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Awash National Park is the oldest and most developed
wildlife reserve in Ethiopia. Featuring the 1,800-meter-high 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 kilometers east of Addis Ababa.
The wildlife consists mainly of East African plains animals, but there are now no giraffe or buffalo. Oryx, bat-eared fox, caracal, aardvark, colobus and green monkeys, anuis and Hamadryas baboons, klipspringer, leopard, bushbuck, hippopotamus, Soemmerring's gazelle, cheetah, kudu, and 450 species of bird all live within the park's 720 square kilometers.
With their vast moorlands, the lower reaches covered St. John's wort, extensive heath, virgin woodlands, pristine mountain streams, and alpine climate, the Bale Mountains remain an untouched and beautiful world all their own.
Rising to a height of more than 4,000 meters, the range borders the southern highlands of Ethiopia. Mount Tullu Deembu, the highest peak in southern Ethiopia, reaches 4,377 meters.
The establishment of the 2,400-square-kilometers
of Bale Mountains National Park was crucial to the survival of
the mountain nyala, Menelik's bushbuck, and Simien red fox. This
fox is one of the most colorful members of the do family and more
abundant there than anywhere else in Ethiopia. All three endemic
animals thrive in this environment, while the nyala in particular
can be seen in large numbers.
Maskal also signifies the physical presence of the
True Cross at the remote mountain monastery of Gishen Mariam located
in the Welo region. In this monastery is a massive volume called
the Tefut, written during the reign of Zera Yacob (1434-1468),
which records the story of how a fragment of the Cross was acquired.
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