Metahara

History

Visitors to the area in the first decades of the 20th century frequently described the area as land between the Karrayyu Oromo, Afar, Somali Dir clans (Issa and Gadabuursi) and Amhara. Somali settlers from the Issa and Gadabuursi migrated to this region towards the end of the era of Emperor Menelik II. Later their numbers increased as relatives and kinsmen took permanent settlement there. On the eve of the Italian invasion, a German named Neitzel had been granted a concession to cultivate cotton and coffee. Despite that, few people lived in the area until the arrival of the Dutch corporation Handelsvereeningung Amsterdam (HVA), which established a factory to process sugar at Metehara, after it had been expelled from Indonesia in 1954. In 1970, the Karrayyu Oromo staged an armed demonstration in Metehara which destroyed fences and buildings at the HVA plantation. The Derg announced 3 February 1975 that the sugar plantation, including the Dutch investments, would be fully nationalized.

Most-observed species

• Abyssinian Roller

  Coracias abyssinicus Hermann, 1783 · Aves
  142
• White-headed Buffalo-Weaver

  Dinemellia dinemelli (Rüppell, 1845) · Aves
  129
• Northern Carmine Bee-eater

  Merops nubicus J.F.Gmelin, 1788 · Aves
  120
• Nile Valley Sunbird

  Hedydipna metallica (Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  108
• Spur-winged Lapwing

  Vanellus spinosus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  104
• Dark Chanting-Goshawk

  Melierax metabates Heuglin, 1861 · Aves
  101
• Somali Fiscal

  Lanius somalicus Hartlaub & Heuglin, 1859 · Aves
  100
• Superb Starling

  Lamprotornis superbus Rüppell, 1845 · Aves
  97

Most recent

• M 4.6 — 2026-08-09
  19 km ESE of Metahāra, Ethiopia
• M 4.4 — 2026-07-21
  14 km NW of Āwash, Ethiopia
• M 4.4 — 2026-07-07
  10 km SE of Āwash, Ethiopia
• M 4 — 2026-06-25
  41 km NW of Metahāra, Ethiopia
• M 4.5 — 2026-05-22
  9 km NE of Metahāra, Ethiopia
• M 4.3 — 2026-05-10
  11 km N of Metahāra, Ethiopia