Ethiopia

Outstanding Universal Value!

Lalibela, a small town in Northern Ethiopia, is home to 11 spectacular churches carved both inside and out from a single rock some 900 years ago. Their construction is attributed to King Lalibela who set out to build a ‘New Jerusalem’ in the 12th century, after Muslim conquests halted Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

The chiseled creations have turned this mountain town into a place of pride and pilgrimage for worshipers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

There is a belief that Lalibela pilgrims share the same blessing as pilgrims to Jerusalem.

Massive erosion over the years on the Ethiopian plateau has created one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, with jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys and sharp precipices dropping some 1,500m.

Semien National Park is home to some extremely rare animals such as the Gelada baboon, the Simien fox and the Walia ibex, a goat found nowhere else in the world.

The park is an exotic setting with unique wildlife and breath-taking views on a landscape shaped by nature and traditional agriculture. The natural beauties of this region have always filled visitors from Ethiopia and abroad with awe.

The River Nile is the longest river in Africa; from Lake Tana, the Blue Nile, known locally as Abbay, flows from Ethiopia to meet the White Nile in Khartoum to form the great river that gives life to Egypt and the Sudan.

It has been said that the Blue Nile contributes up to 80% of the Nile’s flow. Nowhere is it more spectacular than when it thunders over the Tisisat Falls near Bahar Dar. Here millions of gallons of water cascade over the cliff face and into a gorge, creating spectacular rainbows, in one of the most awe-inspiring displays in Africa, earning it the name 'Smoking Water'.

The Ethiopian Rift Valley, which is part of the famous East African Rift Valley, comprises numerous hot springs, beautiful lakes and a variety of wildlife.

The valley is the result of two parallel faults in the earth's surface, between which in distant geological time, the crust was weakened and the land subsided.

Ethiopia is often referred to as the 'water tower' of Eastern Africa because of the many rivers that pour off the high tableland. A chain of seven lakes marks the Great Rift Valley’s passage through Ethiopia; each of the seven lakes has its own special life and character and provides ideal habitats for the exuberant variety of flora and fauna that make the region a beautiful and exotic destination.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s sprawling capital in the highlands, bordering the Great Rift Valley, is the country’s commercial and cultural hub.

Addis Ababa has paramount attraction with its precious and diverse natural gifts, day-to-day cultural activities of its dwellers, as well as its historical tract and the process of the establishment of the city and its long history that makes it unique.