Wondo Genet is a resort

Resort

A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....

 town in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. Located southeast of Shashemene in the Sidama Zone

Sidama Zone

Sidama is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . It is named for the Sidama people, whose homeland is located in this zone...

 of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, with a latitude and longitude of 7°1′N 38°35′E and an elevation of 1723 meters.

Wondo Genet is connected to Shashamene by way of Wendo Wosha, by an unimproved road; the last three kilometers from Wendo Wosha are in especially poor condition.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

 of Ethiopia published in 2005, Wondo Genet has an estimated total population of 5,792 consisting of 2,857 men and 2,935 women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 3,197 of whom 1,582 were males and 1,615 were females. It is one of two settlements in Awasa

Awasa (woreda)

Awasa is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Sidama Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Awasa is bordered on the south by Shebedino, and on the west, north and east by the Oromia Region...

 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

.

Wondo Genet is known for its hot spring

Hot spring

A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...

s and is surrounded by primary Ethiopian forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s. It is home to an arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 and a College of Forestry which was founded in 1977 with Swedish assistance. Also located in this resort town is the Essential Oils Research Sub Center, where spices, aromatic and medicinal plants are conserved and their qualities researched.

History

The Swedish Philadelphia Church Mission opened a mission in this town in 1961, which included a medical clinic.

The Wondo Genet hotel was established in 1964, on land used as recreation site for the royal family until 1975. Emperor Haile Selassie bequeathed its name, meaning "Wondo Paradise", in reference to the beautiful panorama with a rich endowment of forests, wildlife and abundant water. Title to the hotel was transferred to the then Hotels Corporation, and currently it is a subsidiary of the Wabe Shebelle Hotels Enterprise. The hotel facilities include 54.4 ha area of land and possesses 40 bed rooms, restaurant and a bar, as well as swimming pools and access to the hot springs.

The Wendo Genet earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 of 1983 was among the most significant in Ethiopia in the 20th century. Its magnitude has not been determined, but was severe enough that the frightened inhabitants gathered at the Ethiopian Orthodox church below the hotel to sing and pray the whole day and the whole night. A later disaster was a complex of forest fires which erupted in 17 places in southern Ethiopia on 10 February 2000 including the vicinity of the College.

On 3 April 2008, 18 people were killed in clashes near Wondo Genet between the Guji Oromo

Guji Oromo

The Guji Oromo are an ethnic Oromo group living in southern Ethiopia. They are part nomadic and part agrarian. According to a population projection from 2007, the total population of the Guji Oromo is above 5 million....

 and Sidama people

Sidama people

The Sidama people of southern Ethiopia are an ethnic group whose homeland is in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. They number 2,966,474 of whom 149,480 are urban inhabitants, the fifth most populous nation in Ethiopia...

over ownership to grazing and farm land.