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 Arba Minch meaning ‘forty springs’ is situated at an elevation of around 1300m in the foot hills of the Rift Valley and amid a country with abundant water, on a high, cool ridge overlooking two of the southern Rift’s most beautiful lakes Chamo and Abaya. The town is directly opposite Nechisar National Park entrance. ‘Nech’ means white and ‘Sar’ means grass- and the combination ‘white grass’ clearly describing the broad plains area of Nechisar National Park supporting a good number of mammals including, the large greater kudu, with spectacular spiral horns and white-striped flanks, the tiny Guenther’s dik-dik, usually seen in pairs, herds of Burch ell’s zebra, which mingle with Grant’s gazelle and an occasional Swayne’s hartebeest – an endemic subspecies.
  The two lakes are divided by a hilly ridge with the delightful name of the ‘Bridge of Heaven’. . Many small rivers empty into both lakes. Crocodiles and hippos abound and hippo hunters from the local Ganjule and Guji tribes carry on a lucrative trade in those parts of the lakes not inside the national park. There is also a crocodile market at the mouth of the small Kulfo River which flows into Lake Chamo. Further north on the shores of Lake Abaya is a crocodile farm, also outside the park boundary.
Nechi Sar National Park
 Located about 505 km from Addis Ababa, near the town of Arba Minch, the Park was established as a sanctuary for the endemic Swayne’s Hartebeest, an endangered sub species throughout Ethiopia. The 514 sq km park is situated in the Rift Valley, at 1,867 meters above see-level between lakes Abaya and Chamo in the south central Ethiopia. The park mainly covered with open grassland, it also contains spares area of savannah woodland and highland forest. Numerous species of birds and eight four-mammal species occurred, including Hippo, Zebra, Buffalo, Greater Kudu, Reedbuck, Grant’s Gazelle, Lion and Leopard. |
