Question number 12 Arba Minch and its attraction

1. Nechsar national park

2. Lake Chamo and Abaya
3. Crocodile Ranch

Answer
Introduction about Arbaminch
Arba Minch (Ganta Garo) is a city and separate woreda in southern
Ethiopia; Located in the Gamo Zone of the Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and Peoples Region about 500 kilometers south of Addis
Ababa, at an elevation of 1285 meters above sea level. It is the largest
town in Gamo Zone. It is surrounded by Arba Minch Zuria woreda and
the most resourceful zone in the southern region including two large
lakes (Abaya and Chamo), more than 40 springs and Nechisar National
Park with its famous crocodile market. The area produces several fruits
including bananas, apple, mango, and avocado.

Arba Minch has been received its name from the abundantly available
local springs which produce groundwater forests. This town was
located at the base of the western side of the Great Rift Valley. Arba
Minch consists of the uptown administrative center of Shecha which is
relatively colder, 5 kilometers away from the downtown commercial
and residential areas of Sikela, and Limat near Arba Minch University's
main campus, which are connected by a paved road. On the eastern
side of Sikela is the gate to Nechisar National Park, which covers the
isthmus between Lake Abaya to the north and Lake Chamo to the
south. Buses and taxis connect the uptown and downtown parts; both
parts have schools. Kulfo River flows through the town and drains into
Lake Chamo.

Arba Minch is known as a source of fruit, including mango, banana,

orange, apple, guava, and pineapple, and is also known for its fish
farms.[citation needed] Indicating its richness of fish a local singer
named Abile Chedo sang the song "Nu Dere Gamo Gofa Oycha
Arbaminche muziri kalsi yedes Abaya-Chamo mole". It is the home of
Arba Minch University and the Southwest Synod of the Mekane Yesus
Church. The town also is served by Arba Minch Airport.

Historical bag round about Arba minch

Arba Minch was founded in the early 1960s by the Fitawrari
Aemeroselasie Abebe in previously called ' Ganta Garo ("Ganta" is one
Dare from 42 Dare of Gamo Zone, and "Garo" means "abundantly
available" and the city succeeded Chencha as the provincial capital of
Gamo Gofa. The oral tradition has it that Fitawrari Aemiro Selassie
Abebe had to fight with prominent figures of Chencha (Aba Gaga) to
move the capital from Chencha to Arbaminch (Ganta Garo). One of the
reasons for Aemiroselassie Abebe to move the provincial center from
Chencha to Arbaminch (Ganta Garo) was for travelers from Gidole to
Chencha to take a break after a long, hot crossing of the arid Rift Valley.
[citation needed] Roads were built linking the new town to Soddo and
making Arba Minch only a day's journey by road to the capital, Addis
Ababa. A telephone line connecting the town to the capital, costing E$
250,000, was turned up on 15 July 1967.

The Norwegian Lutheran Mission opened a station at Arba Minch in

1970, which included a trade school; the school's operation was later
taken over by the Mekane Yesus Church. At the beginning of the
Ethiopian Revolution public demonstrations occurred in the town, and
four people were killed in clashes with the police on 28 March 1974.
Following the revolution privately held plantations were made into
state farms.

The 193 million birr Arba Minch Textile Mill was opened on 6 May 1992
in the presence of Ethiopian Prime Minister Tamirat Layne. The mill
would produce polyester mixed with cotton grey fabrics. According to
the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, as of 2003
other amenities in Arba Minch include postal service, 24-hour electrical
service, a bank and a hospital. May 2010, the Ethiopian Roads Authority
awarded a contract worth 563 million E$ to the construction firm of
Brehane Hagos to build a road 60 kilometers in length from this town to
Belta. The United States military operated a facility at Arba Minch from
2011 until September 2015. The facility served as the base for several
General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles.

Demographics of Arba minch

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this town has a total
population of 74,879, of whom 39,208 are men and 35,671 women. The
majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity,
with 56.04% of the population reporting that belief, 38.47% were
Protestants, and 4.16% were Muslim. In the 2012, around the town of
Arba Minch, in the Arba Minch District, there were 164,529 people, of
whom 82,265 were male and 82,264 were female. In this district, 53.9%
practiced Protestantism, 29.3% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox
Christianity, 12.6% practiced Traditional beliefs, and all other religious
practices made up 4.1%. The 1994 national census reported this town
had a total population of 40,020 of whom 20,096 were males and
19,924 were females.

Nechisar National Park

Is a national park in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples'
Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. It is in the Great Rift Valley, within the
southwestern Ethiopian Highlands.

The 750-square-kilometre (190,000-acre) park includes the "Bridge of

God", an isthmus between Lake Abaya and Lake Chamo, and the
Nechisar plains east of the lakes. It is east of Arba Minch.

Park elevations range between 1,108 and 1,650 metres (3,635 and
5,413 ft) above sea level. Nechisar National Park was established in
1974. Under the management of African Parks Network (APN since
2005, it was reportedly scheduled to hand over management to the
Ethiopian government in June 2008.

History and management

As part of a 1960s UNESCO plan to protect and conserve nature and

natural resources in Ethiopia, a two person team of UNESCO
consultants spent three months surveying most major wildlife areas in
Ethiopia, and officially submitted to the Wildlife Conservation Board in
1965 their recommendations, which included a game reserve to the
east of Lake Chamo to provide protection for the population of
Swayne's hartebeest and other local wildlife.

Nechsar National Park was proposed in 1967, then officially established

in 1974. Since then it has not legally been gazetted, but has functioned
as de facto national park. Following the recommendations of the
Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture recommendation, in 1982 the local
Guji, who had been living as pastoralists in the lowlands beside Lake
Abaya and Chamo "were forcibly evicted from the park at gun point".

Lake Chamo.
In the lawless period at the end of the Derg rule and immediately
afterwards, Nechisar suffered much damage. Park buildings located far
from the headquarters were looted and damaged. At the same time,
the local Guji returned to their traditional grazing areas. According to
one source, they fled there from the attacks of the Borena Oromo, who
in turn were victimized by neighboring ethnic groups, their presence
degrading the environment and contributing to the local extinction of
many species. The Guji also acquired firearms during this period, and
used them to resist eviction from the park afterwards. In 2005,
Refugees International criticized their eviction. In 2005, the
management responsibility for Nechisar National Park was handed over
to APN.

While tourism in Ethiopia has increased in the park in recent years,

doubling each year from 5300 tourists in 2005 to 20,500 in 2007, in
October 2008 APN announced that they were ending management of
Nechisar National Park. In a magazine article reprinted on their website,
APN claims that sustainable management of the Ethiopian parks is
incompatible with "the irresponsible way of living of some of the ethnic
groups". African Parks added that the emphasis for resettling
inhabitants out of the park, rather than educating them to work with
them, came from the Ethiopian government. APN was told that the Guji
were an Oromo people, and "they belong in the adjoining Oromiya
province, not among the Gamo and Gofa peoples of the Southern
District, where the park is".

Geography and landscape

The important regional centre to the park is Arba Minch in the Main
Ethiopian Rift. Approximately 15% of the park consists of lakes including
Lake Abaya in the north and Lake Chamo in the south. Part of the
habitat consists of the groundwater forest and shoreline of the lakes,
but there are also dry grassy plains. The altitude ranges from 1,108
meters above sea level at the shore of Lake Chamo to 1,650 meters on
Mount Tabala in the north-east, renowned for its hot springs.