Tourist Attraction

One of the newly established and spectacular nation parks in Ethiopia. The park was established in 2006 G.C covers 2665 square kilometers wide & 970 kms north of Addis Ababa. The park has tremendous mixed woodland, riverine, open wooded grassland, seasonal wetland vegetation and it also hosts various types of wild animals. 37 mammalian species of which 8 are not recently (last 15 years) seen, 204 birds species, 23 rodent species 6 species of insectivores and 7 types of reptiles and amphibians are found in the park.
Historic view of the park: One big Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) housed the former Emperor Haileselassie for seven days inside its stem on his return to Ethiopia after victory over the colonialist Fascist Italia in 1941. Moreover, Emperor Tewodros, which was one of the most magnificent Ethiopian leaders, was born in Quara about 25 km from Gelegu, headquarters of Alatish National Park in 1818.

Fauna
Alatish National Park is rich in zoological resources and it is home to various types of wild animals. 37 mammalian species of which 8 are not recently (last 15 years) seen, 204 birds species, 23 rodent species, 6 species of insectivores and 7 types of reptiles and amphibians are found in the park.
Alatish National Park has a variety of fauna which require conservation. It is specially rich in reptile diversity such as African rock python, monitor lizard, Egyptian cobra, black mamba and blandings tree snake. It also harbours endangered and rare species like Elephant (Loxodonata Africana), Leopard (Panthera pardus), Lion (Panthera leo) and also low risk but conservation dependent Lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) and Greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsicero). Permanent but intermittent rivers bordering the park like Aayima and Gelegu provide huge amount of fish resources to the local communities besides being the main water sources of people and animals.
Key species:
Elephant, Lesser kudu & Greater Kudu
Lesser kudu
The Lesser Kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) is a forest antelope found in East Africa and (possibly) the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Southern Lesser Kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis australis) is a subspecies found in Kenya and Tanzania.

Lesser Kudu stand about a metre at the shoulder and weigh 155 to 205 kilograms, males are larger than females. Lesser Kudu males are grey-brown while females are chestnut the coat is lighter on their underside. Both have about ten white stripes on their backs and two white tufts on the underside of their necks. Males have a small mane and horns of about 70 centimetres with one twist.

Lesser Kudu live in dry thorn bush and forest and eat mainly leaves. Lesser Kudu are nocturnal and matinine crepuscular. They live in groups of two to five ranging up to twenty-four on rare occasions these have about equal numbers of males and females.

Tourist Attractions
In terms of tourism potential, the park has a capacity to tourism development with the numerous tourist attractions. As a natural attraction Alatish National Park has various plants, and animals such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. In its spectacular landscape, the park is more or less flat train with very few scattered beautiful conical peaks. The landscape is dominated by dry woodland savanna and the riverine forest can also be potential tourist attractions.
As a historical attraction, one big Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) housed the former Emperor Haileselassie for seven days inside its stem on his return to Ethiopia after victory over the colonialist Fascist Italia in 1941. Moreover, Emperor Tewodros, which was one of the most magnificent Ethiopian leaders, was born in Quara about 25 km from Gelegu, headquarters of Alatish National Park in 1818.

Alatish National Park has also cultural attractions which can be expressed in music, dance and drams performing groups, cultural festivals, sale of visual arts and crafts (basketry & pottery) and life styles practiced by many diverse ethnic groups (Gumuz, Agew, Amhara) living around the park.