A day trip trekking to Mt. Ziqualla

As a mountainous country, Ethiopia has many trekking options in your location in Ethiopia.
There is a place called Mt Ziqualla, 78 km southeast of Addis Abeba.it has 2989 m altitude on the top and there is a popular monastery dedicated to Abune Gebre menfes kidus.
Abune Gebre menfes kidus is an Egyptian saint came to Ethiopia during the reign of king Lalibela in 1168. Then he lived in Ethiopia 262 years. During his stay, he founded the monastery here. The first church was destroyed by Ahmed Gragn in 1531 and it was ruined for about 400 years.
Emperor Minilik ll built the present monastery still active and the other located in the nearby area is built by Emperor Haile Selassie dedicated to kidane mihret( mercy of the covenant).
Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian orthodox pilgrims visit the monastery twice a year on 5 October E.C (15 October) and 5 march E.C (13 march) to celebrate the commemoration of the entry to Ethiopia and the death of the saint respectively.
On these days, young generation is taking parts on the forest which the monastery owned and elders from the same area have a proverb:
Those who live far away worship it; those who live around plow it!
For a tourist, it is a the most relaxing trekking place from Addis Ababa as a day trip or camping one overnight will offer you wondering more breathtaking .
The trekking starts from wanber village. To the top it takes 2:00-2:30 hours one way. There is fauna to wonder during walking like junipers, Indian fig, rumex, carisa edulis, croton,cordia Africana,kossoTree (Hagenia Abyssinica)…..Birds seedeaters, pigeons, egrets, thick bill raven…..
There is a crater lake behind the church surrounded by forest and from the top it offers best view to the great African rift valley.

This program can be combined with lakes of Debreziet(Bishoftu) and Adadi Mariam church, melka kunture Archeological site,Tiya stele field(world heritage site) Awash national park,omo valley tour, Abijata-shalla national park…….