Lim'at#Settlements

The tabia stretches down from the Tsatsen plateau (2810 m a.s.l.), across the main road towards Zeleqwa (Upper Tanqwa) river (2270 m a.s.l.).

From the higher to the lower locations, the following geological formations are present:{{cite book |last1=Sembroni |first1=A. |last2=Molin |first2=P. |last3=Dramis |first3=F. |title=Regional geology of the Dogu'a Tembien massif. In: Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains — The Dogu'a Tembien District |date=2019 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030049546}}

• Upper basalt
• Interbedded lacustrine deposits
• Lower basalt
• Amba Aradam Formation
• Antalo Limestone
• Quaternary alluvium and freshwater tufa{{cite journal |last1=Moeyersons |first1=J. and colleagues |title=Age and backfill/overfill stratigraphy of two tufa dams, Tigray Highlands, Ethiopia: Evidence for Late Pleistocene and Holocene wet conditions. |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |date=2006 |volume=230 |issue=1–2 |pages=162–178 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.013 |bibcode=2006PPP...230..165M }}

The main geomorphic unit is the Hagere Selam Highlands. Corresponding soil types are:{{cite journal |last1= Nyssen|first1= Jan|last2= Tielens|first2= Sander|last3= Gebreyohannes|first3= Tesfamichael|last4= Araya|first4= Tigist|last5= Teka|first5= Kassa|last6= Van De Wauw|first6= Johan|last7= Degeyndt|first7= Karen|last8= Descheemaeker|first8= Katrien|last9= Amare|first9= Kassa|last10= Haile|first10= Mitiku|last11= Zenebe|first11= Amanuel|last12= Munro|first12= Neil|last13= Walraevens|first13= Kristine|last14= Gebrehiwot|first14= Kindeya|last15= Poesen|first15= Jean|last16= Frankl|first16= Amaury|last17= Tsegay|first17= Alemtsehay|last18= Deckers|first18= Jozef|title=Understanding spatial patterns of soils for sustainable agriculture in northern Ethiopia's tropical mountains. |journal=PLOS ONE |date=2019 |volume=14 |issue=10 |pages=e0224041 |doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0224041|pmid= 31639144|pmc= 6804989|bibcode= 2019PLoSO..1424041N|doi-access= free}}

• Associated soil types
• shallow soils with high stone contents (Skeletic Cambisol, Leptic Cambisol, Skeletic Regosol)
• moderately deep dark stony clays with good natural fertility (Vertic Cambisol)
• deep, dark cracking clays, temporarily waterlogged during the wet season (Pellic Vertisol)
• Inclusions
• Rock outcrops and very shallow soils (Lithic Leptosol)
• Rock outcrops and very shallow soils on limestone (Calcaric Leptosol)
• Deep dark cracking clays with very good natural fertility, waterlogged during the wet season (Chromic Vertisol, Pellic Vertisol)
• Shallow stony dark loams on calcaric material (Calcaric Regosol, Calcaric Cambisol)
• Brown loamy soils on basalt with good natural fertility (Luvisol)

{{See also|Soil in Dogu'a Tembien}}

The rainfall pattern shows a very high seasonality with 70 to 80% of the annual rain falling in July and August. Mean temperature in Maygwa is 17 °C, oscillating between average daily minimum of 9.4 °C and maximum of 24.4 °C. The contrasts between day and night air temperatures are much larger than seasonal contrasts.{{cite book |last1=Jacob |first1=M. and colleagues |title=Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains |chapter=Dogu'a Tembien's Tropical Mountain Climate |series=GeoGuide |date=2019 |pages=45–61 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_3 |s2cid=199105560 }}

File:Ketin Kalay River.jpg

The Giba River's tributary, the Tanqwa is the most important river in the surroundings of the tabia. It flows towards Tekezze River and further on to the Nile. The rivers have incised deep gorges which characterise the landscape.{{cite book |last1=Amanuel Zenebe |first1=and colleagues |title=Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains |chapter=The Giba, Tanqwa and Tsaliet Rivers in the Headwaters of the Tekezze Basin |series=GeoGuide |date=2019 |pages=215–230 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_14 |s2cid=199099067 }}

The drainage network of the tabia is organised as follows:{{cite book |last1=Jacob |first1=M. and colleagues |title=Geo-trekking map of Dogu'a Tembien (1:50,000). In: Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains — The Dogu'a Tembien District |date=2019 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030049546}}

• Giba River
• Zeleqwa River, in tabias Melfa and Lim’at, which becomes Ruba Dirho in Aregen and Degol Woyane, and Tanqwa River, in the woredas Kola Tembien and Abergele (woreda)
• Adawro River, in tabia Lim’at
• Arwadito River, in tabia Lim’at
• May Qoqah, in tabia Lim’at

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 begin of the rainy season they are brown-coloured, evidencing high soil erosion rates.

