Selam (Dogu'a Tembien)

The tabia stretches down north of the ridge occupied by the main road towards the Tinsehe gorge. The highest peak is Imba Khoboro (2,730 m a.s.l.) and the lowest place at the foot of the waterfall in Tinsehe (2,000 m a.s.l.).

File:Ksad Addi Amyuq near Hagere Selam.jpg

File:Rock sample Phonolite Addi Amyuq.jpg, collected at Addi Amyuq]]

File:Rock sample 4 Aphanitic basalt Addi Amyuq pass.jpg at Addi Amyuq pass]]

File:Rock sample 2 Interbedded lacustrine Meri'a Ziban.jpg, collected east of Khunale]]

File:Rock sample 1 Amba Aradam sst Miheno.jpg, collected in Miheno]]

File:Rock sample 7 Upper limestone formation Miheno.jpg, collected in Miheno]]

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}}

• Phonolite plugs
• 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 |bibcode=2006PPP...230..165M |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.013 }}

The main geomorphic units, with 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}}

==== Hagere Selam Highlands, along the upper basalt and sandstone ridge====

• Associated soil types
• shallow soils with high stone content (Skeletic Cambisol, Leptic Cambisol, Skeletic Regosol)
• moderately deep dark stony clays with good natural fertility (Vertic Cambisol)

File:Mazi-Pellic Vertisol (Eutric) Thapto Haplic Leptosol at Mere'a Ziban Ethiopia.jpg

• 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)

==== Gently rolling Antalo Limestone plateau (in the lower parts), holding cliffs and valley bottoms on limestone ====

• Associated soil types
• shallow stony soils with a dark surface horizon overlying calcaric material (Calcaric Leptosol)
• moderately deep dark stony clays with good natural fertility (Vertic Cambisol)
• deep, dark cracking clays on calcaric material (Calcaric Vertisol, Calcic Vertisol)
• Inclusions
• Rock outcrops and very shallow soils (Lithic Leptosol)
• Shallow very stony loamy soil on limestone (Skeletic Calcaric Cambisol)
• Deep dark cracking clays with very good natural fertility, waterlogged during the wet season (Chromic Vertisol, Pellic Vertisol)
• Brown to dark sands and silt loams on alluvium (Vertic Fluvisol, Eutric Fluvisol, Haplic Fluvisol)

{{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 Addi Werho is 18.8 °C, oscillating between average daily minimum of 10.5 °C and maximum of 26.7 °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 }}

The Tsaliet River (a tributary to Weri’i River) is the most important rivers in the surroundings of the tabia. They flow towards Tekezze River and further on to the Nile. These 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}}

• Weri’i River basin
• May Leiba, in tabia Ayninbirkekin, which becomes Tinsehe R. in Selam and Mahbere Sillasie, and Tsaliet River, downstream from the Dabba Selama monastery
• May Meqa River, in tabia Selam
• Harehuwa River, in tabia Mahbere Sillasie

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.

File:Khunale spring.jpg

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}}

• May Gudgwad in Khunale
• May Miheno in Miheno

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. Overall they suffer from siltation.{{cite journal |last1=Nigussie Haregeweyn |first1=and colleagues |title=Reservoirs in Tigray: characteristics and sediment deposition problems |journal=Land Degradation and Development |date=2006 |volume=17 |pages=211–230 |doi=10.1002/ldr.698 |s2cid=129834993 |doi-access=free }} Yet, they strongly contribute to greening the landscape, either through irrigation or seepage water. Main reservoirs are:

• 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 Addi Worho holds a few administrative offices, a health post, a primary school, and some small shops. There are a few more primary schools across the tabia. The main other populated places are:

• Khunale
• Addi Amyuq (on the boundary to Mahbere Sillasie)
• Miheno
• Tinsehe

File:Crop harvesting in Khunale.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 Khunale 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 }}

Almost all children of the tabia are schooled,{{cite book |title=Socio-demographic profile, food insecurity and food-aid based response. 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}} though in some schools there is lack of classrooms, directly related to the large intake in primary schools over the last decades.{{Citation |last1=Hartjen |first1=Clayton A. |title=Denial of Education |date=2012 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2179-5_8 |work=The Global Victimization of Children: Problems and Solutions |pages=271–321 |editor-last=Hartjen |editor-first=Clayton A. |access-date=2023-10-13 |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-2179-5_8 |isbn=978-1-4614-2179-5 |last2=Priyadarsini |first2=S. |editor2-last=Priyadarsini |editor2-first=S.}} Schools in the tabia include Khunale school.

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

File:Phonolite dimension stones Khunale.jpg

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

• Arba’ite Insesa
• Abune Kiros
• Kidane Mihret, at the foot of, and partly under Tinsehe's waterfall, in a forested cove[https://aasjournal.spbu.ru/article/view/7770/5710 Klyuev S. A., Semenova V. N. The Role of Landscape in Semi-rock-hewn and Cave Churches of Tämben and ᵓƎndärta (Tәgray region, Ethiopia). Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, pp. 208–229. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2020.204 (In Russian)]

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

• Kindhafti Abadi at Tinsehe
• Genet Gebrehiwet at Tinsehe

The main road Mekelle – Hagere Selam – Abiy Addi runs at the southern edge of the tabia. There are regular bus services to these towns. Further, a rural access road links Tinsehe and Addi Werho to the main asphalt road.

File: Miheno_escarpment_in_Selam.jpg

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|series=GeoGuide }} 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 }}

• Tinsehe waterfall

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:

• Ksad Addi Amyuq roadcut with exposed interbedded lacustrine deposits
• Views from Imba Zuw’ala
• Khunale exclosure
• Phonolite plug at Imba Khoboro
• Church built with phonolite stone in Khunale Arba’ite Insesa
• Meri’a Ziban hill in interbedded lacustrine deposits

Birdwatching (for the species, see the main Dogu'a Tembien page) can be done particularly in the tropical forest at the foot of the Tinsehe waterfall.{{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}}

File:Footpath maintenance in Khunale.jpg

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 2, crosses the tabia from north (Khunale) to South (Tinsehe Waterfall)
• Trek 14, from west to east along the upper ridge at the southern side of the tabia
• Trek 23, from the main road in Miheno, downslope to Addi Idaga

• Dogu'a Tembien district.

{{reflist}}

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Selam

|North = Haddinnet

|East = Ayninbirkekin

|Southwest = Hagere Selam

|West = Mahbere Sillasie

|Southeast = Ayninbirkekin

|South = Hagere Selam and Ayninbirkekin

}}

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

Category:Dogu'a Tembien

Category:Populated places in the Tigray Region