The Gurage Landscape

 

Gurage Zone

24 Nov 2014 | From Kate of Ethiopia

POSTCROSSING SWAP

Gurage is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). This zone is named for the Gurage people, whose homeland lies in this zone. Its highest point is Mount Gurage. Welkite is the administrative center of the Zone; Butajira is the largest city in this zone. Other towns in Gurage include Endibir and Enseno.

The Gurage people are the fifth largets ethno-linguistic group in Ethiopia. They  are an ethnic group in Ethiopia of the "Hamitic stock speaking Semitic language". The Gurage people traditionally inhabit a fertile, semi-mountainous region in southwest Ethiopia, about 125 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital city. Gurage houses are famous for their neatness and symmetry, circular structures held together without the use of nails, wooden spokes protruding from a center pole to support the thatched roof.

They were originally from the Tigray region of Ethiopia as the descendants of military conquerors during the Aksumite empire. Gurage make up an estimated 1,867,377 people (or 2.53% of the total population of Ethiopia) according to the 2007 national census. This is 2.53% of the total population of Ethiopia, or 7.52% of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR).

My first postcard from Ethiopia

 
Simien National Park
24 Nov 2014 | From Kate of Ethiopia
POSTCROSSING SWAP

The postcard shows a view of the Chennek and Imet Gogo in the Simien Mountains National Park. They are some of the most spectacular spots for trekking route through the Simiens - a UNESCO World Heritage site blessed with jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys and sharp precipices dropping some 1,500 m. It is also 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 Simien National Park, located in northern Ethiopia, was formed massive erosion over millions of years and has created such a spectacular landscape of mountains and valleys.

The site is located in the western Simen Mountains, 120 km north-east of Gondar in Begemder Province, north-west Ethiopia. With its abundance of creviced basalt rock, Simen serves as an ideal water catchment area, replenished by two wet seasons and the Mayshasha River, which weaves its way north to south through the national park. Consequently the park is rich in a wide range of wildlife and vegetation.

The Simen region has been inhabited by human settlers and cultivators for at least 2,000 years. Today it is surrounded by old cultural centres such as Aksum, where over 100 hand-carved stone monoliths (stelae) can be found, Lalibela and Gonder, where curious 15th-century churches and palaces still stand. Erosion indicates that cultivation first started on the gentler slopes of the highland valleys but later extended onto steeper slopes. Simen is at the crossing of old trade routes and records of various local features were made in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Source: UNESCO.org