Two hundred and ten kilometers south of Addis Ababa, the brown and copper colored Lake Langano beckons. It is a popular resort for swimming, aquatic sports, sunbathing and bird-watching. Halmet shrikes are also found in great numbers, along with the butcher-birds.

Lake Tana, the largest lake, in Ethiopia is the source and from where the famed Blue Nile starts its long journey to Khartoum, and on to the Mediterranean.
The whole of the Lake Tana region and the Blue Nile Gorge have a wide variety of birds both endemic and visitors. The variety of habitats, from rocky crags to riverain forests and important wetlands, ensure that many other different species should be spotted.

The Baro River area, accessible by land or air through the western Ethiopian town of Gambella, remains a place of adventure and challenge.
Nile perch weighing 100 kilos can be caught in the waters of the baro, snatched from the jaws of the huge crocodiles that thrive along the riverbank. the white eared kob also haunts the Baro, along with other river-bank residents that include the nile lechwe, buffalo, giraffe, tiang, waterbuck, roan antelope, zebra, bush-buck, Abyssinian reedbuck, wart hog, hartebeest, lion, elephant and hippopotamus.

South of Addis Ababa, some 160 kilometers away, lies Zwai, the northernmost and largest lake in the chain. It is filled with fresh water and extends over 434 square kilometers. The lake’s average depth is four meters. Its extensive aquatic vegetation attracts a variety of interesting water birds.

When it comes to lacustrine peace and serenity, Lake Awassa- lying just south of the town of Sashemene and close to the town of Awassa. A gentle chain of mountains and a low plateau surround the lake, opening to a wide, low bay in the south. Swampy bays interspersed with volcanic rocks, sandy shores with bare rocky hills, and every formulation of terrain imaginable can be found near Awassa. The lake seems with a great variety of fish and, as elsewhere in the Rift Valley, endless species of birds.

The two southernmost links in the chain of ethiopia’s Rift Valley Lakes – Abaya (551 square kilometers) and Chamo(1,160 square kilometeres) – are also the lushest in vegetation, richest in wildlife and, to many, the most beautiful. The lakes support numerous species of fish, and hordes of hippos and crocodiles.
The shores and islands of Abaya and Chamo are populated by the Ganjule and the Guji , who both follow ancient traditions of hippo hunting.