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.Author's
Bio Grand
Tour of Ethiopia's Historic Route Awash National
Park is the oldest and most developed wildlife
reserve in Ethiopia. Featuring the 1,800 m Fantalle
Volcano, extensive mineral hot springs and
extraordinary volcanic formations, this natural
treasure is bordered to the south by the Awash
River and lies 225 km east of the capital, Addis
Ababa. The wildlife consists mainly of East African
plains animals, but there are now no giraffe or
buffalo. Oryx, batea red
fox, caracal, aardvark, colobus and green monkeys.
Anubis and Hamadryas baboons, klipspringer,
leopard, busbuck, hippopotamus, Soemmering's
gazelle, cheetah, lion, kudu and 450 species of
bird all live within the park's 720 square km. The
Bale Mountains with their vast moorlands- the lower
reaches covered with St. John's wort- and their
extensive heathland, virgin woodlands, pristine
mountain streams and alpine climate remain an
untouched and beautiful world. Rising to a height
of more than 4,000 meters, the range borders
Ethiopia's southern highlands, whose highest peak,
Mount Tullu Deemtu, stands at 4,377
meters. Bale Mountains
National Park The white-eared
kob also haunts the Baro, along with other
riverbank residents that include the Nile lechwe,
buffalo, giraffe, tiang, waterbuck, roan antelope,
zebra, bushbuck, Abyssinian reedbuck, warthog,
hartebeest, lion, elephant and hippopotamus. The
Simien Mountain massif is s broad plateau, cut off
to the north and west by an enormous single crag
over 60 km long. To the south, the tableland slopes
gently down to 2,200 meters, divided by gorges
1,000 meters deep which can take more than two days
to cross. Insufficient geological time has elapsed
to smooth the contours of the crags and buttresses
of hardened basalt. The Omo Valley
is virtually free of human habitation but it is
rich in palaeo-anthropological remains. According
to scientific research conducted in 1982 by the
University of California at Berkeley, hominid
remains from the Omo Valley probably date back more
than four million years. Much of Africa's volcanic
activity is concentrated along the immense 5,000-km
crack in the earth's surface known as the Rift
Valley. It is the result of two roughly parallel
faults, between which, in distant geological time,
the crust was weakened and the land subsided. The
valley walls- daunting blue-grey ridges of volcanic
basalt and granite - rise sheer on either side to
towering heights of 4,000 meters. The valley floor,
50 km or more across, encompasses some of the
world's last true wildernesses. Ethiopia is often
referred to as the "water tower" of eastern Africa
because of the many rivers that pour off its high
tableland, and visit to this part of the Rift
Valley, studded with lakes, volcanoes and Savannah
grassland, offers the visor a true safari
experience. The Omo River
tumbles its 350-km way through a steep
inaccessible valley before slowing its pace as it
nears the lowlands and then meanders through flat,
semi-desert bush, eventually running into Lake
Turkana. Since 1973, the river has proved a major
attraction for white-water rafters, The season for
rafting is between September and October, when the
river is still high from the June to September
rains but the weather is drier. The river passes
varied scenery, including an open gallery forest of
tamarinds and figs, alive with colobus monkeys.
Under the canopy along the riverbanks may be seen
many colorful birds. Goliath herons, blue-breasted
kingfishers, white-cheeked turacos, emerald-spotted
wood doves and red-fronted bee-eaters are all
rewarding sights, while monitor lizards may be
glimpsed scuttling into the undergrowth. Beyond the
forest, hippos graze on the Savannah slopes against
the mountain walls, and waterbuck, bushbuck and
Abyssinian ground hornbills are sometimes to be
seen. Abundant wildlife,
spirited rapids, innumerable side creeks and
waterfalls, sheer inner canyons and hot springs all
combine to make the Omo one of the world's classic
river adventures. East of the Omo River and
stretching south towards the Chew Bahir basin lies
the Mago National Park, rich in wildlife and with
few human inhabitants. The vegetation is mainly
Savannah grassland and bus, extending across an
area of 2,160 square km . Mammal species total 812,
including hartebeest, giraffe, roan antelope,
elephant, lion, leopard and perhaps even a rare
black rhino. Several of
Ethiopia's more remote areas are excellent for
walking safaris, which are offered by several good
tour operators in the country. Walking tours, best
planned for the dry season, offer the traveler the
opportunity for awe-inspiring vantage points from
which to view many of Ethiopia's natural wonders,
cultural riches and architectural heritage. In
Gondar, there are fairy tale castles dating back to
the 17th century. In Harar, the visitor can enjoy
the incense-flavored mysteries of narrow alleyways
and towering minarets. Journey
to the Roof of
Africa
Continued
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During
two remarkable journeys to Ethiopia for the Africa
Travel Association's Jubilee year program, our
agenda was arranged through the offices of the
south
from Addis Ababa. Several pages on this site cover
the various segments of our Historic Route journey.
80 Our full story will be presented in an updated
edition of Africa Travel magazine. For some basic
background on Ethiopia, we present the following
item compliments of Selamta, Ethiopian Airlines
in-flight magazine. The photo
(below)
shows the contrast between modern and ancient modes
of transportation. It is from Ethiopian Airlines'
beautiful coffee table book "Bringing Africa
together," an apt title considering our focus on
Peace Through Tourism.
..
