Rivers and Lakes
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Blue Nile River
The Blue Nile, in Ethiopia, in Amharic: Abbai is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. With the White Nile, the river is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile. The upper reaches of the river is called the Abbay in Ethiopia, where it is considered holy by many, and is believed to be the River Gihon(Ghion) mentioned as flowing out of the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 2 verse 13.
According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Blue Nile has a total length of 1,450 kilometers (900 mi), of which 800 km (500 mi) are inside Ethiopia. The Blue Nile flows generally south from Lake Tana and then west across Ethiopia and northwest into Sudan. Within 30 kilometers (19 mi) of its source at Lake Tana, the river enters a canyon about 400 kilometers (250 mi) long. This gorge is a tremendous obstacle for travel and communication from the north half of Ethiopia to the southern half. The power of the Blue Nile is best appreciated at Tis Issat Falls, which are 45 metres (148 ft) high, located about 30 kilometers (20 mi) downstream of Lake Tana.
Although there are several feeder streams that flow into Lake Tana, the sacred source of the river is generally considered to be a small spring at Gish Abbai at an altitude of approximately 2,744 metres (9,003 ft). This stream, known as the Lesser Abay, flows north into Lake Tana.
There are numerous tributaries of the Abay between Lake Tana and the Sudanese border. Those on its left bank, in downstream order, include the Wanqa River, the Bashilo River, the Walaqa River, the Wanchet River, the Jamma River, the Muger River, the Guder River, the Agwel River, the Nedi River, the Didessa River and the Dabus River. Those on the right side, also in downstream order, include the Handassa, Tul, Abaya, Sade, Tammi, Cha, Shita, Suha, Muga, Gulla River, Temcha, Bachat, Katlan, Jiba, Chamoga, Weter and the Beles.
After flowing past Er Roseires inside Sudan, and receiving the Dinder on its right bank at Dinder, the Blue Nile joins the White Nile at Khartoum and, as the River Nile, flows through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria. The Blue Nile is so-called because during flood times the water current is so high, it changes colour to an almost black; since in the local Sudanese language the word for black is also used for the colour blue.
The distance from its source to its confluence is variously reported as 1,460 and 1,600 kilometres (907 and 1,000 miles). The uncertainty over its length might partially result from the fact that it flows through a virtually impenetrable gorges cut in the Ethiopian Highlands to a depth of some 1,500 metres (4,900 ft)—a depth comparable to that of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in the United States.
The flow of the Blue Nile reaches maximum volume in the rainy season (from June to September), when it supplies about two thirds of the water of the Nile proper. The Blue Nile, along with that of the Atbara River to the north, which also flows out of the Ethiopian Highlands, were responsible for the annual Nile floods that contributed to the fertility of the Nile Valley and the consequent rise of ancient Egyptian civilization and Egyptian Mythology. With the completion in 1970 of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, the Nile floods ended.
The Blue Nile is vital to the livelihood of Egypt. Though shorter than the White Nile, 59% of the water that reaches Egypt originates from the Blue Nile branch of the great river; when combined with the Atbara River, which also has its source in the Ethiopian Highlands, the figure rises to 90% of the water and 96% of transported sediment. The river is also an important resource for Sudan, where the Roseires and Sennar dams produce 80% of the country's power. These dams also help irrigate the Gezira Plain, which is most famous for its high quality cotton. The region also produces wheat and animal feed crops.
Blue Nile by European Explorers
The first European to have seen the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and the river's source was Pedro Paez, a Spanish Jesuit who reached the river's source 21 April 1613. Nevertheless the Portuguese João Bermudes, the self-described Patriarch of Ethiopia, provided the first description of the Tis Issat Falls in his memoirs (published in 1565), and a number of Europeans who lived in Ethiopia in the late 15th century like Pêro da Covilhã could have seen the river long before Paez, but not reached its places of source.
The source of the Blue Nile was also reached in 1629 by the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Jerónimo Lobo and in 1770 by James Bruce.
