Places · Ethiopia

Natural Wonders of Ethiopia: The 4 Most Beautiful Places to Visit

4 places in the atlas

Ethiopia rises to vast highland plateaus split by the Great Rift Valley — the same rift that runs down through East Africa. At its most extreme, in the northeast, the land plunges to the Danakil Depression, a triple junction where three tectonic plates pull apart, thinning the crust until molten rock lies close beneath. The result is one of the hottest, lowest, most surreal places on Earth: neon sulphur springs, endless salt flats, and the persistent lava lake of Erta Ale. It is, in effect, a glimpse of a new ocean being born. Below are the 4 natural wonders of Ethiopia in the atlas — the most beautiful places to build a trip around, each with what makes it remarkable, when to go, and how to reach it. Best overall time: For the Danakil, November to February, the (relatively) cooler and drier months; even then, expect extreme heat.

Simien Mountains, Amhara, northern Ethiopia

Simien Mountains

Amhara, northern Ethiopia

A dramatic highland escarpment of jagged pinnacles and mile-deep gorges — the 'Roof of Africa' — home to gelada monkeys, walia ibex, and Ethiopian wolves found nowhere else.

Mountain Africa
Bale Mountains, Bale Zone, Oromia Region, southeastern Ethiopia

Bale Mountains

Bale Zone, Oromia Region, southeastern Ethiopia

The largest stretch of Afroalpine habitat anywhere on Earth — a treeless plateau above 4,000 metres holding more than half the world's Ethiopian wolves, with cloud forest falling away down its southern side.

Mountain Africa
Blue Nile Falls, Amhara, northern Ethiopia

Blue Nile Falls

Amhara, northern Ethiopia

'The Great Smoke' — a broad curtain of water thundering off the Ethiopian plateau near the source of the Blue Nile, throwing up mist and rainbows in the rainy season.

Waterfall Africa
Danakil Depression, Afar Region, northeastern Ethiopia

Danakil Depression

Afar Region, northeastern Ethiopia

One of the hottest, lowest, and most alien places on Earth — a searing volcanic desert of neon-yellow sulphur springs, salt flats, and a permanent lava lake, where three tectonic plates are tearing the land apart.

Volcano Africa

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