Not as great as appears from the reviews. We have read a number of reviews related to the park. They all sounded very positive. The reality turned out to be very bleak and generally found those reviews VERY misleading.

Here are the reasons:

Short 15 km road inside the park, very few animals around it. Very few animals avaialbe, we drove on that road back and forth 4 times total. No road access to the lake with Hippos.

The only decent thing there was a powerful impressive waterfall. It is definetely outstanding for lots of resons. Being on their bridge and under the waterfall is cetainly a great experience especially when the rest there is sort of bleak.

On the way to inside the park there is a hot spring but although the water is really hot and probably has medical properties, the place is hardly suitable for visitors as it is trashed, full of animals and casual locals that will not leave you alone for the time you are there.

We did have a glimplse of elephants in the wild. But it was elusive and from far away. You can see them much closer and easier around Arfica. We did see a few warthogs crossing the road. They were big and not much afraid of the people. That was nice. We did see one deer, found a needle of a porcupine. We did not see any hippos, lions, leopards or buffalos! We did see a few monkeys which you can see effortlessly pretty much anywhere around Ethiopia. Our impression is it is common for this park experiece.

There is a small lake/pond inside the park, very close to the main track one drives along, it is currently not accessible with a vehicle but as it is very close, one can probably just walk along that broken side road to reach it. It should not take more that 30-40 minutes. They say they have hippos there and some other animals. Check it out and post it here! All in all, a very poor wildlife and not worth the effort of getting there, money as well. Scale 1 out of 5 for the animals that can be seen. Not to be recommended unless you have no other options (like Ethosha or similar).

The road to the park from Hawassa was much more fun than the park itself.

Bottom line: ok, if you have...

Chebera Churchura is a newly established National Park located in Konta Woreda, Dawro Zone. It is 480 km south of Addis on the Addis–Jimma-Chida-Ameya road. It has a total area of 11,900 ha and elevations range from 500-2000 m asl. This park used to be part of the Kulo Konta Controlled Hunting Area specifically set to hunt Elephants. in 2005 gets national park status. Four major vegetation zones, grasslands, woodlands, mountain forests and riverine forests, have been described for the area. Dominant woody vegetation includes Ficus spp., Combretum spp., Ehertia spp and Albizia spp. The natural forests have non-timber forest products of economic value including Coffee, Coriander and Piper sp. Chebera Churchura provides refuge to 37 species of larger mammals. Besides Elephants, the park has populations of Buffalo, Greater Kudu, Defassa Waterbuck, Lion, Leopard, Serval Cats, Hippopotamus and Warthog. It also has 140...

Chebera Churchura NP harbours over 400 Elephants in different herds. The Zigna River, several lakes, waterfalls including a hot spring form hydrological features in the park. The Zigna River is an important tributary of the Omo River. The presence of natural caves and wild lives of many species such as Elephants, Warthogs, Foxes, Giraffe, Lions, wild Bulls, Birds... are an added attraction. The newly constructed and inaugurated on May 01, 2023; Hala kela Resort with the magnificent view of Omo River and Koysha Artificial Lake will serve visitors as a staycation spot in addition to the Camp's HQ Facility where a simple camp with toilet facilities are...