Although a number of European explorers contemplated tracing the course of the Blue Nile from its confluence with the White Nile to Lake Tana, its gorge, which begins a few miles inside the Ethiopian border, has discouraged all attempts since Frédéric Cailliaud's attempt in 1821. The first serious attempt by a non-local to explore this reach of the river was undertaken by the American W.W. Macmillan in 1902, assisted by the Norwegian explorer B.H. Jenssen; Jenssen would proceed upriver from Khartoum while Macmillan sailed downstream from Lake Tana. However Jenssen's boats were blocked by the rapids at Famaka short of the Sudan-Ethiopian border, and Macmillan's boats were wrecked shortly after they had been launched. Macmillan encouraged Jenssen to try to sail upstream from Khartoum again in 1905, but he was forced to stop 300 miles short of Lake Tana. Consul Cheesman, who records his surprise on arriving in Ethiopia at finding that the upper waters of "one of the most famous of the rivers of the world, and one whose name was well known to the ancients" was in his lifetime "marked on the map by dotted lines", managed to map the upper course of the Blue Nile between 1925–1933. He did this not by following the river along its banks and through its impassible canyon, but following it from the highlands above, travelling some 5,000 miles (8,000 km) by mule in the adjacent country.
Abay Gorge
It is situated 225 kms north of Addis Ababa. The majestic and enormous gorge is the most captivating in Africa. It has a magnificent, alluring physical feature and natural beauty. At the bottom of the gorge the bridge spans over the Abay (the Blue Nile).
Tekezé River
The Tekezé River is a major river of Ethiopia, and forms a section the westernmost border of Ethiopia and Eritrea for part of its course. The river is also known as the Setit in Eritrea, western Ethiopia, and eastern Sudan. According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Tekezé River is 608 kilometers long.The canyon which it has created is the deepest in Africa and one of the deepest in the world, at some points having a depth of over 2000 meters.
The earliest known mention of the Tekezé is in an inscription from Axum of king Ezana of Axum, where he boasts of a victory in a battle on its lower banks, near "the ford of Kemalke".[4] The Tekezé served as an early link between Ethiopia and Egypt; for example, the Kebra Nagast, which received its current form in the 13th century, states that king Menelik I returned to Ethiopia by following this river from Egypt (ch. 53). Augustus B. Wylde records a related tradition that near the source of the Tekezé, at the location of Eyela Kudus Michael church, is the true resting-place of the Ark of the Covenant
Awash River
The Awash (sometimes spelled Hawash; Afar We'ayot) is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into a chain of interconnected lakes that begin with Lake Gargori and end with Lake Abbe (or Abhe Bad) on the border with Djibouti, some 100 kilometers (60 or 70 miles) from the head of the Gulf of Tadjoura. It is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin covering parts of the Amhara, Oromia and Somali Regions, as well as the southern half of the Afar Region.
The Awash rises south of Mount Warqe, west of Addis Ababa in the woreda of Ejerie, Mirab (West) Shewa Zone, Oromia. Thence the Awash flows south to loop around Mount Zuqualla in an easterly then northeasterly direction, passing the Awash National Park, and joined on its left bank by its chief affluent, the Germama (or Kasam) River, before turning northeast at approximately 11° N 40° 30' E as far north as 12° before turning completely east to reach lake Gargori.
According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Awash River is 1200 kilometers long. The author of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica article describes its middle portion as "a copious stream nearly 200 feet [60 meters] wide and 4 feet [1.2 meters] deep in the dry season, and during the floods rising 50 or 60 feet [15 to 20 meters] above low-water mark, thus inundating the plains for many miles along both its banks."
Baro River
The Baro River is a river in southwestern Ethiopia, which defines part of Ethiopia's border with Sudan. From its source in the Ethiopian Highlands it flows west for 306 kilometres (190 mi) to join the Pibor River. The Baro river is created by the confluence of the Birbir and Gebba Rivers, east of Metu in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia Region. It then flows west through the Gambela Region to join with the Pibor River, both of them creating the Sobat. Other notable tributaries of the Baro include the Alwero and Jikawo Rivers.
Of the Sobat River's tributaries, the Baro River is by far the largest, contributing 83% of the total water flowing into the Sobat. During the rainy season, between June and October, the Baro River alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. In contrast, these rivers have very low flow during the dry season.
The only navigable river in Ethiopia, the Baro's most important city is Gambela, which served as a port from 1907 until the 1990s when civil war in Ethiopia and Sudan forced shipping on the river to be halted.
