Mount Ayalu

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Mount Ayalu.
Mount Ayalu.

Mount Ayalu (also spelled Ayelu) is an isolated, rhyolitic stratovolcano in eastern Ethiopia. Located in Administrative Zone 3 of the Afar Region, near the eastern bank of the Awash River, this mountain has a latitude and longitude of 10°5′N, 40°42′E and an altitude of 2145 meters.

Wilfred Thesiger describes his assent of Mount Ayalu in 1933. He notes that this mountain was the object of an annual pilgrimage by members of the Afar people, who travelled from as far away as Daoe and Aussa in order to climb to the summit where they would pray for good health and success in war. They would also make a pilgrimage to Ayalu in other times of the year to pray for relief in times of famine and after a defeat in war.[1] When David Buxton visited the site a little more than 10 years later, he was unable to learn if sacrifices were still made there.[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Wilfred Thesiger, The Danakil Diary: Journeys through Abyssinia, 1930-4 (Hammersmith: Flamingo, 1996), p.
  2. ^ David Buxton, Travels in Ethiopia, second edition (London: Benn, 1957), pp. 153ff

[edit] External links

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