DOWN THE RIFT VALLEY

Abijatta- Shalla Lakes national Park

Using Lake langano as a base, it is an easy side trip to visit the Abijatta-Shalla lakes national park, 887 square kilometers (550 square miles) in size –482 (300) of it water.

Abijatta and Shalla are both terminal lakes but very different in nature. The surrounding area is mainly acacia woodland, some of which is very degraded by man. Lake Abijatta is a shallow pan, only fourteen metres (46 feet) deep, and its level fluctuates periodically, caused in part by human activity but often by actual phenomena as yet not fully understood. The beaches are unstable and saline, and vehicles must not venture too close as there is a very real danger of sinking.

Lake Shalla, by contrast, is , at 260 metres (853 feet) , Ethiopia’s deepest Rift Valley lake, possibly the deepest lake in Africa north of the Equator. It is an excepti0onally beautiful and still largely untouched stretch of water, with several hot springs that bubble up by the shore and flow in to the lake.

The sides are steep and rocky –often right down to the shore. Although swimming is considered safe, it may feel strange: the water’s colour is like cold tea and there is a high concentration of salts, making it feel soapy. Few fish are found in this lake.

The park was created for the many equatic bird species that use the lakes, particularly great white pelicans and greater and lesser flamingo. Shalla’s islands are used as breeding sites by many birds, and is home to the continent’s most important breeding colony of great white pelicans. Because of the lake’s lack of fish, the birds fly to Lake Abijatta—which has no islands –to feed. Other birds include white-necked cormornat, African fish eagle, Egyptian geese, various plover species, and herons. Although renowned for its bird life, Abijatta is now outclassed by lake Awasa farther to the south.

Local mammals are not numerous but include grant’s gazelle –the northern limit for this species –greater kudu, Oibi, warthog, and golden jackal.

To the south of Abijatta-Shalla lies the small ‘paradise’ of Wendo genet, where an old but interesting hotel provides great views and an opportunity to bathe in the natural hot springs and small hot pool here, only a few metres from a cold, clear rushing mountain stream.

The Sidamo provincial capital of Awasa is situated on the shores of beautiful lake Awasa. Enclosed by a gentle chain of mountains, the lake is an ideal spot for fishing and boating and is, as a result, one of the premier attractions in the Rift Valley lake chain.

A grassy dike built to contain the lake’s steadlily-rising wate level is convenient for walks, sightseeing, and bird watching –for which the lake is particularly known. The abundant storks and herons mingle with kingfishers, darters, plovers, wild ducks, Egyptian geese, crakes, and cormorants, crating a colourful spectacle. In a four-wheel-drive vehicle, it is possible—and pleasant—to drive all the way around the lake, where you will see a myriad of birds as well as picturesque sidama villages.

Awasa town is an interesting attraction, with a busling and attractive out door market that gives something of the flavour of the region’s life and commerce; horses, cattle goats, and chikens are traded alongside lemons, tomatoes, green peppers, pungent spices, grains, sugar cane, and county butter warpped in banana leaves.

Local markets are events not to be missed, if one happens to be traveling through a town on its particular weekly market day. In addition to Awasa, wonago and hagre Mariam have particularly picturesque and busy markets, with people from the many different ethnic groups in the region converging for business.

The most southerly of ehiopia’s lakes are Abaya and Chamo, which many consider to be the most beautiful lakes in the rift Valley. Abaya, Ethiopia’s longest and largest Rift Valley lake, lies just to the north of smaller but equally marvelous Lake Chamo. The two lakes are ringed by savannah plains and smoky mountain crests.

Portions of the two lakes form an integral part of the Nechisar national park, which is best explored from the provincial seat of Arba Minch.

From the town on the ridge of land that divides Abaya and Chamo there are commanding panoramic views all around, including both lakes with Nechisar on the eastern side and, to the west, the Guge range of mountains. The outstanding beauty of the neck of land between the two lakes has earned it the sobriquet of ‘Bridge of Heaven’. The equally poetic ArbaMinch –meaning ‘forth springs’ –takes its name from the bubbling streams which spring up amid the undergrowth of the luxuriant groundwater forest that covers the flats beneath the town. This alluring are is considered one of Ethiopia’s last great surviving wildernesses.

The shores and islands of Abaya and Chamo are populated by farming peoples such as the Ganjule and the Guji, both of whom also have ancient traditions of hippo hunting. The Guji ply the lake Abaya waters in elegantly curved high-prowed ambtch boats similar to those depicted on the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs. Made of extremely light wood, ambatch is capable of transporting several cattle at one time and is sufficiently sturdy to withstand any attack by crocodiles, which are present in large numbers—and large sizes-on both lakes.

The vivid contrasts of the Nechisar National park will linger long in your memory –a swathe of white grass against the backdrop of clearly defined, deeply cut hills and mountains. From the escarpment on which Arba Minch stands you look down on the clear blue waters of Lake Chamo and the sandy beaches of its northern shores, covered by crocodiles lounging in the sun.