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:{{cite book | title=What do we hear from the farmers in Dogu'a Tembien? [in Tigrinya] |date=2016 |location=Hagere Selam, Ethiopia |pages=100 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311151542}}

• Mhtsab Alabu in Adawro
• Hamute

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[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/ijas.2008.0366 Developers and farmers intertwining interventions: the case of rainwater harvesting and food-for-work in Degua Temben, Tigray, Ethiopia]

The tabia centre Maygwa holds a few administrative offices, a health post, a primary school, and some small shops. Saturday is the market day. There are a few more primary schools across the tabia. The main other populated places are:

• Addi Gerahti
• Hahawti
• Agerbi’a
• Adawro
• Ksad Adawro

File:Homestead_in_Adawro_Lim'at.jpg

The tabia holds several exclosures, areas that are set aside for regreening,{{cite journal |last1=Aerts |first1=R |last2=Nyssen |first2=J|last3=Mitiku Haile |title= On the difference between "exclosures" and "enclosures" in ecology and the environment |journal=Journal of Arid Environments |date=2009|volume=73 |issue=8 |pages= 762–763 |doi=10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.01.006 |bibcode=2009JArEn..73..762A |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/239842 }} such as Adawro exclosure. Wood harvesting and livestock range are not allowed there. Besides effects on biodiversity,{{cite book |last1=Aerts |first1=R. |last2=Lerouge |first2=F. |last3=November |first3=E. |title=Birds of forests and open woodlands in the highlands of Dogu'a Tembien. In: Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains - The Dogu'a Tembien District |date=2019 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030049546}}{{cite journal |last1=Mastewal Yami |first1=and colleagues |title= Impact of Area Enclosures on Density and Diversity of Large Wild Mammals: The Case of May Ba'ati, Douga Tembien Woreda, Central Tigray, Ethiopia |journal=East African Journal of Sciences |date=2007|volume=1 |pages=1–14 }}{{cite journal |last1=Aerts |first1=R |last2=Lerouge |first2=F |last3=November |first3=E |last4=Lens |first4=L |last5=Hermy |first5=M |last6=Muys |first6=B |title=Land rehabilitation and the conservation of birds in a degraded Afromontane landscape in northern Ethiopia |journal=Biodiversity and Conservation |date=2008 |volume=17 |pages=53–69 |doi=10.1007/s10531-007-9230-2 |s2cid=37489450 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/145812 }} water infiltration, protection from flooding, sediment deposition,{{cite journal |last1=Descheemaeker |first1=K. and colleagues |title= Sediment deposition and pedogenesis in exclosures in the Tigray Highlands, Ethiopia. |journal=Geoderma |date=2006 |volume=132 |issue= 3–4|pages=291–314 |doi=10.1016/j.geoderma.2005.04.027 |bibcode=2006Geode.132..291D }} carbon sequestration,{{cite journal |last1=Wolde Mekuria |first1=and colleagues |title= Restoration of Ecosystem Carbon Stocks Following Exclosure Establishment in Communal Grazing Lands in Tigray, Ethiopia |journal= Soil Science Society of America Journal |date=2011 |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=246–256|doi=10.2136/sssaj2010.0176 |bibcode=2011SSASJ..75..246M }} people commonly have economic benefits from these exclosures through grass harvesting, beekeeping and other non-timber forest products.{{cite journal |last1=Bedru Babulo |first1=and colleagues |title= Economic valuation methods of forest rehabilitation in exclosures |journal=Journal of the Drylands |date=2006 |volume=1 |pages=165–170 }} The local inhabitants also consider it as “land set aside for future generations”.{{cite book |last1=Jacob |first1=M. and colleagues | title= Exclosures as Primary Option for Reforestation in Dogu'a Tembien. In: Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains - The Dogu'a Tembien District |date=2019 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030049546}}

