Geography

The land of Ethiopia provides an extraordinary variety of landscapes, with its huge and lofty central plateau area contrasting totally with its hot deserts and tropics. While water is frequently in short supply, vast lakes and major and impressive rivers cut through the Ethiopian countryside, cascading far below ranges of towering mountains with challenging individual peaks such as Ras Dashen in the north.

As if to emphasise the diversity, this summit – the fourth highest in Africa – drops down across the fantastic Rift Valley towards the lowest place in Africa and the hottest inhabited place on the planet; the inhospitable desert of the Danakil Depression. Then, as you venture further south the climate feels truly tropical!

Five times the size of Great Britain, Ethiopia is home to nearly a hundred different tribes, each with its own language and its own highly colourful and developed culture. Some of these Ethiopian tribes live as simply and naturally as any known peoples on this earth. Yet our Guide to Ethiopia also tells of modern and developing cities such as Addis Ababa, the capital, and Mekele in the north of the country, as well as myriad of smaller towns and villages spread all over this often inaccessible land.

Here you can also read of Ethiopia’s immediate neighbours in this now land-locked land where local border disputes have rocked the area in recent times. On this continent of tribal and cultural variety, the country borders give frequent rise to strife and violence, where often impoverished areas of land are disputed by people. Ethiopia is what it is because of its geographical diversity and cultural variety.

Cities

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Ethiopia is a land of contrasts in so many ways and this is particularly noticeable in its cities, towns and villages.

Although up-to-date figures are hard to come by, the country has few large cities by modern standards. Addis Ababa, the capital in the centre of the country, has a population of about a million and a half and boasts one of the finest hotels on the African continent and a thriving modern international airport.

Yet many of its public buildings are looking tired and worn and greatly in need of modernisation. Its wide public avenues and arterial roads contrast greatly with the impoverished housing just behind them where running water and decent waste facilities are still hard to find.

Dire Dawa is the second city in population terms with a million inhabitants. It is situated over to the east of the country, halfway along the only railway line that Emperor Menelik had built at the beginning of the 20th century to link Addis Ababa with the port of Djibouti.

The modern part of the town shows careful geometric planning and has good basic facilities as it was built from scratch by the railroad constructors and for many years remained the terminus from Addis while further funds were sought to continue the line to the sea.

Gondar is the third city of Ethiopia, situated just north of Lake Tana and the capital of the country for about two hundred years from 1636. Today, the glories of ancient Gondar are very hard to find. It was sacked by the Dervishes in the 19th century and its present centre is largely Italian built and is dusty and run-down. In the last few years things have been looking up, with badly needed improvements to water and waste systems and steady upgrading of main central buildings.

Yet it still looks and feels like a country town with a large majority of its people clustered densely around the market area in very simple and basic dwellings. Only its impressive and isolated Royal Enclosure and various other occasional ruined ancient buildings hint at the grandeur that Gondar once boasted.

Other urban areas in Ethiopia with populations in excess of half a million include Bahar Dar, on the southern edge of Lake Tana, the administrative centre of its area and an impressively laid out and attractive town; Mekele in the far north, the well-maintained centre of the Tigray region of the country, with distinct Italian influences in its architecture and design; and Harar, very close to Dire Dawa in the east, the fourth holiest Moslem city in the world, and a colourful ancient centre with romantic 19th century connections with the great adventurer Sir Richard Burton and the poet Rimbaud.

Neighbours

Ethiopia has five immediate neighbours in its situation in the Horn of Africa. These are Somalia to the east, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, and Eritrea and Djibouti to the north. Ethiopia today finds itself uncomfortably in a land-locked situation.

When Eritrea became independent in 1993, relations with the country were such that no-one hurried to define the border with any exactness and there seemed little doubt that access to the Red Sea ports would continue without hindrance. But relations with Eritrea became very strained when, in 1997, Eritrea announced its own currency, the nafka, and the implications of this were to lead to a major dispute between the countries in 1998 over delineation of the border. Suffice it to say here that recent agreements, brokered by the UN and many other supporting countries, have led to UN troops’ involvement in a buffer zone between the warring factions and relations are at least steadier between the two countries.

