Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HOSAINA ROAD
The Hosaina Rd is the most direct way to Arba Minch and the Lower Omo Valley. Only
paved relatively recently, it still feels remote and facilities are fewer and further between
(and more basic) than along the long-standing Rift Valley route. The two routes merge at
Sodo. Though still rough over long stretches, the whole road should be paved soon after
publication of this topic.
A straight run can get you from Addis Ababa to Arba Minch in about eight hours. Al-
though public transport is less frequent than on the Rift Valley route, some long-distance
buses run this road and plenty of minibuses make short hops.
If driving, using this route to Lake Ziway (
Click here
) rather than the Rift Valley route
adds about 20km, but saves an hour.
South to Butajira
An hour from Addis, just over the Awash River, is the
Melka Kunture Prehistoric Site
(admission Birr30; 8.30am-12.30pm & 1.30-4.30pm)
, where many stone tools and
fossils, dating back 1.8 million years, have been found. Examples are displayed in four
tukuls
(huts), including tools used by the
Homo erectus
who once inhabited the area, and
there's also an open excavation site down a sometimes muddy path. It's modest but inter-
esting.
Around 4km south of Melka Kunture, there's a signposted turn-off to Ethiopia's south-
ernmost rock-hewn church,
Adadi Maryam
(admission Birr50, camera/video Birr10/
100)
. Believed to date from the 12th or 13th century, Adadi Maryam is fairly crude in com-
parison with its counterparts in Lalibela, but if you won't be travelling north, don't miss it.
It sits on the far side of Adadi village, 12km west of the turn-off. Public transport runs to
and from Awash Melka (Birr10, 45 minutes) throughout the day.
The World Heritage-listed
Tiya Stelae Field
(admission Birr50; 8am-noon &
1-5pm)
is the most important of the hundreds of stelae clusters dotting the countryside from
here all the way down to Dilla (
Click here
)
. Tiya contains 41 stelae up to 5m in height (in-
cluding the buried portions), engraved with enigmatic symbols including swords. They
mark graves of individuals aged between 18 and 30 who died around 700 years ago and
were buried in the foetal position, though little is known about the culture that carved them.
The site is about 35km after the turn-off to Adadi, at the south end of Tiya village. The
