ja_mageia

There are some of interesting sights that can be explored while driving to Arba Minch from Addis Ababa. These sights include Adadi Mariam: Is a subterranean semi monolithic rock hewn church encircled by a wide tunnel containing a few disused monastic cells. It is far closer in style to its counter parts at Lalibela than to any other rock hewn church in Tigrai. Melka kunture: is best known for the numerous stone age artifacts that have been unearthed along the river including a variety of cleaves, hand axes and other tools made from basalt and other hard rocks .Tiya stelae field: mark the northern limit of a belt of mysterious engraved stelae that stretches across southern Ethiopia.

Recent excavations at Tiya revealed that the stone mark the mass graves of males and females who died when they were between 18 and 30 years of age. Listed as a world heritage site the stelae comprise some 45 stones of up to 2m in height. Lake Ara Shetan: Stands alongside the Hosaina road at an elevation of 2281m some 10km south of Butajira Forms the most southerly link in a chain of craters, lava flows and other relics of geologically formed lakes.

Butajira and Hosaina: lies almost at the center of Gurage country. The Gurage the fifth largest nationality in Ethiopia belong to the Semitic people of Ethiopia. They split between ancient orthodox Christians and recent converts to Islam and are neighbored by the Oromo and other Cushitic people. They are industrious people and have a strange relationship with Fuga people who have adopted Kurage language and culture and serve the triple role of Artisans, hunters and spiritual mediums with in the Gurage society. The fuga erects the main beams of Gurage house looking like beehive structure and the same with the traditional houses built by wolayta people. The silte people and their traditional homesteads and medieval stelae are the other attractions of this area between Butajira and Hosaina. The surfaced road to wolayta town of Sodo from Addis Ababa is the best option to explore this circuit and then continuing to Arba Minch from Sodo.