Experience the best of Arba Minch

Arba Minch, whose name means forty springs, sits on a ridge between Lake Abaya, red-brown with silt, and Lake Chamo, in the Rift Valley of southern Ethiopia. The town is divided into the lower Sikela and the higher Shecha, and the springs feed a lush groundwater forest at its edge. A narrow neck of land called the Bridge of God separates the two lakes.

Nech Sar National Park, with grassy plains and acacia woodland, shelters zebra, antelope and many birds, and boat trips on Lake Chamo pass hippos and very large Nile crocodiles, especially at a spot called the Crocodile Market. In the cool highlands above the town, the Dorze people near Chencha weave cotton cloth and build tall bamboo houses shaped like elephant heads.

Fish from the lakes, grilled or fried, is the local dish, often tilapia or Nile perch, served beside injera and spicy stews. In the Dorze highlands above the town, kocho, a bread of fermented enset, the false banana, is a staple. The dry months from December to February are the easiest.