Ethiopia has an unequaled range of natural habitats, ranging from the extraordinary peaks and ambas (flat-topped summits) of the Simien Mountains at over 4,000 meters to the Danakil Depression, 120 meters below sea-level, one of the lowest points as well as the hottest place on Earth. There are Afro-Alpine highlands, moors, and mountains, deep gorges, the Sof Omar caves (the most extensive in Africa), the Great Rift Valley and its many lakes, tropical rain forests, white-water rivers, and rock climbing faces, savannahs, waterfalls, volcanic hot springs and a volcano or two. These are supplemented by a wealth of historic, cultural, religious, archaeological, and anthropological sites, including the northern “historic route” which incorporates the former capitals of Gondar (17and 18th centuries), Axum (1st-8th centuries), and Lalibela (12th-13th centuries) with its spectacular rock-hewn churches, as well as the monasteries on Lake Tana (and the Blue Nile falls), and the numerous rock churches of Tigray region, many dating to the 14-16th centuries, or even earlier. The National Museum of Ethiopia holds the earliest hominid skeletons of Lucy (3.4 million years old) and Ramidus (4.4 million years old), as well as jewelry, costumes, paintings, and sculptures. The Ethnographic Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies is on the site of the former imperial palace of Emperor Haile Selassie and is now part of Addis Ababa University. The Zoological Natural History Museum has displays of Ethiopia’s wealth of wildlife, including many examples of the country’s endemic species of rodents, bats, carnivores, primates, birds, snakes, lizards, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates. There are a number of church museums in the city with fascinating wall paintings. The Ethiopian Postal Museum has a collection of the country’s stamps, the Addis Ababa Museum in the former palace of RasBiru built at the turn of the 19th century has a collection of photographs depicting the development of the city, and the nearby Red Terror Museum contains details of the disastrous Red Terror 1977-78. The city has a number of parks including the Lion Park with its rare Black-maned Lions near Addis Ababa University, the country’s oldest University at Sedist Kilo. World Heritage Sites Ethiopia now has nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the most recent of which is the Konso Cultural Landscape, a 55 sq km area of stone-walled terraces and fortified settlements in the Konso highlands of Ethiopia. It is a spectacular example of a living cultural tradition stretching back 21 generations (more than 400 years) adapted to a largely dry and hostile environment. It features anthropomorphic wooden statues, grouped to represent respected members of their communities and heroic events, a testimony to funerary traditions that are on the verge of disappearing. Stone steles in the towns express a complex system of marking the passing of generations of leaders. The other sites: Aksum: The ruins of Aksum include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs, and the ruins of ancient buildings many dating from the greatest period of the Axumiteempire between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE. (Listed in 1980) The fortress-city of FasilGhebbi at Gondar, started by Emperor Fasilides in the early 17th century, was the imperial centre for two hundred and fifty years. Surrounded by a 900-meter-long wall, the imperial enclosure and other buildings in the vicinity include palaces, churches, monasteries, and various public and private buildings some showing Hindu and Arab influences, subsequently transformed by the Baroque style brought to Gondar by the Jesuit missionaries in the early 17th century. (Listed in 1979) The walled and historic town of Harar is located in the eastern part of the country. The walls surrounding this sacred Muslim city were built between the 13th and 16th centuries. HararJugol is said to be the fourth holiest city of Islam and holds 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines, but the townhouses with their exceptional interior design constitute the most spectacular part of Harar’s cultural heritage. (Listed in 2006) The Lower Valley of the Awash contains one of the most important groupings of palaeontological sites on the African continent. The remains found at the site, the oldest of which date back at least 4 million years, provide important evidence of human evolution. The most spectacular discovery came in 1974 when 52 fragments of a skeleton enabled ‘Lucy’ to be reconstructed. (Listed in 1980) The lower valley of the Omo, a collection of prehistoric sites near Lake Turkana, has produced many fossils there, especially those of Homo gracilis, and is of fundamental importance in the study of human evolution (Listed in 1980). The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela, with 11 medieval monolithic cave churches in this 13th century ‘New Jerusalem’, is situated in a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia. A central site of Ethiopian Christianity remains a place of pilgrimage and devotion. (Listed in 1978) Tiya is among the most important of about 160 archaeological sites discovered so far in the Soddo region, south of Addis Ababa. The site contains 36 monuments, including 32 carved stelae covered with symbols, most of which are difficult to decipher. They are the remains of an ancient Ethiopian culture that has yet to be dated or defined and whose age has not yet been precisely determined. (Listed in 1980) Simien National Park – Massive erosion over the years on the Ethiopian plateau has created one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, with jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys, and sharp precipices dropping as much as 1500 meters. (Listed in 1978) National Parks: Awash National Park is the oldest wildlife reserve in Ethiopia. It contains the Fantalle Volcano, numerous mineral hot springs and extraordinary volcanic formations as well as the Awash River which has some spectacular waterfalls. Less than three hours drive east of Addis Ababa it is 225 km from the city. Within its 720 sq. km can be seen Oryx, Soemmerring’s gazelle, bushbuck, waterbuck, dik-dik, zebra, cheetah, serval and leopard, Anubis and hamadryas baboons, colobus and green monkeys, lesser and greater kudu, giant tortoise, hippopotamus, reedbuck, aardvark and caracal, and klipspringer. Over four hundred species of birds have been recorded in the park, ranging from ostrich to Secretary Birds and Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, from Carmine Bee-eaters, and Abyssinian Roller to Coucal, Turacos, Go-away Birds, and a wide variety of birds of prey and savannah species. The Bale Mountains Park is an area of a high-altitude plateau broken by numerous spectacular volcanic plugs and peaks, beautiful alpine lakes, and rushing mountain streams. From the plateau rise several mountain peaks, including TulluDeemtu the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia at 4,377 m above sea level. It is the largest area of Afro-Alpine habitat in the whole of Africa and offers unsurpassed mountain walking, horse trekking, scenic driving, and the chance to view many of Ethiopia’s endemic mammals, notably the Mountain Nyala, Menelik’s bushbuck, and the Semien Fox. Endemic species of birds include the thick-billed Raven, Wattled Ibis, Blue-winged Goose, and Rouget’s Rail. Other species include the Black-winged Love-bird and Yellow-fronted Parrot, Abyssinian Catbird, Abyssinian Longclaw, Black-headed Siskin, Ruddy Shelduck, Wattled Crane, Lammergeier, and Steppe Eagle.
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