AWASH NATIONAL PARK

Awash National Park is a national park in Ethiopia. Spanning across the southern tip of the Afar Region and the northeastern corner of the East Shewa Zone of Oromia, this park is 225 kilometers east of Addis Ababa (and a few kilometers west of Awash), with its southern boundary along the Awash River, and covers 850 square kilometers of acacia woodland and grassland. The Addis Ababa – Dire Dawa highway passes through this park, separating the Illala Saha Plains to the south from the Kudu Valley to the north. In the south of the park the Awash River gorge has amazing waterfalls. In the upper Kudu Valley at Filwoha are hot springs amid groves of palm trees.

The Awash National Park was established in 1966, although the act authorizing its existence was not completely passed for another three years. In establishing this park, as well as the Metehara Sugar Plantation to the south, the livelihoods of the indigenous Karayyu Oromo people have been endangered — an effect that is contrary to the Ethiopian government’s original intention of these establishments serving to benefit the local population.