Mizane Birhan

Coordinates: 13°37′N 39°16′E / 13.617°N 39.267°E / 13.617; 39.267
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mizane Birhan
UTC+3 (EAT
)

Mizane Birhan is a tabia or municipality in the

Dogu'a Tembien district of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The tabia centre is in Ma’idi village, located approximately 13 km to the southeast of the woreda town Hagere Selam
(as the crow flies).

Geography

The tabia is astride the Imba Dogu’a ridge, between valleys of Rubaksa and Ruba Bich’i Rivers. The highest peak is Imba Dogu’a (2620 m a.s.l.) and the lowest place at east is along Ruba Bich’i (1960 m a.s.l.) and at west 2020 m, down from Addi Welo.

Geology

From the higher to the lower locations, the following geological formations are present:[1]

Geomorphology and soils

The main

dolerite. Corresponding soil types are:[5]

Climate and hydrology

Climate and meteorology

The rainfall pattern shows a very high seasonality with 70 to 80% of the annual rain falling in July and August. Mean temperature in Ma’idi is 19.8 °C, oscillating between average daily minimum of 11.1 °C and maximum of 28 °C. The contrasts between day and night air temperatures are much larger than seasonal contrasts.[6]

Rivers

The Giba River is the most important river in the surroundings of the tabia. It flows towards Tekezze River and further on to the Nile.[7] The drainage network of the tabia is organised as follows:[8]

  • Giba River, with tributaries:
    • Ruba Bich’i River, in tabia Addi Azmera
      • Imba Wahti River, draining the eastern part of Mizane Birhan
    • Rubaksa River, in tabia Mika'el Abiy
      • May Wikul River, in Mizane Birhan
      • Tsigaba River, draining the northern part of Mizane Birhan

Whereas they are (nearly) dry during most of the year, during the main rainy season, these rivers carry high runoff discharges, sometimes in the form of flash floods. Especially at the beginning of the rainy season, they are brown-coloured, evidencing high soil erosion rates.

Springs

As there are no permanent rivers, the presence of springs is of utmost importance for the local people. The main springs in the tabia are:[9]

  • Gedel Negedu in Lafa
  • May Wkul in Ma’idi
  • Gemgema in Merhib

Water harvesting

In this area with rains that last only for a couple of months per year, reservoirs of different sizes allow harvesting runoff from the rainy season for further use in the dry season.

  • Traditional surface water harvesting ponds, particularly in places without permanent springs, called rahaya
  • Horoyo, household ponds, recently constructed through campaigns[10]

Vegetation and exclosures

The tabia holds several

carbon offset programme.[20] The revenues are then reinvested in the villages, according to the priorities of the communities;[21] it may be for an additional class in the village school, a water pond, or conservation in the exclosures. Lafa (exclosure), near the homonymous village (44.44 ha) is managed by the Ethiotrees project.[22]

Settlements

The tabia centre Ma’idi holds a few administrative offices, a health post, a primary school, and some small shops.[9] There are a few more primary schools across the tabia. The main other populated places are:[8]

  • Merhib
  • Addi Welo
  • Lafa
  • May Shewani
  • Neged Negedu

Agriculture and livelihood

Preparation of threshing floor in Lafa

The population lives essentially from crop farming, supplemented with off-season work in nearby towns. The land is dominated by

agricultural system is a permanent upland farming system.[23] The farmers have adapted their cropping systems to the spatio-temporal variability in rainfall.[24]

History and culture

History

The history of the tabia is strongly confounded with the

history of Tembien
.

Religion and churches

Most inhabitants are Orthodox Christians. The following churches are located in the tabia:

  • Lafa Gebri’el
  • Neged Negedu Mika’el
  • Ma’idi
  • Addi Welo Teklehaimanot
  • Merhib Mika’el

Inda Siwa, the local beer houses

In the main villages, there are traditional beer houses (Inda Siwa), often in unique settings, where people socialise. Well known in the tabia are[9]

A trekker invited for Siwa along the footpath in Lafa
  • Roman Gebreayezgi at Ma’idi
  • Nigas Dimtsu at Ma’idi
  • Haymanot Gidey at Ma’idi

Roads and communication

The main road MekelleHagere SelamAbiy Addi runs 8 km north of the tabia. There is a good dirt road across the tabia with regular bus services to the main asphalt road and directly to Mekelle or Hagere Selam these towns.

Tourism

Its mountainous nature and proximity to Mekelle make the tabia fit for tourism.[25] As compared to many other mountain areas in Ethiopia the villages are quite accessible, and during walks visitors may be invited for coffee, lunch or even for an overnight stay in a rural homestead.[26]

Touristic attraction

The

Lafa Gebri’al rock church (13°35.87′N 39°17.25′E / 13.59783°N 39.28750°E / 13.59783; 39.28750) is now disused. It was hewn in a tufa plug. The church boosts a semi-circular wooden arch of approx. 1.5 metre across (in one piece).[27]
A new church has been constructed nearby.

Geotouristic sites

The large batholite made of dolerite, the high variability of geological formations and the rugged topography invite for geological and geographic tourism or "geotourism".[28]

Birdwatching

Dogu'a Tembien
page holds more details on the bird species.

Trekking routes

Trekking routes have been established in this tabia.[27] The tracks are not marked on the ground but can be followed using downloaded .GPX files.[30]

  • Trek 13, from Ma’idi towards Hagere Selam, largely through limestone landscapes
  • Trek 17, from
    Togogwa
    along Lafa and the eastern slopes of Imba Dogu’a towards Merhib

See also

  • Dogu'a Tembien
    district.

References

  1. .
  2. ^ Tefera, M.; Chernet, T.; Haro, W. Geological Map of Ethiopia (1:2,000,000). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Institute of Geological Survey.
  3. ^ Bosellini, A.; Russo, A.; Fantozzi, P.; Assefa, G.; Tadesse, S. (1997). "The Mesozoic succession of the Mekelle Outlier (Tigrai Province, Ethiopia)". Mem. Sci. Geol. 49: 95–116.
  4. .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. .
  8. ^ .
  9. ^ a b c What do we hear from the farmers in Dogu'a Tembien? [in Tigrinya]. Hagere Selam, Ethiopia. 2016. p. 100.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Developers and farmers intertwining interventions: the case of rainwater harvesting and food-for-work in Degua Temben, Tigray, Ethiopia
  11. .
  12. .
  13. ^ Mastewal Yami, and colleagues (2007). "Impact of Area Enclosures on Density and Diversity of Large Wild Mammals: The Case of May Ba'ati, Douga Tembien Woreda, Central Tigray, Ethiopia". East African Journal of Sciences. 1: 1–14.
  14. S2CID 37489450
    .
  15. .
  16. .
  17. ^ Bedru Babulo, and colleagues (2006). "Economic valuation methods of forest rehabilitation in exclosures". Journal of the Drylands. 1: 165–170.
  18. .
  19. .
  20. ^ EthioTrees on Plan Vivo website
  21. ^ EthioTrees on Davines website
  22. ^ De Deyn, Jonathan (2019). Benefits of reforestation on Carbon storage and water infiltration in the context of climate mitigation in North Ethiopia. Master thesis, Ghent University, Belgium.
  23. S2CID 128492271
    .
  24. .
  25. .
  26. .
  27. ^ .
  28. .
  29. .
  30. ^ "Public GPS traces tagged with nyssen-jacob-frankl". OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 2019-10-11.