Relations with Djibouti are vital to Ethiopia’s economy at the moment and the use of the Djibouti port, at the terminus of the French-built railway from Addis Ababa, is at present unimpeded.

Lesser tensions also exist with other neighbouring countries, especially Somalia, who became somewhat embroiled in the problems with Eritrea. Localised battles on Ethiopia’s north-east border are frequent at present, although it would appear that tensions are, in general, easing.

Mountains

The Horn of Africa is bounded by the huge geological faults of the Red Sea in the north and the Gulf of Aden in the east. The third major fault is the Rift Valley that cuts through Ethiopia from south to north. These faults have created some impressive mountain ranges and Ethiopia is considered a mountainous country with over half of the country rising to altitudes of around 2,000m.

The western half of the country is dominated by the great central Ethiopian plateau. It is here that the capital, Addis Ababa, and the historic circuit can be found. The source of the Blue Nile, the vast and beautiful Lake Tana, lying at 1,800m above sea level, is also situated on this enormous and imperious stretch of mountain.

The highest mountain in Ethiopia is called Ras Dashen (4,620m) and is situated in the stunning Simien range, a national park, north of Gondar. It is the fourth highest peak in Africa. The country has about 20 summits exceeding 3,600m.

Mountain life has shaped Ethiopia in many ways and can be tough going; but perhaps not as difficult as in the desert areas, which lie to the east and south of this huge central plateau. Here the land is desolate and barren and life is a struggle to support. The lowest point in Africa and the hottest inhabited place on the earth’s surface is in the Danakil Depression in the north-east of the country, near the Simien Mountains, with much of it lying more than 100m below sea level.

Rivers and lakes

In the middle of the great Ethiopian plateau, at 1,800m above sea level and with an area of 3,000 square kilometres lies the substantial inland sea of Lake Tana. Here are born two of Ethiopia’s major rivers, the Tekeze in the north and the Blue Nile in the south.

The Blue Nile River tumbles off the plateau at the Blue Nile Falls, known locally as the smoking river, near Bahir Dar and makes its way to the Sudan where it is joined by the White Nile before continuing its way to the Mediterranean Sea, supplying over 90% of Egypt’s water supply in the process. It was the great explorer James Bruce who, in the late 18th century, found his way to Lake Tana to discover the source of the Blue Nile. The Tekeze River runs north from the lake and encircles the Simien mountain range north of Gondar, providing a centre for white water canoeing for Ethiopia’s growing tourist industry.

Other great rivers that cut their valleys through the Ethiopian countryside include the Wabe Shebelle and the Awash – which run through the otherwise desolate Somali and Afar Regions respectively – the Omo in the south and the Boro River which is sourced in the moist lowlands of Gambella. There are also a great many lakes in the Rift Valley of significance and Afar contains some desert lakes.

Ethiopia is criss-crossed with little streams after the rainy season which dry up for most of the year. Rivers and lakes provide the life blood of Ethiopia during the dry season, especially as irrigation is relatively under-developed. Water channels can be dirty and carry disease, but they are used for washing and drinking by people who have no alternative.

Other great rivers that cut their valleys through the Ethiopian countryside include the Wabe Shebelle and the Awash – which run through the otherwise desolate Somali and Afar Regions respectively – the Omo in the south and the Boro River which is sourced in the moist lowlands of Gambella. There are also a great many lakes in the Rift Valley of significance and Afar contains some desert lakes.

Ethiopia is criss-crossed with little streams after the rainy season which dry up for most of the year. Rivers and lakes provide the life blood of Ethiopia during the dry season, especially as irrigation is relatively under-developed. Water channels can be dirty and carry disease, but they are used for washing and drinking by people who have no alternative.