Rift Valley

The park is in the chain of seven lakes which run from Debre Zeit south toward Lake Turkana in Kenya. The park is about 200 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, and consists of two lakes, just to the west of Lake Langano. They are particularly attractive stretches of water, and they are very different in character to each other. The main interest is the extensive bird life that the lakes attract, with over 400 species recorded.

Wildlife
There are a few mammals on the shores of lake Abiyatta, including Grant's gazelle, warthog and oribi.

Birdlife

The water of Lake Abiyatta is alkaline and among the birds attracted to feed on the algae are greater and lesser flamingoes and white pelicans, white-necked cormorants, herons, storks, fish eagles, spoonbills, ibises, ducks, gulls and terns. Surrounding woodland contains trogons, turacos and weaver birds. In the northern hemisphere winter the lake is host to migratory ducks and waders from Europe and Asia. Lake Shala is particularly famous for its colony of great white pelicans, (about 15,000 pairs), ibises, Abdimi's storks, and the white-necked cormorant. The lakes are important breeding grounds for several species of birds, especially the pelicans.

Attraction

Senkello Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary is close to the park, and is administered by the staff. It contains about 2,000 of these hartebeest, which are endemic to Ethiopia.

Lake Abiyatta is the more northern of the two lakes, and is about 20 kilometres across. It is shallow and surrounded by grass-covered shores and acacia woodland.

Lake Shala is 260 metres deep at maximum, and it is surrounded by black peaks and cliffs. There are two lots of hot springs on the margins of the lake. One, Ghike is close to the park HQ at Dole and the other is further round the lake on the southern shore.

Accommodation
Closest accommodation is at Lake Langano where there is the Langano resort complex, Bekele Mola Hotel, which also allows camping, and Ghike guest house.