The second-longest bridge in Ethiopia crosses the Baro, connecting two parts of the Gambela Region. This bridge is 305 meters long.
Omo River
The Omo River is an important river of southern Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. It is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin; the part that the Omo drains includes part of the western Oromia Region and the middle of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.
During his second expedition (1895–1897), Vittorio Bottego was the first European explorer to follow the course of the lower Omo River to its confluence with Lake Turkana.
This river rises in the Shewan highlands and is a perennial river. Its course is generally to the south, however with a major bend to the west at about 7° N 37° 30' E to about 36° E where it turns south until 5° 30' N where it makes a large S- bend then resumes its southerly course to Lake Turkana. According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Omo River is 760 kilometers long.
In its course the Omo has a total fall of about 6000 ft (2,000 m), from an elevation of 7600 ft at its source to 1600 ft at lake-level, and is consequently a very rapid stream, being broken by the Kokobi and other falls, and navigable only for a short distance above where it empties into Lake Turkana, one of the lakes of the Great Rift Valley. The Spectrum Guide to Ethiopia describes it as a popular site for white-water rafting in September and October, when the river is still high from the rainy season.Its most important tributary is the Gibe River; smaller tributaries include the Wabi, Denchya, Gojeb, Mui and Usno rivers.
Wabi Shebelle River
The Wabi Shebelle River begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. Below Mogadishu, the river becomes seasonal. During most years, the river dries up near the mouth of the Jubba River, while in seasons of heavy rainfall; the river actually reaches the Jubba and thus the Indian Ocean.
The Wabi Shebelle River’s name is derived from the Somali term Wabi Shabeelle, meaning "Leopard/Tiger River". According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Shebelle is 1130 kilometers long, extending for 1000 km inside Ethiopia and 130 km inside Somalia.
The source of the Shebelle River is venerated by both the Arsi Oromo and the Sidamo people. It is surrounded by a sacred enclosure wooded with juniper trees, which as of 1951 was under the protection of a Muslim member of the Arsi.
Lake Tana
Lake Tana (also spelled T'ana) is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian highlands, according to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the lake is approximately 84 kilometers long and 66 kilometers wide, with a maximum depth of 14 meters, and an elevation of 1,830 meters. Lake Tana is fed by the Lesser Abay, Reb and Gumara Rivers and its surface area ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 km² depending on season and rainfall. The lake level has been regulated since the construction of the control weir where the lake discharges into the Blue Nile, which regulates the flow to the Tis Abbai falls and hydro-power station. The lake has 37 islands, of which 19 have monasteries or churches on them.
Remains of ancient Ethiopian emperors and treasures of the Ethiopian Church are kept in the isolated island monasteries (including Kebran Gabriel, Ura Kidane Mehret, Narga Selassie, Daga Estifanos, Medhane Alem of Rema, Kota Maryam and Mertola Maryam). On the island of Tana Qirqos is a rock shown to Paul B. Henze, on which he was told the Virgin Mary had rested on her journey back from Egypt; he was also told that Frumentius, who introduced Christianity to Ethiopia, is "allegedly buried on Tana Cherqos." The body of Yekuno Amlak is interred in the monastery of St. Stephen on Daga Island; other Emperors whose tombs are on Daga include Dawit I, Zara Yaqob, Za Dengel and Fasilides. Other important islands in Lake Tana include Dek, Mitraha, Gelila Zakarias, Halimun, and Briguida.
The monasteries are believed to rest on earlier religious sites and include the fourteenth century Debre Maryam, the eighteenth century Narga Selassie, Tana Qirqos (said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant before it was moved to Axum), and Ura Kidane Mehret, known for its regalia. A ferry service links Bahir Dar with Gorgora via Dek Island and various lake shore villages.
Lake Tana supports a notable fishing industry; according to the Ethiopian Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 1,454 tons of fish are landed each year at Bahir Dar, which the department estimates is 15% of its sustainable amount
Lake Hayq
Lake Hayq or Lake Haik is a freshwater lake of Ethiopia. It is located north of Dessie, in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region (or kilil). The town of Hayq is to the west of the lake.
