Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes
The Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes are the northernmost of the African Rift Valley lakes. In central Ethiopia the Great Rift Valley splits the Ethiopian highlands into northern and southern halves, and the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes occupy the floor of the rift valley between the two highlands. Most of the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes do not have an outlet, and most are alkaline. Although the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes are of great importance to Ethiopia's economy, as well as being essential to the survival of the local people, there were no intensive and extensive limnological studies undertaken of these lakes until recently.
The major ones are
- Lake Abaya (1162 km2, elevation 1285 m), the largest Ethiopian Rift Valley lake
- Lake Chamo (551 km2, elevation 1235 m)
- Lake Zway (485 km2, elevation 1636 m)
- Lake Shala (329 km2, elevation 1558 m), the deepest Ethiopian Rift Valley lake
- Lake Koka (250 km2, elevation 1590 m)
- Lake Langano (230 km2, elevation 1585 m)
- Lake Abijatta (205 km2, elevation 1573 m)
- Lake Awasa (129 km2, elevation 1708 m)
Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, lies in the Ethiopian highlands north of the Rift Valley; it is not a Rift Valley lake.
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—Bible: Hebrew Jeremiah, 13:23.
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Behind, the terraced sides of a mountain, abrupt, in places rising high,”
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“No doubt, the short distance to which you can see in the woods, and the general twilight, would at length react on the inhabitants, and make them savages. The lakes also reveal the mountains, and give ample scope and range to our thought.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)