Things to Do in Awash National Park

Scout crocodiles at Awash River viewpoint

From the cliff ledge above the falls you stare straight down at basking-green crocs on basalt slabs, tails flicking spray whenever the river surges. Hippos grunt below, a noise like wet timber splitting, while fish eagles wheel overhead whistling their two-note cry.

Drive the Ilala Sala plain at golden hour

The eastern grassland glows amber before sunset, backlighting oryx with spear-straight horns and Sommering's gazelles that bounce off like wind-up toys. Dust hangs in low sheets, catching the light so the plain looks ready to ignite.

Walk to the Filwuha hot springs

A 20-minute scramble over alabaster-white limestone ends at milky-blue pools where water runs scalding and the air stinks of rotten eggs. You can wallow in a cooler lower pool if you don't mind tiny fish nibbling dead skin while ibex watch from the ridge.

Night drive for lesser kudu and aardvark

Once the generator dies at headquarters the bush flips: scrub hares dart through headlights, eyeshine glints green and orange, and if you're lucky a striped hyena lopes across the track with that odd hunched lope.

Coffee ceremony with Kereyu pastoralists

Beyond the park boundary, Kereyu herders may invite you into a circular tent of woven mats where beans roast over dung coals until they pop like chestnuts. Popcorn lands in enamel bowls, butterfat scent mixing with frankincense while someone plucks a single-stringed masenqo.

Awash Falls Lodge - stone-and-thatch chalets cantilevered above the river gorge, hippos honking you to sleep

Genet Hotel - plain concrete block in Metahara with cold beers on the terrace and truck-stop fir-fir for breakfast

Doho Lodge - south of the park, ringed by a natural hot-spring pool that stays blissfully warm after dark

Kereyu Mobile Camp - fly-tents that track the herders outside park limits, Milky Way like spilled sugar

Sabana Beach Resort - not a beach, but lake-side rooms on Lake Beseka, flamingos sometimes wading in the shallows

Awash Sebat Kilo Government Cottages - bare-bones but cheapest beds inside the park, bring your own bedding