Ethiopia’s Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park is set in a semiarid landscape of grassy plains, hills scattered with acacia trees, and ravines cut by seasonal streams. Spanning 887 square kilometers (342 square miles) and located some 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital, Addis Ababa, it includes the two Rift Valley lakes it’s named after. Abijatta and Shalla are a pair of connected saline lakes that provide habitat for waterbirds including black-winged stilts, storks, pelicans, and lesser and greater flamingos. Ostriches, African fish eagles and various plover species are year-round residents, while others migrate to Europe and Asia during the warmer months there, returning when northern winter sets in. The forests and grasslands surrounding the lake are home to ungulates like greater kudu and Grant’s gazelle, and small predators like jackals and bat-eared foxes. Lake Abijata. The satellite image on the right showing lakes Ziway (top), Langano (lower right), Abijata (lower left), and Shala (bottom). Satellite image rendered by Yonas Kidane via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Lake Abijata photo by Solomon Yimer for Mongabay. The landscape is also home to 60,000 people who make their living farming and herding more than 300,000 head of livestock; as well as light industry including soda ash production and commercial flowers for export. Redwan Mohammed was born and raised in the region. He’s now a senior staff member with Wetlands International Ethiopia, leading a project focused on restoring the Ziway-Shalla Basin. He tells Mongabay that deforestation and erosion linked to farming and herding in…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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