Awash Valley
| Lower Valley of the Awash | |
|---|---|
| Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List | |
 |
|
| Location | Ethiopia |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iii, iv |
| Reference | [whc |
| UNESCO region | Africa |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1980 (4th Session) |
The Awash (sometimes spelled Hawash; Afar We'ayot), Somali: Webiga Dir, is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into a chain of interconnected lakes that begin with Lake Gargori and end with Lake Abbe (or Abhe Bad) on the border with Djibouti, some 100 kilometers (60 or 70 miles) from the head of the Gulf of Tadjoura. It is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin covering parts of the Amhara, Oromia and Somali Regions, as well as the southern half of the Afar Region. According to Huntingford, in the 16th century the Awash river was called the great Dir river and lay in the country of the Muslims.
The Awash rises south of Mount Warqe, west of Addis Ababa in the woreda of Dandi, close to the town of Ginchi, West Shewa Zone, Oromia. Then, the Awash flows south to loop around Mount Zuqualla in an easterly then northeasterly direction, passing the Awash National Park. It is then joined on its left bank by its chief affluent, the Germama (or Kasam) River, before turning northeast at approximately 11° N 40° 30' E as far north as 12° before turning completely east to reach lake Gargori.
According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Awash River is 1200 kilometers long. The author of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article describes its middle portion as "a copious stream nearly 200 feet [60 meters] wide and 4 feet [1.2 meters] deep in the dry season, and during the floods rising 50 or 60 feet [15 to 20 meters] above low-water mark, thus inundating the plains for many miles along both its banks."
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