Special tours and arrangements
The Great Rift Valley - The Lake District and southern Ethiopia
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Harar the Forbidden City
Harar is a walled city which stands on the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley and is the
provincial capital of Ethiopia's largest administrative region, Hararge.
The population within the city walls speak their own language. The city's location
gives wonderful views of the surrounding country - the vast Danakil desert to the
north, the fertile Harar Mountains to the west, and the cattle rich Ogaden plains to the south.
In Harar you must see the Hyena men who call in and feed wild hyenas
Harar was a fiercely religious city and was a forbidden city (closed to visitors), until 1887 when
Menelik restored central rule. With its 99 mosques, including the 16th century Grand Mosque
with its beautiful twin towers and slender minaret, it is considered to be the fourth most holy
city in Islam after Mecca, Medina and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Bale Mountains
Bale Mountains National Park is an area of high altitude plateau that is broken by numerous
spectacular volcanic plugs and peaks, beautiful alpine lakes and rushing mountain streams
that descend into deep rocky gorges on their way to the lowlands below. As you ascend into
the mountains you will experience changes in the vegetation with altitude, from juniper
forests to heather moorlands and alpine meadows, which at various times of year
exhibit an abundance of colourful wildflowers.
Bale Mountains National Park is the largest area of Afro-Alpine habitat in the whole of
the continent. It gives the visitor opportunities for unsurpassed mountain walking, horse
trekking, scenic driving and the chances to view many of Ethiopia's endemic mammals,
in particular the Mountain Nyala and Semien Fox, and birds, such as the Thick-billed Raven,
Wattled Ibis, Blue-winged Goose, and Rouget's Rail.
The Bale Mountains rise from the extensive surrounding farmlands at 2,500 m above
sea level to the west, north and east. The National Park area is divided into two major
parts by the spectacular Harenna escarpment that runs from east to west.
North of this escarpment is a high altitude plateau area at 4,000 m altitude. The plateau is formed
of ancient volcanic rocks (trachytes, basalts, agglomerates and tuffs) dissected by many Rivers
and streams that have cut deep gorges into the edges over the centuries. In some places this
has resulted in scenic waterfalls. From the plateau rise several mountain massifs of rounded
and craggy peaks, including Tullu Deemtu the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia at
4,377 m above sea level. (Ras Dashen, near the Simien Mountains National Park in the north is
the highest - 4,543 m). A major part of the central peaks area is covered by a capping of more
recent lava flows, still mainly unvegetated, and forming spectacular rock ripples and pillars.
Many shallow depressions on the plateau are filled with water in the wet season, forming
small lakes that mirror the surrounding scenery. Larger lakes such as Garba Guracha (black water),
Hora Bachay and Hala Weoz, contain water all year round. These many lakes provide habitat
for water birds, especially migrating ducks from Europe during the northern winter.
The Great Rift Valley Omo National Park
The park is not easily accessible, as the current means of access is via Omorate and the ferry
to the north bank of the river. The park HQ is 75 km from Kibish settlement. A new airstrip
is available close to the HQ and to a pleasant campsite on the Mui.
Omo National Park, the largest in the country, with an area of 4,068 square kilometres. It is
a vast expanse of true wilderness, adjacent to the Omo River, which flows southwards into Lake
Turkana and is one of the richest and least visited wildlife sanctuaries in eastern Africa.
Eland, Oryx, Burchell's zebra, Lelwel Hartebeest, buffalo, giraffe, elephant, waterbuck, kudu,
lion, leopard and cheetah roam within the park's boundaries.
The Omo Valley is virtually free of human habitation but is rich in palaeo-anthro-pological
remains. According to scientific research done 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 kilometer 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 metres. The valley floor, 50 kilometers 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 a visit to this part of the Rift Valley, studded with lakes, volcanoes
and savannah grassland, offers the visitor a true safari experience.
The Omo River tumbles its 350 kilometer 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 colourful birds.
Goliath herons, blue-breasted kingfishers, white-cheeked turacios, 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.
