BY STAFF REPORTER
Dendi Lake Rockshelter is situated about 100 km southwest of Addis Ababa on the west-central part of the Ethiopian Plateau in the Ginchi Woreda, in Oromia State. The dumbbell-shaped Crater Lake is Northwest- Southeast oriented, and has its surface set at elevation of 2,836 meters (9,305 feet) above sea level.
The lake is about 5km long, 2 km wide narrowing down to only about 220m at the center where the two craters form an opening to merge which otherwise could have been two separate lakes. The surface area of Lake Dendi is about 8km².
The lake, which has a shape similar to the figure eight, has extraordinary land structures and contour around it. The vast surrounding landscape encompasses both stunning flat and green lands and it is filled by sky blue and highly sweet water naturally renewed by flow of rainwater from the surrounding mountains. The huge flat green area also increases the fresh splendor and beauty of the landscape that make Dendi Lake a unique spot for nature lovers.
This Crater Lake is one of Ethiopia’s undiscovered treasures and can only be described as absolutely breathtaking.
Mount Dendi is a volcano located near the city of Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia. It has an 8 km (5.0 mi) wide caldera, and its highest point is Mount Bodi at 3,260 m (10,700 ft). It fully contains Lake Dendi. It is the second highest volcano in Ethiopia, only 13.5 km (8.4 mi) from Wonchi, Ethiopia’s highest volcano.
Located on the border with Wonchi woreda, the notable landscape features include the Chilimo forest, a wooded area 2,400 hectares in size near Ginchi, which is a remnant of the dry Afromontane forest on the Ethiopian Central Plateau.
The Dendi Caldera is located on the Ethiopian Plateau, approximately 86 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa. (A caldera is a geological feature formed by the near-total eruption of magma from beneath a volcano. Following the eruption, the volcanic structure collapses into the empty magma chamber.
This collapse typically leaves a crater or depression where the volcano stood, and later volcanic activity can fill the caldera with younger lavas, ash, sediments, and pyroclastic rocks (rocks made from fragments of shattered volcanic rock).
Much of the volcanic rock in the area is basalt erupted as part of the opening of the East African Rift, but more silica-rich rock types, characterized by minerals such as quartz and feldspar, are also present.
The approximately 4-kilometer-wide Dendi Caldera includes some of this silica-rich volcanic rock: the rim of the caldera is mostly made of poorly consolidated ash erupted during the Tertiary Period (approximately 65–2 million years ago).
Two shallow lakes have formed within the central depression. Radial drainage patterns commonly form around volcanoes, as rainfall can flow downslope on all sides of the cone and incise channels. There are no historical records of volcanic eruptions at Dendi, but the Wonchi Caldera, 13 kilometers to the southwest (not shown), may have been active as recently as AD 550.
The Ethiopian Herald March 6/2021
