INTRODUCTION

The national parks are the protected

regions where no interference from
humans takes place except for
educational and research purposes.
It is a kind of in-situ conservation of
wildlife.
In-situ conservation includes the places,
which are conserved in their natural
environment
Awash National Park (ANP) is one of the few national Parks in Ethiopia with
extraordinary biodiversity and located 225 km away from Addis Ababa and
situated between latitudes 8 o 50' and 9 o 10' north and longitudes 39 o 45'
and 40 o 10' east. The ANP was established in 1966 and gazzated 1969 as a
strict conservation area

Awash National Park currently faces

major threats due to increasing pressure
from local communities in search of
resources. The conservation of
biodiversity remains a subject of tension
when populations seek to increase
agricultural land in a country where
population growth is reaching its peak.
The boundaries of the park are often
crossed by local people (Afar and
Kereyu-Itu) in search of extensive
pastures for their cattle. These
permanent pressures irreparably lead to
a degradation of the quality of the
environment and trigger a decline in
native species. However, in the central
250 km2 area, actively managed by the
Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation
Authority, grasslands are in good
condition and support large populations
of herbivores.
Befor going to the the topic it is beter to
see different touriust destinations area
between the center Addis ababa to
awash national park
AS our subject is geography of tourism
we need to see tourist destinations
between addis to awash national park
As we move 50km east of Addis Ababa we get Beshoftu or
Debreziet town
  Bishoftu is biggest town along the
addis ABABA Adama expres wayThe
main attraction of Debre zeit town
the beautiful crater lakes set whithin
setup volcanic caldera
The traditional Oromo thank giving for
God ceremony(IRRECHA)
takes place in Autumn at Lake Hora. Is
another tourist attraction

The most popular lakes in the vicinity of

Bishoftu are lake Bishoftu and lake Hora
Lake Babogaya and lake Kuriftu at
Bishoftu are the other interesting
attraction for vistor
  The otherone is Adama citiy Adama
city knowns by its international
Hotels hotsprings and by its
geographical seeting in the rift valley
 The otherone is lake Beseka in
metehara town Beseka is shallow
saline lake in oromiya region of
central Ethiopia it located in rift vally
at elevation of lake 950meter

