Ethiopia

By Mr Williams Mrs Jones

Landscape and rivers

Although it is Africa’s biggest dam project and will have lasting impacts on its longest river, the GERD has been developed under a veil of secrecy. The dam will impact Ethiopians and downstream neighbours, yet its planning process has been top-down and unilateral. The public and dam-affected people have not been given a meaningful opportunity to critique the project or process. The Ethiopian government has stated it will not make changes to the project. Ethiopia is the 10th largest country in Africa and has an area of 1.112,000 square kilometers, about 60 percent.

ClimateKiremt or Meher (Summer) - June, July and August are the summer season. Heavy rain falls in these three months.Tseday (Spring) - September, October and November are the spring season sometime known as the harvest season.Bega (Winter) - December, January and February are the dry season with frost in morning specially in January.

Belg (Autumn) - March, April and May are the autumn season with occasional showers. May is the hottest month in Ethiopia.Woina dega (Subtropical zone) - includes the highlands areas of 1830 - 2440 metres in elevation has an average annual temperature of about 22 degree Celsius with annual rainfall between 510 and 1530 millimetres.

Dega (Cool zone) - is above 2440 metres in elevation with an average annual temperature of about 16 degree Celsius with annual rainfall between 1270 and 1280 millimetres.

Kolla (Tropical zone) - is below 1830 metres in elevation and has an average annual temperature of about 27 degree Celsius with annual rainfall about 510 millimetres. The Danakil Depression (Danakil Desert) is about 125 metres below sea level and the hottest region in Ethiopia where the temperature climbs up to 50 degree Celsius.

PlantsIn Ethiopia there are horse raddish trees, cabbage trees, and loads more!In Ethiopia the most common flowers are coffe, teff.

Crops Ethiopia grows large varieties of crops which include cereals (tuff, corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, etc.); pulses (horse beans, chick-peas, haricot beans, field peas, lentils, soybean, and vetch); oilseeds (linseed, Niger seed, fenugreek, nous, rapeseed, sunflower, castor bean, groundnuts, etc.), stimulants (coffee, tea, chat, tobacco, etc.) fibbers(cotton, sisal, flax, etc.) fruits (banana, orange, grape, papaya, lemon, mender in, apple, pineapple, mango, avocado, etc.) vegetables (onion, tomato, carrot, cabbage, etc.), root and tuber (potato, inset, sweet-potatoes, beets, yams, etc.) and sugarcane. It is estimated that 16.5 million hectares is under cultivation and grains are the most important field crop, occupying 86 percent of area planted and being the chief element in the diet of most Ethiopians. The principal grain crops are teff, wheat, barley, which are primarily cool-weather crops; and corn, sorghum, and millet which are warm weather grain crops. Teff is the most preferred crop grown in the cooler highlands, while sorghum is the principal lowland crop because it thrives well in semi-arid environments due to its hardy and drought resistant properties.

Animals

There are two species of rhinos in Africa. The white or squared lipped rhino lives in the savannas enjoying water and mud holes. It is the larger of the two weighing between 7,000 and 10,000 pounds. It stands approximately 6 feet and is between 11 to 15 foot long. They have a flat square mouth.The black rhino can vary between habitats, but mainly likes dense wooded vegetation. It weighs between 2,000 and 3,500 pounds. They are between 11 and 13 ft. in length and stand about 5 feet tall. It has a pointed mouth and is much smaller then the white rhino.Both rhinoceros are herbivores. The white rhino enjoys grazing while the black rhino prefers leafs and twigs. They have very few predators, but fall victim to poachers.

Cities and Towns A city in Ethiopia is called Adama.Another town in Ethiopia is called Dessie.Another city in Ethiopia is called Jimma.