NEW ATTRACTIONS

Entoto Natural Park

Entoto Natural Park is a park of serenity and resounding joy. It’s a unique place to discover the most breathtaking ancient mountain nature with streams flowing from clear springs and waterfalls. The park lies on the south-eastern slopes of Entoto Mountain, between the northern limit of the city of Addis Ababa at an altitude of 2,600 m and the track along the mountain ridge at altitude over 3,100 m.

As fascinating and captivating as Entoto Natural Park is, it lacked the necessary infrastructures and stayed underdeveloped for long. To establish these necessary infrastructures and to make it a world-class visitor experience Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed initiated The Entoto Project alongside The Sheger Riverside projects. Built with great imagination and ingenuity, the planning and construction of the park were undergone by only Ethiopians in terms of Knowledge and finance.

Now Entoto Park is fully equipped with various indoor and outdoor facilities including sports centres, library, entertainment, restaurants and coffee shops, artificial Lake and fountains walkways, bike, scooter and cart roots. Most of these facilities were constructed using local material so they blend in beautifully with the natural environment of the park. Entoto Natural Park will be significant in terms of facilitating service economies and changing the look and feel of the city of Addis Ababa.

Some interesting activities in Entoto Natural Park include a paintball arena which is a haven for everyone who enjoys a good game of paintball. A Horse riding ranch for both adults and children. Adults can follow a 3-5 km trekking route on horseback while children have their horse-riding arena with a trainer and also outdoor archery. Entoto Park includes a large outdoor amphitheatre that will be used for concert theatres and live music.

Other sights that can be seen on foot in the natural environment of Entoto Natural Park include views of Addis Abeba, Entoto Mariam Church, and the historical museum, Menelik’s Palace, two Kedus Raguel and Kedus Elias Churches from different eras, the Washa Mikael Church ruins, and runners training on the forest trails.

The new park will continue to be a particular interest to birdwatchers with some 200 bird species registered in the mixed habitats of forest woodland, rock sloop cliffs and marshes. Of the total species recorded the Abyssinian Catbird (Parophasma Galiniei) and Yellow-fronted Parrot (Poicephalus Flavifrons) are endemic to Ethiopia.

Kuriftu Resort

Kuriftu Resort and Spa located in Ethiopia in Bishoftu, some 60 kilometres from the capital Addis Ababa. The park, which has water playgrounds, swimming pools, 123 shops and three banks, is the first of its kind in East Africa. Built on 72,000 square meters of land, the park created jobs for 1,000 unemployed youth. The park will have its own contribution for the growth of the country’s tourism industry, according to Tadios Getachew, owner of Kuriftu Resort & Spa.

The park will have 12 facilities designated for different recreational activities such as two water houses, a boomerang slide, a spiral slide, a wave pool, and performance center. The water wave pool, which will host concerts and events with a lit-up stage, in addition to its beach-like features including the sand. The village, where the water park is built, will also be home to 200 shops.

Kuriftu currently has five operational resort and hotels in Bishoftu, Bahir Dar, Afar, Langano, and Adama and in Moucha Island, Djibouti. The company has started construction work on two other sites: Gheralta Resort, located in the mountainous parts of Tigray and Burayu Kuriftu Africa Village in the Oromia regional state

Unity Park

Established in 2019, the park is located at the Grand Palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a compound that has been a seat of state for more than a century.
The total land coverage of the grand palace is 40 acres and it contains myriads of historical buildings and plants that date back to the time of Emperor Menelik II, the founder of the Grand Palace.