Awash National Park & Awash Falls

Awash National park is located 227 km

east of the capital Addis Ababa in the dry
acacia savanna of the Rift Valley in the
Afar and Oromia regional states
 .Awash park is one of Ethiopia's
oldest national parks, established in
1966 and it's the first officially
gazetted wildlife reserve in Ethiopia.
The park was formed by extreme
volcanic activities from around 40
million years ago which created the
striking landscape that are seen
Today.
 Awash Park takes around four and
half hours drive from Addis Abeba.
The Park is separated by the Dire
Dawa road among Metehara and
Awash Sabat and takes its name from
the 1200Km Awash River, which
denotes its southern limit. The Park
covers a territory of 827 square
kilometers. Elevation ranges from
 750m to 2010m above sea level, with
the average altitude hovering around
1000m.
 The main tourist attractions of the
park include: Awash Falls, Fantale
volcano, and Filwoha hot springs. In
the middle of the park is the dormant
volcano of Fantale, reaching a height
of 2007 meters at its top. Fantale's
historic eruptions produced lava
flows that descended to the east side
into the valley and lake Awash. An
eruption during the 13th century
destroyed a town and church located
south of the volcano. In 1820, a 4 km
long fissure eruption occured on the
east flank and sent basaltic lava flows
both into the caldera and outside,
reaching the bottom of the Rift
valley.The Fantale mountain inclines
hold proof of sixteenth-century
 residence, remains of walls and
settlements of considerable
proportion. The interior of the
mountain-top crater — with its wispy
white breath of steam vents — is still
used by the local people, the Kereyu,
for grazing livestock on a seasonal
basis.
 The wildlife of Awash Park reflects
its dry nature, at all places and all
times it is possible to see its
population of mammals such as the
Beisa Oryx, Soemmerrings Gazelle
and Wild Pigs are common. Slightly
less frequent are the furry waterbuck
which tend to appear near the river in
the late afternoon. The tiny Salts Dik-
Dik, not easy to spot in the speckled
shade of the acacia thorn, Zebra
grazing the plains to the west of
Fantale, Cheetah, Serval and Leopard
 are also there but it is not easy to spot
them; Baboons, both Anubis and
Hamadryas, Kudus, lesser and greater,
the Giant Tortoise, Reedbuck,
Aardvark and Caracal are also
represented. Klipspringers inhabit the
higher slopes of the mountain and
curious Hyrax peer at you curiously
from behind their rocks. In the
bottom of the gorge you can spot the
black and white Colobus Monkey.
Crocodile and Hippopotamus are seen
both in the Awash River and in the
cooler parts of the hot springs and
rivers in the north.
 Birds of Awash national park are
numerous, over 350 species are
recorded for the park: (The check list
is available at the museum at park
Head quarters). They range from the
great ostrich, frequently and easily
 observed, and the less common
Secretary Bird and Abyssinian Ground
Hornbill, to the flashes of brilliant
pink which are the Carmine Bee-
eaters, and the Abyssinian Roller with
turquoise and purple, wings. And
between these two extremes, birds of
the riverside forest, Coucal, Turaco,
Go-away Birds; birds of prey; and
birds of the savannah.
 Activities in the park include game
drive bird
watching ,camping ,trekking and
swimming in the therapeutic hot
springs which can be reached by
either one of two scenic tracks which
start opposite the main gate on the far
side of the road and bearing right,
Visiting Awash national park between
June and January is best. the best places
to stay in awash national park are;
Awash Falls Lodge - perched right above
the Awash falls having a rustic yet
serviceable wood-and-stone tukuls and a
restaurant with awesome views ,and the
Doho lodge surrounded by doum palm
forest looking across the Savannah
towards Fentale mountain .

 The following are the points that

shows importance of Awash National
parks:
 They protect wildlife and their
habitats from human impact and
destruction.
 They provide animals a safe space
to survive and reproduce.
  They protect places of natural
beauty and are home to several
endemic species.
 They also protect the places, which
are essential to Aboriginal people.
 The main objective of places like
National parks is the conservation of
biodiversity.
 These parks comprise many kinds
of plants that help the environment
by providing clean water and fresh air

as an important
In addition to the obvious health and
wellbeing benefits our national parks
bring, they also assist us in less obvious
ways, such as acting as natural buffers
against extreme weather events, helping
to control our climate, providing us with
clean water, improving food security and
serving resource for

Threats (challenege) in ANP

 Invasive Species. When invasive species arrive in their new environments, they harm natural and
cultural resources in our parks.

 Our Changing Climate. The global climate is changing, and so is the ocean.

 Overfishing. ...

 Water Quality. ...

 Changing Habitats.

Generaly Climate change and its extremities are major challenges for

biodiversity conservation. Climate change and its consequences lead in
habitat destruction and extinction. Climate change is inevitable and can't be
reversed. It is very difficult to stop climate change and the effects are already
see


 MAJOR CHALLENGES TO EFFECTIVE PROTECTION
 Lack of Ownership/Clear Boundary
 DelimitatioThere are very different perceptions of the boundaries of the park. EWCO maintains
that the park is defined by theboundary markers put in place in 1969. Kereyu and Afar
communities on the other hand only recognize the core area asthe legitimate park and in fact
only that part of the core area that lies south of the main highway. Within this core areathey
accept a legitimate national interest and recognize the authority of EWCO. Outside of this core
area they considerthat traditional rights prevail. On several occasions attempts by EWCO to
assert their authority over this wider area havebeen challenged and EWCO has had to back
down. Although EWCO still has staff stationed in this wider area, thesepark staff make little
attempt to control resource use in the area. (Tessema et al., 2007). This made protection
andmanagement effort of the park very unclear and difficult.
 Lack of coordination
 In August 2011 a national conference on the protection of the park, the main problem
mentioned was lack of effectivecoordination and consultation among all
stakeholders.Particularly EWCA criticized for its failure to accomplish itsresponsibility to ensure
conservation and development of natural resources in the Park and integrate
concernedstakeholders in the decision making process. Luck of trained man power about how to
 manage a national Park wasmentioned as one of the bottlenecks of weak management ability of
the EWCA. Furthermore the problem of coordinationwas reported sever at regional and district
level than the federal level (Solomon, 2014). Afars generally participate more in the
conservation and have a senseof ownership towards the Park than people in latter (Solomon,
2014). Hence low conservation interest and lack ofownership in the Oromia community

