COMPILED BY BETHELEHEM BEDLU
Ethiopia has land borders with some countries: Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, Eritrea, Sudan, and South Sudan. Visas will not be issued at any of these borders and so it is essential that we obtain a visa to Ethiopia before embarking on our border crossing.
It is important to be aware that the Ethiopia e-Visa is only accepted at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. In order to travel by land, we will need to go to an embassy or consulate to have a standard tourist visa issued.
Travelers should, therefore, be mindful that as well as being a faster and easier way of traveling, entering Ethiopia by plane has the added advantage that you can travel on the Ethiopia e-Visa.
True, Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. Ethiopia has a high central plateau that varies from 1,290 to 3,000 m (4,232 to 9,843 ft) above sea level, with the highest mountain reaching 4,533 m (14,872 ft).
Elevation is generally highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley, which splits the plateau diagonally. A number of rivers cross the plateau; notably the Blue Nile rising from Lake Tana. The plateau gradually slopes to the lowlands of the Sudan on the west and the Somali-inhabited plains to the east
The country lies completely within the tropical latitudes and is relatively compact, with similar north-south and east-west dimensions. The capital is Addis Ababa (“New Flower”), located almost at the centre of the country.
Ethiopia is the largest and most populated country in the Horn of Africa. With the 1993 secession of Eritrea, its former province along the Red Sea, Ethiopia became landlocked.
Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries, its territorial extent having varied over the millennia of its existence. In ancient times it remained centered on Aksum, an imperial capital located in the northern part of the modern state, about 100 miles (160 km) from the Red Sea coast.
The present territory was consolidated during the 19th and 20th centuries as European powers encroached into Ethiopia’s historical domain. Ethiopia became prominent in modern world affairs first in 1896, when it defeated colonial Italy in the Battle of Adwa, and again in 1935–36, when it was invaded and occupied by fascist Italy.
Liberation during World War II by the Allied powers set the stage for Ethiopia to play a more prominent role in world affairs. Ethiopia was among the first independent nations to sign the Charter of the United Nations, and it gave moral and material support to the decolonization of Africa and to the growth of Pan-African cooperation.
These efforts culminated in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (since 2002, the African Union) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, both of which have their headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Between the valley of the Upper Nile and Ethiopia’s border with Sudan and South Sudan is a region of elevated plateaus from which rise the various tablelands and mountains that constitute the Ethiopian Highlands.
On nearly every side, the walls of the plateaus rise abruptly from the plains, constituting outer mountain chains. The highlands are thus a clearly marked geographic division.
In Eritrea, the eastern wall of this plateau runs parallel to the Red Sea from Ras Kasar (18° N) to Annesley Bay (also known as the Bay of Zula) (15° N). It then turns due south into Ethiopia and follows closely the line of 40° E for some 600 km (373 mi).
Characteristic of the country are the enormous fissures which divide it, formed over time by the erosive action of water. They are the valleys of the rivers, which rising on the uplands or mountain sides, have cut their way to the surrounding lowlands.
Some of the valleys are of considerable width; in other cases the opposite walls of the gorges are but two or three hundred meters apart, and fall almost vertically thousands of meters, representing an erosion of many hundred thousand cubic metres of hard rock.
One result of the action of the water has been the formation of numerous isolated flat-topped hills or small plateaus, known as ambas, with nearly perpendicular sides.
The highest peaks are found in the Semien and Bale ranges. The Semien Mountains lie northeast of Lake Tana and culminate in the snow-covered peak of Ras Dashen, which has an altitude of 4,550 m (14,928 ft). A few kilometers east and north respectively of Ras Dashen are Mounts Biuat and Abba Yared, whose summits are less than 100 meters (328 ft) below that of Ras Dashen.
The Bale Mountains are separated from the larger part of the Ethiopian highlands by the Great Rift Valley, one of the longest and most profound chasms in Ethiopia.
The highest peaks of that range include Tullu Demtu, the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia (4,377 m or 14,360 ft), Batu (4,307 m or 14,131 ft), Chilalo (4,036 m or 13,241 ft) and Mount Kaka (3,820 m or 12,533 ft).
Below 10° N, the southern portion of the highlands has more open tableland than the northern portion and fewer lofty peaks. Though there are a few heights between 3,000 and 4,000 m (9,843 and 13,123 ft), the majority do not exceed 2,400 m (7,874 ft), but the general character of the southern regions is the same as in the north: a much-broken hilly plateau.
East of the highlands towards the Red Sea there is a strip of lowland semi-desert, the Ethiopian xeric grasslands and shrublands.
The Ethiopian Herald February 26/2021