To the north, Kaje Abaya’s surface is a startling contrast of dark red, caused by the suspended load of ferrous hydroxide in its waters. At the base of the escarpment is a large area of groundwater forest around the Kulfo River, as well as the ‘forty springs’ after which Arba Minch is named. The western edge of the Rift Valley forms an impressive back drop to the west.

Within the forest are shy, chestnut-red bushbuck, the comical bushing, troops of anubis baboons, and vervet monkeys.

The most commonly seen creatures of Nechisar’s bush and savannah are two extremes of antelope: the large grater kudu, with its spectacular spiral horns and white-striped flanks, and the minuscule Guenther’s dik-dik.

At first sight the Nechisar palins, which you encounter as you leave the peninsula between the two lakes, seem surprisingly empty. But dotting this apparently endless sweep of golden white grass are herds of Burchell’s zebra, which mingle with grant’s gazelle and an occasional Swayne’s hartebeest, an endemic subspecies. Also seen are black-backed jackal and African hunting dog.

The many and varied bird species reflect the different habitats with in the park.
As well as their crocodiles and bird life, lakes Abaya and chamo are famous for their sport fishing potential, especially for Nile perch –often weighing more than 100 Kilos (220 pounds) –and for the fighting ‘ tiger fish’.

Winding up a trip sown Ethiopia’s section of the Rift Valley is not another lake, but a river.

Rising in the highlands south –west of Addis Ababa, the Omo River courses south for almost 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) but never reaches the sea. It is the sole feeder of lake Turkana, East Africa’s fourth largest lake, which the rive enters just above the Kenyan border.

As it tumbles off the escarpment, the Omo passes from alpine environment and rain forest on into savannah country –and finally in to searing desert lands. Thorough the millennia its flood swollen waters have cut stupendous gorges. Wild game roam in abundance on both banks, while strange and colourful birds dart in and out of the lush vegetation.

Reckoned by enthusiasts to be one of Africa’s premier locations for white water river rafting, its early fury takes it through gorges hundreds of metres deep and over formidable cataracts before it later snakes more peacefully amid dense jungles and finally across the colorful desert terrain. Its waters boil with fish and the huge shapes of crocodile and hippo.

Mago and Omo National parks

On the final leg of Its journey south to Turkana, the omo forms the border between Kefa and Gamo Gofa provinces. It’s here that Ethiopia’s larges nature sanctuary, the Omo National park –one of the richest in spectacle and game and yet one of the least visited areas in east and Central Africa –is located. And another sanctuary, the Mago National park, has been established on the eastern bank of the river: a land of endless, distant horizons.

Both parks can offer incredible spectacles of big game. Both have the merit, also, of being far from the beaten track and virtually unexplored, and thus are places in which game can be seen in a truly natural state.

Most easily accessed from the town of Jinka, Mago national park is mainly savanna, with some forested area as around the rivers. It was set up to conserve the large numbers of plains animals in the area, particularly buffalo, giraffe, and elephant. Also seen here are topi and level hartebeest, as well as lion, leopard, Burchell’s zebra, gerenuk, and greater and lesser kudu. The birds are also typical of the dry grassland habitat, featuring bustards, horbills, weavers, and starlings. Kingfishers and herons feed in and around the Neri River, which provides an alternative habita.

Although adjoining Mago, the large and beautiful Omo National park has been hardly visited in the last two decades, as getting there has been so difficult.
The only access to the park is via Omo Rate, by ferry to the west bank of the omo River, and north to the border settlement of Kibish, where an unmaintained seventy-five-Kilometre 946-mile) track leads to the Omo park headquarters. However, the long-neglected rout from Mui River up to Maji, tenuously linked to the town of Jimma, is being worked on When this road is passable, a drive from Jimma –besides being extremely interesting in itself—will bestow the reward of visiting this truly wild and untamed area.

The parks are extensive wilderness areas and wildlife can be prolific: large herds of eland and buffalo, elephant, giraffe, cheetah, loin leopard, and Burchell’s Zebra. Lesser kudu, level hartebeest, topi, and oryx are all resident species, as well as deBrazza’s and colobus monkeys Anubis baboon. The 306 bird species recorded include many that will be familiar to East African visitors.

Although not technically in the Rift Valley, the only of Ethiopia’s national parks not yet mentioned –Gambella Nationalpark –lies along another of the country’s important rivers : the Baro Near the town of Gambella, Gambella National park, is one of Ethiopia’s least developed parks and has no facilities. nevertheless, the large conservation area contains many species not found elsewhere in the country, such as the Nile lechwe and the white-eared kob. Roan antelope, topi, elephant, buffalo, giraffe, and the unusual whale headed stork are also to be found here.

The people of this area are the Auak and the Nuer. Mainly fisher folk—but also cattle herders –the Anuak and Nuer are extremely handsome, with dark, satiny complexions. Both men and women favour a style of decorative scarification on the chest, stomach, and face; and often boast heavy bone bangles, bright bead necklaces, and spikes of ivory or brass thrust through a hole pierced in the lower lip and protruding down over the chin.

Unaffected by the ways of the modern world –so near, yet so far from them –these interesting people remain as remote, unchanged, and beautiful as the land in which they live.