Mount Gurage is a mountain located in central

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. It is the highest point in both the

Gurage Zone Gurage is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The region is home to the Gurage people. Gurage is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special woreda, on the west, north and east by the Oromia Re ...

and the entire

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern E ...

. The mountain has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 3719 meters above sea level. To the north is the village of

Anige Aniko, Anige or Araniko ( ne, अरनिको, zh, 阿尼哥; 1245–1306) was one of the key figures in the arts of Nepal and Yuan dynasty of China, and the artistic exchanges in these areas. He was born in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, durin ...

, while to the east is Bu'i. Mount Gurage is described as part of an upwarped massif, which overlooks the

Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...

. This massif is composed of layers of

silicic Silicic is an adjective to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica. The amount of silica that constitutes a silicic rock is usually defined as at least 63 percent. Granite and rhyolite are the most common silicic rocks. Silicic is the group ...

lavas and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

s, except for the summit line which is hidden by the Rift Valley tuffs. It forms part of the divide separating the drainage basins of the Awash and

Omo Omo or OMO may refer to: Geography Ethiopia * Omo River (Ethiopia), in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin and namesake for all the topics below * Omo Nada, one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia ...

rivers. The headwaters of the Omo lie in the central highlands between Gurage and the town of

Nekemte Nekemte, also spelled as Neqemte (, Amharic: ነቀምት), is a market town and separate woreda in western Ethiopia. Located in the East Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 meter ...

. The

Bilate River The Bilate is a river of south-central Ethiopia. It rises on the southwestern slopes of Mount Gurage near , flowing south along the western side of the Great Rift Valley, to empty into Lake Abaya at . It is the longest river flowing into Lake Ab ...

begins on the southern slope of the mountain, while the

Gidabo River The Gidabo River is a medium-sized perennial river of south-central Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley. The Gidabo River catchment area is one of the leading coffee production areas in Ethiopia. Course It is one of three medium-sized rivers ...

flows on the eastern slope. The Bilate River basin is volcanic, and contains several lake-filled maars and tuff rings dated to the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

and possibly

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

periods. The

Aleta people :''This name should not be confused with the name Aelita.'' Aleta may refer to: Fictional characters * Queen Aleta, wife of Prince Valiant, Queen of the Misty Isles in the comic strip ''Prince Valiant'' * Princess Aleta in the television series ...

, believed to be descendants of the Maldea, live to the south of the Gidabo River. The area is part of the homeland of the

Sidama people The Sidama ( am, ሲዳማ) are an ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the Sidama Region, formerly part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. On 23 November 2019, the Sidama Zone became the 10th regional sta ...

References

{{SouthernNationsET-geo-stub

Gurage The Gurage (, Gurage: ጉራጌ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia.G. W. E. Huntingford, "William A. Shack: The Gurage: a people of the ensete culture" They inhabit the Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mountainous region in ce ...