Lake Shala
one of the Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia
Lake Shala (also spelled Shalla) is an alkaline lake located in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, in the Abijatta-Shalla National Park.
Overview
The lake is 28 kilometers long and 12 wide, with a surface area of 329 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 266 meters and is at an elevation of 1,558 meters. As such, it is the deepest of Ethiopia's Rift Valley lakes.
Known for the sulphur springs on the lake bed, its islands are inhabited by great white pelicans, one being known as Pelican Island.
Lake Shala is surrounded by hot springs filled with boiling water, and the earth surrounding the lake is filled with cracks due to erosion and earthquakes. Due to steam rising from the boiling water in the springs, the atmosphere around the lake is relatively foggy. Various species of flamingoes and birds that frequent the lake are found at its southern end.
“Lake Shala” enters the record as one of the Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lake, Shala and Rift can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lake Shala” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lake, Shala and Rift provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q509445. Authority coordinates are 7.483, 38.533. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lake Shala” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.