1. Bale Mountains National Park
Bale Mountains National Park is 2,400 sq
km (1,488 square miles) in area, covering
a wide range of habitats and ranging in
altitude from 1,500 to 4,377 meters
(4,920 to 14,357 feet) and is the highest
point in southern Ethiopia.
Bale is less inhabited, on a high-
altitude plateau, heather moorlands, and
dense juniper forest with an easily seen
population of Mountain Nyala and Simien
Fox as well as some fabulous birds, many
of them endemic.
Bale Mountains National Park
Simien Fox
The Bale Mountains National Park is
The second highest peak in
home to a multitude of unique flora and
Ethiopia at 4,377m above sea
level. fauna which are endemic either to the
park or to the country. Mountain Nyala,
Bale Mountains National Park gives the visitor opportunities for Semien fox and Ethiopian wolfs is some
unsurpassed mountain hiking, horse trekking, scenic driving and of the endemic animals. The park is
the chances to view many of Ethiopia's endemic mammals, in dominated by Tullu Deemtu - the second
particular the Mountain Nyala and Semien Fox, and birds, such highest peak in Ethiopia at 4,377m
as the thick-billed raven, Wattled Ibis, blue-winged goose, and above sea level. At lower altitude, the
Rouget's Rail. forest is home to different species: lion,
leopards, spotted hyenas, African
hunting dogs and many others. There
are also 16 endemic bird species in the
Bale Mountains National Park. The park
has some of the most accessible walking
areas in the country from which it is
easy to see several endemic and
common species up close.

2. Erta Ale is one of the spectacular and unique
places in Afar- Ethiopia (May be in the world). It
is the most active isolated shield Volcano in
Ethiopia famed for its long-standing lava lake
Arta Ale
activity. This volcano is situated in the Danakil
depression of Northern Afar.
Erta Ale's Lava Lake has been active for at
least the last 90 years making it one of the
longest known historic eruptions. It is also more
interesting to know that large amounts of heat
are released by the volcano while the amount of
lava that actually erupts is relatively small. Why
The Danakil is an area of singular geological fascination: was that? This is because, as suggested by
a strange lunar landscape studded with active volcanoes, some, a higher magma density which came as a
malodorous sulfur-caked hot springs, solidified black lava result of the cooling of the lava lake blocked
flows, and vast salt-encrusted basins. Much of this vast the eruptions. It is believed that the Northern pit of
and practically unpopulated region lies below sea level - Erta Ale stayed active (contained lava lake)
116 m at Dallol one of the driest and most tectonically possibly between 1906 and 1988 for about 80
active areas on the planet. years. At the moment this pit contains only a
It is some measure of the Danakil's geological activity rising steam. An over view of the north pit using
that more than 30 active or dormant volcanoes – roughly fish-eye-lens revealed strange fumarolic
a quarter of the African total – is listed there. deposits along the northern rim of this pit. Also
on the north eastern rim of the same pit is seen
a remarkable hornito formed by fluid lava. On
the southern rim a small pit only a few meters
in diameter is found.
Dallol volcano is located in the Danakil
Depression in NE Ethiopia, in a remote area
subject to the highest average temperatures on
the planet. The volcano encompasses Dallol
Mountain. Dallol Mountain is thought to have
been formed as the result of intrusion of a
basaltic magma body underneath. The circular
depression near the center of Dallol Mountain
is presumably a collapse crater, although
neither its age nor the exact process from
Currently, activity is in the form of hot brine springs. which it resulted are known. The SW flank of
Salts washed out of the underlying layers are Dallol Mountain harbours impressive salt
transported to the surface by geothermal heated water canyons formed by erosion processes.
and rapidly crystallize as the water evaporates.

3. The Afar Regional State, where the depression is found, is well known as
one of the cradles of hominids, containing the Middle Awash, site of many
fossil hominid discoveries such as Ardi, (ardipithecus ramidus); Gona
(Gawis cranium), site of the world's oldest stone tools; and Hadar, site of
Lucy, the fossilized specimen of Australopithecus afarensis.
Many fossils have been found in the awash region, not only hominids but
also elephantoids, crocodiles and hippopotamus.
Australopithicus afarensis is a recently discovered Hominid species which
lived in north east Africa, in the Hadar region of Ethiopia). Until 1995,
this species was the earliest known member of the Hominid family.
Australopithicus afarensis lived from approximately 4 to 2.7 million years
ago along the northern Rift valley of east Africa, and perhaps even
earlier.
Fragments of more than 300 individuals of Australopithicus afarensis
have been discovered so far, including a remarkably complete skeleton
of an adult female (nick- named "Lucy") shown above and to the right.
"Lucy" was found in 1974 near Hadar in Ethiopia. Her skeleton has
provided a wealth of information about the ancestral line of human
beings, some of it quite surprising. The illustration on the right shows
"Lucy" in comparison with a modern human female. She was only about 3
Australopithecus feet, 8 inches tall. Males were somewhat taller and twice as robust.
afarensis