling in the Gilgel Abay, Upper Blue Nile River Basin, Ethiopia." Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 2153–2165, 2010
• Hydrologic Impact of Land-Use Change in The Upper Gilgel Abay River Basin, Ethiopia; TOPMODEL http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2010/msc/wrem/gumindoga.pdf