Addis Ababa, September 22, 2015 (GMN) - Tekle Negash’s days of riding a battered minibus to work in Ethiopia’s capital are over. Boarding Addis Ababa’s $475-million, Chinese-built and funded Light Rail, he can slash his one-hour commute by two-thirds and still save money.

Thanks to the rare species not found elsewhere in the country, Gambella National Park is really worth a visit. Located in the Gambela Region on the river Baro, the park was established primarily to protect two species of endangered wetland antelopes: the White-eared kob and the Nile Lechwe.

The small town of Gambella is an oddity among Ethiopian towns, and a most appealing one. Lying at an altitude of 450m in the swampy, mosquito-ridden lowlands, Gambella exudes an atmosphere of tropical languor, dictated as much by its lush vegetation and almost unbearable humidity as by its remoteness from just about everywhere. Historically, ethnically and scenically, Gambella is barely a part of Ethiopia at all.