Physical Geography

This week we got in touch with the earth, lakes and mountains of Ethiopia.

The Rift valley

The Rift Valley is a 4,000 mile long crack in the earth's surface that runs from Jordan to Mozambique. The valley is often bordered by high cliffs offering stunning views of the valley below. In Ethiopia, the rift takes a turn at the Afar Triangle where three tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart from each other.
The valley is filled with lakes, volcanoes, and other seismic features. Our students visted lakes Abyata, Langano (at left)and Shala about 4 hours drive south from Addis. Lake Shala is a crater lake plunging to a depth of 266 meters and has abundant bird life.

Hiking Zequala

For many students, our hike up Zequala Mountain was the highhght of their stay to date. It was fun and it was a hard work. Two hours south of Addis, Mount Zequala rises to a height of 600 m (2000 ft). It took us 3 hours to climb up the mountain, another hour to walk to the crater lake on the top of the mountain and an hour and half to walk down. We are told that this extinct huge volcanic cone is about 7,000 years old. There is a church and monastery on the crater rim that dates from the 12th century.

More images from the hike 1 | 2 | 3 | 4