Lake Hayq is 6.7 km long and 6 km wide, with a surface area of 23 km². It has a maximum depth of 88 m and is at an elevation of 2,030 meters above sea level.
According to a local legend, the lake was created to avenge a pregnant woman who was wronged by a princess. God was greatly angered by this injustice, and in his wrath turned all of the land surrounding the woman (except the ground she was sitting on) into water forming a lake, destroying the princess along with her friends and family in the process. Where the pregnant woman was sitting became an island (now a peninsula) where Istifanos Monastery, founded in the middle of the 13th century by Iyasus Mo'a, is located.
A former student of Iyasus Mo'a, Tekle Haymanot went on to found the monastery of Debra Asbos (renamed in the 15th century to Debre Libanos) in Shewa. Tekle Haymanot was one of five bright young religious students who became the "five lights of Christianity" for the south of Ethiopia. Iyasus Mo'a also played a role in Yekuno Amlak's overthrow of the Zagwe dynasty, and helped restore the Solomonic dynasty. Upon Yekuno Amlak's ascension to the throne, Istifanos Church became Istifanos Monastery.
The church was established around the 8th century during the Axumite era and was the first one in what was then the Amhara province. The events surrounding its establishment, however, are not clear. Some legends suggest that there was an Aksumite palace in Ambasselle opposite the modern Istifanos monastery, located on the opposite side of the Lake Hayq. Imam Ahmad Gragn looted and burned this church in November, 1531. The ruins of the church are still visible, and the legend states that the kings and princes who lived in that palace established the church.
The first known European to view the lake was Francisco Álvares, who passed near it 21 September 1520; he mentions the lake had hippopotamuses and catfish, and the land around it were planted in lemons, oranges and citrons. Just prior to his accession in 1606, Susenyos I made his way to the lake Hayk area, where he expelled a group of Oromo who had infiltrated into the vicinity of Istifanos Monastery.
Lake Ashenge
Lake Ashenge (also Lake Ashangi) is a lake in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Ethiopian highlands at an elevation of 2409 meters, it has no outlet. According to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, Lake Ashenge is five kilometers long and four wide, with a surface area of 20 square kilometers.
The British explorer Henry Salt, who notes that the Tigrinyan name of the lake is Tsada Bahri ("White Sea") from the number of birds which cover its surface, records a local tradition that a large city once stood on the site of Ashenge, but "it was destroyed, in his displeasure, by the immediate hand of God."
On August 29, 1542, Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi advanced upon the Portuguese stockade near Wofla on the southern side of Ashenge, where he fought the Battle of ofla and prevailed, afterwards capturing and killing the leader Cristóvão da Gama.
Lake Zway
Lake Zway or Lake Ziway is one of the freshwater Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia. It is located 163km south of Addis Ababa, on the border between the Regions of Oromia and of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples; the woredas holding the lake's shoreline are Adami Tullu and Jido Kombolcha, Dugda Bora, and Ziway Dugda. The town of Ziway lies on the lake's western shore. The lake is fed primarily by two rivers, the Meki from the west and the Katar from the east, and is drained by the Bulbar which empties into Lake Abijatta. The lake's catchment has an area of 7025 square kilometers.
According to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, Lake Zway is 25 kilometers long and 20 km wide, with a surface area of 434 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 4 meters and is at an elevation of 1,846 meters. It has five islands which include Debre Sina, Galila, Bird Island and, perhaps most notably, Tullu Gudo, home to a monastery said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant around the ninth century. The early 20th-century explorer, Herbert Weld Blundell, describes finding that "two distinct terraces of former shores rise some 80 feet above the present level, forming a ring round that nearest to the lake on the north, about 4 miles from the shore, marking a former basin." The northern shores were covered by papyrus. Weld Blundell includes in his account "a curious tradition, perhaps suggested by the apparent elevated shore," that the lake "was a kingdom 50 miles across, inhabited by seventy-eight chiefs" which disappeared in a single night.
The lake is known for its population of birds and hippopotamuses. Lake Zway supports a fishing industry; according to the Ethiopian Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2,454 tons of fish are landed each year, which the department estimates is 83% of its sustainable amount.
