The Oromo (Oromo: Oromoo, "The Powerful"; Ge'ez: ኦሮሞ, ’Oromo) are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnicity in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census. Their native language is Oromo (also called Afaan Oromoo and Oromiffa), which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family.
Awash National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Spanning across the southern tip of the Afar Region and the northeastern corner of the Misraq Shewa Zone of Oromia, this park is 225 kilometers east of Addis Ababa (and a few kilometers west of Awash), with its southern boundary along the Awash River, and covers at least 756 square kilometers of acacia woodland and grassland. The Addis Ababa - Dire Dawa highway passes through this park, separating the Illala Saha Plains to the south from the Kudu Valley to the north. In the south of the park the Awash River gorge has amazing waterfalls. In the upper Kudu Valley at Filwoha are hot springs amid groves of palm trees.
The Awash National Park was established in 1966, although the act authorizing its existence was not completely passed for another three years.