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Introduction to Ethiopia
created on:
2001-07-28
Ethiopia occupies most of the Horn of Africa. The country covers approximately 1,127,127 square kilometers and shares frontiers with Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea. The major physiographic features are a massive highland complex of mountains and plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley and surrounded by lowlands along the periphery. The diversity of the terrain is fundamental to regional variations in climate, natural vegetation, soil composition, and settlement patterns.
Diverse rainfall and temperature patterns are largely the result of Ethiopia's location in Africa's tropical zone and the country's varied topography. Altitude-induced climatic conditions form the basis for three environmental zones-- cool, temperate, and hot--which have been known to Ethiopians since antiquity as the dega, the weina dega, and the kolla, respectively.
The cool zone consists of the central parts of the western and eastern sections of the northwestern plateau and a small area around Harer. The terrain in these areas is generally above 2,400 meters in elevation; average daily highs range from near freezing to 16°C, with March, April, and May the warmest months. Throughout the year, the midday warmth diminishes quickly by afternoon, and nights are usually cold. During most months, light frost often forms at night and snow occurs at the highest elevations.
Lower areas of the plateau, between 1,500 and 2,400 meters in elevation, constitute the temperate zone. Daily highs there range from 16°C to 30°C.
The hot zone consists of areas where the elevation is lower than 1,500 meters. This area encompasses the Denakil Depression, the eastern Ogaden, the deep tropical valleys of the Blue Nile and Tekezé rivers, and the peripheral areas along the Sudanese and Kenyan borders. Daytime conditions are torrid, and daily temperatures vary more widely here than in the other two regions. Although the hot zone's average annual daytime temperature is about 27°C, midyear readings often soar to more than 40°C in the arid Ogaden.
Traveling to Ethiopia means that you have to deal with a infrastructure which is not that good. But the landscape is magnificent, throughout the country you can explore the rich history and Ethiopia is still not crowded with tourists. Before you visit the country, make sure you get the latest information to see which parts are safe to travel. Most of the time traveling within 20 kilometers of the Eritrean border should be avoided and there can be etnic tensions in the west of Ethiopia.
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