QUAESTIONES GEOGRAPHICAE 31(1) • 2012 GEOHERITAGE CONSERVATION IN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF THE SIMIEN MOUNTAINS ASFAWOSSEN ASRAT Department of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia METASEBIA DEMISSIE Geo-Information and Landscape Gardening, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ABERRA MOGESSIE Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Graz, A-8010 Graz, Austria Manuscript received: February 17, 2012 Revised version: March 3, 2012 ASRAT, A., DEMISSIE, M. & MOGESSIE, A., Geoheritage conservation in Ethiopia: the case of the Simien Mountains. Quaestiones Geographicae 31(1), Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań 2012, pp. 7–23. 15 Figs. DOI 10.2478/ v10117-012 001-0, ISSN 0137-477X. -0 ABSTRACT. Ethiopia constitutes one of the most significant environmental and cultural reserves on Earth. Ethio- pia’s natural and cultural tourist attractions are mostly associated with geological features: the active Ethiopian and Afar rifts as well as the Simien and Bale massifs are few examples. Ethiopia’s cultural history, religious ma- nifestations and civilization, like the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and the stelae of Axum, are also imprinted in rock. Geomorphological and geological features, notably the isolation of the north-western highlands from the external world by the harsh Afar depression close to the sea, determined the route of Ethiopian history. Though tourism has been identified as a major sustainable development sector, systematic geoheritage evaluation and conservation strategies are lacking in the country. In this paper the Simien Mountains are presented as major geoheritages which should be prioritized for geoconservation in order to develop sustainable tourism (geoto- urism) in the area. KEY WORDS: geoheritage, geotourism, geoconservation, sustainable development, Simien Mountains, Ethiopia Asfawossen Asrat, Department of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, e-mail: asrata@geol.aau.edu.et ASFAWOSSEN ASRAT ET AL. 1. Introduction Geological sceneries are defined as those large-scale geological and geomorphological features defining the natural physical scenery of a site, for example volcanic edificies. In this pa- per, we present selected geological heritages in Ethiopia in order to make a case for the fact that most of the cultural and natural touristic sites in the country are in fact, in one way or another, re-