The Ethiopian rift valley keeps dozens of saline lakes which keeps an important portion of biodiversity. From the rift system, the central rift valley of Ethiopia is the most commonly visited part of the Rift Valley.  This part of the rift valley keeps a string of five freshwater and soda lakes running south of Addis Ababa to Hawassa. These include Lake Langano, whose upmarket resorts and swimming beaches make it is a popular weekend retreat from Addis Ababa and a great place to break up a longer southern safari. For those seeking a more urban break, Hawassa, fringed by the lake of the same name, is a bustling regional capital offering superb recreational and conference facilities. For history buffs, a local community tourism project offers boat trips to Lake Ziway’s Tullu Guddo Island, where the monastery of Maryam Debre Tsion – established in 842 AD to provide temporary sanctuary to the Ark of the Covenant – houses a library of priceless ancient manuscripts, notably an illuminated 14th-century tome vividly portraying 19 saints. It is the lakes’ birdlife that impresses most. Larder-mouthed pelicans and marabou storks gorge themselves at Ziway’s main boat jetty and Hawassa’s lively fish market; while long-legged jacanas and pygmy geese haunt the lily-covered bays, and parrots and fish eagles that nest in lakeside forests. There is also one of Africa’s great ornithological spectacles in the form of the hundreds of thousands of beautiful pink-hued flamingos that congregate in the shallows of Lake Abijatta.