The shores and islands of Lake Zway are the home of the Gurage people. Tradition states that when the Muslim Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi conquered Ethiopia, the Christians of the area took refuge on its islands. They were later isolated from the rest of Ethiopia by the Oromo people, who settled around the lake. At the time Menelik II conquered the lands around the lake, the lake-dwellers were rediscovered and found to have preserved both their Christian faith and a number of ancient manuscripts.
Lake Langano
Langano is a lake in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, exactly 200 kilometers by road south of the capital, Addis Ababa, on the border between the Misraq Shewa and Arsi Zones. The first European to record its existence, Oscar Neumann, records that it was also known as "Lake Kore". It is located in the Great Rift Valley at an elevation of 1,585 meters to the east of Lake Abijatta.
According to figures published by the Central Statistical Agency, Lake Langano is 18 kilometers long and 16 km wide, with a surface area of 230 square kilometers and a maximum depth of 46 meters. The lake has a catchment 1600 square kilometers in size, and is drained by the Hora Kallo river which empties into the adjacent Lake Abijatta.
As it is free of Bilharzia (schistosomiasis), unlike all other freshwater lakes in Ethiopia, Lake Langano is popular with tourists and city-dwellers. The lake is brown in color. There are a number of resorts around the lake and water sports are popular. There is a variety of wildlife around the lake, which include hippos (rare), monkeys, baboons, warthogs, and a huge variety of birds. The area around the lake is largely deforested, however, and a large number of pastoral rural people live around the area.
Two earthquakes had their epicenter near this lake, the first in 1906 (a magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale), and the second in 1985 (magnitude 6.2).
Lake Shala
Lake Shala (also spelled Shalla) lies in Ethiopia south of Addis Ababa, in the Abijatta-Shalla National Park. The lake is 28 kilometers long and 12 wide, with a surface area of 329 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 266 meters and is at an elevation of 1,558 meters. As such, it is the deepest of Ethiopia's Rift Valley lakes. Known for the sulphur springs on the lake bed, its islands are inhabited by enormous Great White Pelicans, one being known as Pelican Island. Lake Shala is surrounded by hot springs filled with boiling water, and the earth surrounding the lake is filled with cracks due to erosion and earthquakes. Due to steam rising from the boiling water in the springs, the atmosphere around the lake is relatively foggy. At the southern end of the lake, there are various species of flamingoes and birds that frequent the lake.
Lake Abijatta
Lake Abijatta lies in Ethiopia south of Addis Ababa, in the Abijatta-Shalla National Park. According to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the lake is 17 kilometers long and 15 km wide, with a surface area of 205 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 14 meters and is at an elevation of 1,573 meters. Along the northeastern corner of this lake are a number of hot springs, which are important both as a tourist attraction and to the local inhabitants. There is also a soda ash operation on the shores of this lake, which produces 20,000 tons of sodium carbonate. Proven reserves at Lake Abijatta, and the neighboring Shala and Chitu lakes exceed 460 million tons.
Lake Awasa
Lake Awasa is located in the Rift Valley south of Addis Ababa. According to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the lake is 16 km long and 9 km wide, with a surface area of 129 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 10 meters and is located at an elevation of 1,708 meters. Because it is relatively accessible to scientists, Lake Awasa is the most studied of the Rift Valley lakes in Ethiopia. According to William Taylor, a member of the African Lakes and Rivers Research Group at the University of Waterloo, Lake Awasa is, despite its lack of an outflow, "essentially a freshwater lake (conductivity is variable, but less than 1,000) indicating that it must have a subterranean outlet."
Lake Chamo
Lake Chamo (Chamo Hayk in Amharic) is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of southern Ethiopia. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at an elevation of 1,235 meters. It is just to the south of Lake Abaya and the city of Arba Minch, and east of the Guge Mountains.
The lake's northern end lies in the Nechisar National Park. According to figures published by the Central Statistical Agency, Lake Chamo is 26 kilometers long and 22 wide, with a surface area of 551 square kilometers and a maximum depth of 10 meters. The lake is fringed with beds of Typha, as well as wetlands. It has a catchment of about 2220 square kilometers in size, and the lake is fed by the Kulfo River and several small streams, as well as overflow from Lake Abaya brought to it by the Ualo River.
