Lake Ziway

About

Lake Batu, also known as Hora-Dambal or Dambal (Oromo: Hora Dambal) is one of the freshwater Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia. Located about 100 miles south of Addis Ababa, on the border between the Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, the woredas holding the lake's shoreline are Adami Tullu-Jido Kombolcha, Dugda, and Batu town. The town of Batu lies on the lake's western shore. The lake is fed primarily by two rivers, the Meki from the west and the Katar from the east, and is drained by the Bulbula which empties into Lake Abijatta. The lake's catchment has an area of 7,025 square kilometers. Hora-Dambal is 31 kilometers long and 20 km wide, with a surface area of 440 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 9 meters and lies at an elevation of 1,636 meters. It has a maximum depth of 4 meters and is at an elevation of 1,846 meters. It contains five islands, including Debre Sina, Galila, Funduro, Tsedecha and Tulu Gudo, which is home to a monastery said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant around the ninth century. The shores and islands of Hora Dambal are the home of the Zay people. Tradition states that when Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi of the Adal Sultanate conquered Ethiopia, the Christians of the area took refuge on its islands. They were later isolated from the rest of Ethiopia by the Oromo people, who lived around the lake. At the time Meneli

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.