Mount Zuqualla

Mount Zuqualla is an extinct volcano in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Situated in Ada'a Chukala woreda of the Shewa Zone, it rises from the plain 30 kilometres south of Bishoftu. With a height of 2,989 metres, it is known for its crater lake, lake Dembel, an elliptical crater lake with a maximum diameter of about one kilometer, but the trail around the crater is about 6 kilometers long. Both the mountain and the lake is a holy site to the Oromo living nearby. The ambivalent attitude regarding the holiness of the mountain is seen in the Oromo proverb: "Those who live far away worship it, those who live nearby plow it."

The lake in the crater has an island Tulluu Irreechaa, said to have been founded by Abba Gadaa of Tuulama on the site of a hermitage used by Saint Mercurius. This monastery was destroyed, and a church at the foot of the mountain looted, by Imam Ahmad Gragn in 1531; two churches were later built at the monastery, one dedicated to St Gebre Menfas built by Menelik II in 1880…