PROTECTION MEASURES

Protection Efforts of stakeholders

Awash National Park is one of two national parks in Ethiopia that are under the management of the
Ethiopian Wildlifeand Conservation Organization (EWCO) at the national level (the other one is
Semien Mountain National Park). Allother protected areas are under the regional governments.
Shockingly two thirds of the 750 km

 demarcated area as theAwash National Park is inhabited and utilized by local people with no
protection or management interventions fromEWCO. The only area actively managed by EWCO is the
so-called “core area” of around 250km

where there is no resident population. Within this core area significant wildlife populations remain,
although declining, and the pastureremains in relatively good condition. In the rangelands outside this
core area pasture is highly degraded and there areno significant populations of the larger wild animals
apart from around Filwuha springs (Jacobs and Schloeder, 1997).EWCO started the Awash
Conservation and Development Project (ACDP) for the sustainable management of naturalresources
in and around the Park. The initial phase of ACDP covered the period from January 1995 to June
1996.During this pilot phase, planning, start up and research activities were carried out to pave the
way for the subsequentimplementation phases. Activities accomplished include: staff recruitment and
training, baseline surveys, anethnoveterinary survey, and operational studies on water development,
range management and fodder development.Community institutions were also established to link the
project with the community. This 18 month pilot phase led to thedevelopment of a proposal for a 3
year project, phase I, which started in July 1996 and was concluded in December1999 after a 6 month
extension. The goal of this project was “to enhance household livelihood security within theKereyu,
Ittu and Afar communities while at the same time safeguarding the future of Awash National Park
bystrengthening the conservation capacity of the park and improving relations between the park and
the neighbouringpastoral communities”.
 SUMMERY

The national parks are the protected regions where no interference from humans takes place except for
educational and research purposes.

Awash National Park (ANP) is one of the few national Parks in Ethiopia with extraordinary biodiversity
and located 225 km away from Addis Ababa

This park is located between Oromia and Afar regions, 225 km from the country's capital, Addis Ababa.
To the south, meanders the Awash River, which originates in the Ethiopian highlands

Awash National Park is home to more than 81 species of mammals, including Ethiopia's largest
protected population of Beisa Oryx

Awash National Park currently faces major threats due to increasing pressure from local communities in
search of resources

References

1. Getahun, Binayew & Yeshanew, Yiheyis. (2016). Sustainable ecotourism potentials and its challenges in Ethiopia: The Awash National
Park in Focus. “Sustainable ecotourism potentials and its challenges in Ethiopia: The Awash National Park in Focus”.. 2. 2455-2070.
2. ^ Getahun, Binayew & Yeshanew, Yiheyis. (2016). Sustainable ecotourism potentials and its challenges in Ethiopia: The Awash National
Park in Focus. “Sustainable ecotourism potentials and its challenges in Ethiopia: The Awash National Park in Focus”.. 2. 2455-2070.
3. ^ Getahun, Binayew & Yeshanew, Yiheyis. (2016). Sustainable ecotourism potentials and its challenges in Ethiopia: The Awash National
Park in Focus. “Sustainable ecotourism potentials and its challenges in Ethiopia: The Awash National Park in Focus”.. 2. 2455-2070.
4. ^ Schreier, Amy & Swedell, Larissa. (2008). Use of palm trees as a sleeping site for Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) in Ethiopia.
American journal of primatology. 70. 107-13. 10.1002/ajp.20465.