The population lives essentially from crop farming, supplemented with off-season work in nearby towns. The land is dominated by farmlands which are clearly demarcated and are cropped every year. Hence the agricultural system is a permanent upland farming system.{{cite journal |last1= Nyssen|first1= J.|last2= Naudts|first2= J.|last3= De Geyndt|first3= K.|last4= Haile|first4= Mitiku|last5= Poesen|first5= J.|last6= Moeyersons|first6= J.|last7= Deckers|first7= J.|title=Soils and land use in the Tigray highlands (Northern Ethiopia) |journal=Land Degradation and Development |date=2008 |volume=19 |issue= 3|pages=257–274 |doi= 10.1002/ldr.840|s2cid= 128492271}} The farmers have adapted their cropping systems to the spatio-temporal variability in rainfall.{{cite journal |last1=Frankl |first1=A. and colleagues |title=The effect of rainfall on spatio‐temporal variability in cropping systems and duration of crop cover in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands |journal=Soil Use and Management |date=2013 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=374–383 |doi=10.1111/sum.12041 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/3123393 |hdl=1854/LU-3123393 |s2cid=95207289 |hdl-access=free }}

The history of the tabia is strongly confounded with the history of Tembien.

Most inhabitants are Orthodox Christians.

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

• Amete Kiros at Agerbi’a
• Tekien Gebresellasie at Maygua
• Tekien Alemayehu at Maygua

The main road Mekelle – Hagere Selam – Abiy Addi runs across the tabia. There are regular bus services to these towns.

Its mountainous nature and proximity to Mekelle make the tabia fit for tourism.{{cite book |title= Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains — The Dogu'a Tembien District |date=2019 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030049546}} 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.{{cite book |chapter=Logistics for the Trekker in a Rural Mountain District of Northern Ethiopia|date=2019 |publisher=Springer-Nature |pages=537–556 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_37 |title=Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains |series=GeoGuide |last1=Nyssen |first1=Jan |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |s2cid=199198251 }}

The high variability of geological formations and the rugged topography invite for geological and geographic tourism or "geotourism".{{cite book |last1=Miruts Hagos and colleagues |title=Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains |chapter=Geosites, Geoheritage, Human-Environment Interactions, and Sustainable Geotourism in Dogu'a Tembien |series=GeoGuide |date=2019 |pages=3–27 |publisher=SpringerNature |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_1 |s2cid=199095921 }} Geosites in the tabia include:

• May Qoqah river with permanent baseflow and gully control structures (log dams and check dams)
• Views on Melfa, with debris flows
• Adawro Ch’erkos church forest, dominated by Euphorbia candelabra
• Views from Tsatsen plateau to the wider surroundings

Trekking routes have been established in this tabia.{{cite book |date=2019 |publisher=Springer-Nature |pages=557–675 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_38 |series=GeoGuide |last1=Nyssen |first1=Jan |title=Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains |chapter=Description of Trekking Routes in Dogu'a Tembien |isbn=978-3-030-04954-6 |s2cid=199271514 }} The tracks are not marked on the ground but can be followed using downloaded .GPX files.{{cite web|url=https://www.openstreetmap.org/traces/tag/nyssen-jacob-frankl|title=Public GPS traces tagged with nyssen-jacob-frankl|website=OpenStreetMap|accessdate=2019-10-11}}

• Trek 7, across the tabia to Debre Sema'it rock church, and on to Abiy Addi
• Trek 8, at the southeastern edge of the tabia over the Tsatsen plateau through Inda Maryam Qorar to Zeyi cave and on the Giba River gorge
• Trek 20 follows May Qoqah River and then the deep Zeleqwa gorge

File: Tsatsen_plateau_in_Lim'at.jpg

• Dogu'a Tembien district.

{{reflist}}

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Lim’at

|North = Melfa

|East = Seret

|South = Seret

|West = Aregen
Menachek

|Northeast = Hagere Selam

}}

{{ Tabias (municipalities) of Dogu’a Tembien }}

Category:Populated places in the Tigray Region

Category:Dogu'a Tembien