Wildlife includes fish like the catfish Bagrus docmac and Nile perch, as well as hippopotamus and Nile crocodiles.
Lake Abaya
Lake Abaya is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. It was named Lake Margherita by the Italian explorer Vittorio Bottego, the first European commonly thought to visit the lake, to honor the wife of king Umberto I of Italy, Queen Margherita. This name appears in older publications, and currently is rarely used.
However, the American explorer Arthur Donaldson Smith records that the local inhabitants, who included an eye witness of the event, told him that the Italian explorer Eugene Ruspoli (died 1891) was killed by an elephant near the lake, which happened before Bottego reached Lake Abaya.
Lake Abaya is located in the Great Rift Valley, east of the Guge Mountains. It is fed on its northern shore by the Bilate which rises on the southern slopes of Mount Gurage, and the Gidabo. The town of Arba Minch lies on its southwestern shore, and the southern shores are part of the Nechisar National Park. Just to the south is Lake Chamo. Lake Abaya is 60 kilometers long and 20 wide,[ with a surface area of 1162 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 13.1 meters and is at an elevation of 1285 meters. There are a number of islands in this lake, the largest being Aruro; others include Gidicho, Welege, Galmaka, and Alkali. The lake is red due to a high load of suspended sediments. Lake Abaya does not always have an outflow, but in some years it overflows into Lake Chamo.
Savanna, known for its wildlife and birdlife surrounds the lake, which is also fished by local people. According to the Ethiopian Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 412 tons of fish are landed each year, which the department estimates is 69% of its sustainable amount.
Lake Abbe
Lake Abbe or Lake Abhe Bad is a salt lake, lying on the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. It is one of a chain of six connected lakes, which also includes (from north to south) lakes Gargori, Laitali, Gummare, Bario and Afambo.
Lake Abbe is the ultimate destination of the waters of the Awash River. Lake Abbe lies at the Afar Triple Junction, the central meeting place for the three pieces of the Earth’s crust, a defining feature of the Afar Depression; here three pieces of Earth’s crust are each pulling away from that central point, though not all at the same speed.
On the northwest shore rises Mount Dama Ali (1069 meters), a dormant volcano, while along the southwestern and southern shores extend vast salt flats, 10 kilometers in width. Besides the Awash, seasonal affluents of Lake Abbe include two wadis, the Oleldere and Abuna Merekes, which enter the lake from the west and south, crossing the salt flats. The present area of the lake's open water is 34,000 hectares (130 sq mi).
Lake Abbe is known for its limestone chimneys, which reach heights of 50 meters and from which steam vents. The shore of Lake Abbe is occupied by the nomadic Afar people, while the lake is also known for its flamingos.
Lake Afambo
Lake Afambo is one of a chain of lakes into which the Awash River empties its waters. It is located at the eastern end of the Afar Region of Ethiopia. The lake lies on a roughly north-south axis, 13 kilometers long by two wide, having 1760 hectares of open water. Afambo receives its inflow from Lake Gummare from a channel at its northern point, and has its outflow in the swamps on its southwest shores where it empties into Bario. The first European to visit Lake Afambo was Wilfred Thesiger, who explored the course of the Awash to its ultimate ending point in 1935. Thesiger led his party along the eastern and southern sides of this lake. This area did not see another visitor from outside Ethiopia until Pele Thompson retraced Thesiger's steps in May and June 2001. There had been a bridge over the channel between lakes Gummare and Afambo at Ebobe, it had "collapsed some time ago." Further, while Lake Afambo had been a fresh-water lake when Thesiger visited in, it has since become very saline due to the amount of water diverted upstream for irrigation purposes.
Lake Afrera
Lake Afrera (also transliterated as Lake Afdera) is a saline lake in northern Ethiopia. Located in Administrative Zone 2 of the Afar Region, it is one of the lakes of the Afar Depression. According to its entry in Lakenet, it has a surface area of 100 km2 (39 sq mi), although another source states the area is 12,500 hectares. An unconfirmed report gives its depth as 160 m (525 ft); the lake is fed by underground streams. It is also known as Lake Giulietti, the name Raimondo Franchetti bequeathed it, after the Italian explorer Giuseppe Maria Giulietti who was slain by Afars southwest of the lake. Another name for this body of water is Lake Egogi (or Egogi Bad), which is the name L.M. Nesbitt's Afar guide gave it when the British explorer became the first European to see it in 1928.The single island in Lake Afrera, Franchetti Island (also known as "Desert"), located in the southern part of the lake, is considered the lowest-lying island in the world. Unlike other saline lakes in Ethiopia (e.g., Lakes Abijatta, Shala, and Chitu), the pH of Lake Afrera is low and in the acidic range. Although little studied, a few species of fish are hosted by Lake Afrera: one endemic monotypic fish genus Danakilia franchettii, and one endemic species Lebias stiassnyae which is also native to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
Salt extraction
Rock salt has been mined at Lake Afrera, and the surrounding part of the Afar Depression, for centuries. Lt. Lefebvre recorded some of the hazards of mining salt from the Depression, which he heard from one of the miners himself: He said that this lake often changes its shape and place, which he expressed in these terms: the lake moves. Often, he added, on going to a place which the evening before was quite solid, you suddenly break through, and disappear in the abyss. But what is more frightful is the overflow of the waters: sometimes the lake rises like a mountain, and falls again into the plain like a deluge; entire caravans, men and beasts are engulfed. There are, however, precursory signs, of which mounted men only can take advantage, by flying at the utmost speed of the animals; occasionally some of them have thus escaped, and it is from them these terrible details are procured.
More recently, the Ethiopian Mineral Resources Development Enterprise has established the existence of 290 million tons of salt at Lake Afrera alone. Currently some local companies produce salt from the lake by pumping the brine into artificial ponds for evaporation and subsequent precipitation.
Lake Chew Bahir
Lake Chew Bahir (Amharic: "salty lake") or Lake Istifanos, also called Stefanie, is a lake in Southern Ethiopia on the boundary between the Oromia and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regions. When the lake is filled, it stretches into northern Kenya. Lying at the center of the Stephanie Wildlife Sanctuary, the lake measures some 40 miles (64 km) by 15 miles (24 km).
This lake is the southernmost and lowest (1,880 ft) of a series of lakes which lie in the north-easterly continuation of the Great Rift Valley; its watershed is separated from the watershed of Lake Turkana by the Humu Range and the hills south of it. The Kumbi Range rises on its eastern side. Chew Bahir is fed from the north by the Weito River, and its tributary the Galana Sagan. The Galana Sagan receives the overflow of Lake Chamo in some years, but no permanent connection exists.
Count Sámuel Teleki was the first European to visit the lake in 1888, and named it for Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, the wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. Following Teleki's visit, Lake Chew Bahir and the neighboring lakes were explored by Arthur Donaldson Smith, Vittorio Bottego, M. S. Welby, Oscar Neumann and others. J. J. Harrison in 1899 found the lake quite dried up, and two years later Count Wickenburg found water only in the northern part. In 1960 the lake covered about 2,000 km², but shrank to a swamp over the rest of the 20th century.
Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana, formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul Lake and the (shrinking) Aral Sea, and among all lakes it ranks twenty-fourth. The water is potable but not palatable. It supports a rich lacustrine wildlife. The climate is hot and very dry.
The rocks of the surrounding area are predominantly volcanic. Central Island is an active volcano, emitting vapors. Outcrops and rocky shores are found on the East and South shores of the lake, while dunes, spits and flats are on the West and North, at a lower elevation.
On-shore and off-shore winds can be extremely strong as the lake warms and cools more slowly than the land. Sudden, violent storms are frequent. Three rivers (the Omo, Turkwel and Kerio) flow into the lake, but lacking outflow its only water loss is by evaporation. Lake volume and dimensions are variable. For example, its level fell by 10 meters between 1975 and 1993.
Due to temperature, aridity and geographic inaccessibility, the lake retains its wild character. Nile crocodiles are found in great abundance on the flats. The rocky shores are home to scorpions and carpet vipers. Although the lake and its environs have been popular for expeditions of every sort under the tutelage of guides, rangers and experienced persons, they certainly must be considered hazardous for unguided tourists.
The Lake Turkana area is regarded by many anthropologists as the cradle of humankind due to the abundance of hominid fossils.
