List of Towns, Villages and Cities in Illubabor Zone

Illubabor Zone (Afaan Oromoo: Godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa, also written Ilu Aba Bora) is a zone of south-western Oromia, administered from Mettu. The 2007 census counted 1,271,609 people across 15,135 square kilometres, before the eastern woredas were separated in March 2016 to form Buno Bedele Zone. Illubabor is Ethiopia’s wettest coffee-forest country and holds the Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve.

Woredas (Districts)

Illubabor has 14 rural woredas plus the Mettu town administration. Nine districts and the town of Bedele left the zone in March 2016 to form Buno Bedele. Figures are the 2007 census count and the 2022 projection.

Major Towns

Mettu replaced Gore as the administrative seat in 1978 because of its more central position. Gore had been the provincial capital of Illubabor and briefly served as Ethiopia’s seat of government in 1936.

Geography

Illubabor lies on the south-western escarpment, falling from about 2,500 metres in the east to under 1,000 metres where the land runs out toward Gambela. Rainfall is among the highest in Ethiopia, close to 2,000 millimetres a year in places, and the zone carries some of the country’s last large stands of moist evergreen Afromontane forest. The Baro River rises here and flows west into the Gambela plain; the Sor and Geba are its main tributaries, and the Sor falls near Mettu are a local landmark.

The zone borders Buno Bedele Zone to the east, Kelam Welega Zone to the west, West Welega and the Benishangul-Gumuz Region to the north, East Welega to the north-west, the Gambela Region to the south-west and the South West Ethiopia Region to the south.

Demographics

The 2007 census recorded 636,986 men and 634,623 women, a 50.12 per cent increase on 1994. Afaan Oromoo was the first language of 90.68 per cent of residents and Amharic of 7.08 per cent. Muslims made up 50.6 per cent of the population, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians 26.51 per cent and Protestants 22.51 per cent. Those figures cover the zone before the Buno Bedele split. All post-2007 totals are projections.

Economy & Local Life

Coffee is the zone’s export crop and much of it grows wild or semi-wild under forest canopy. Illubabor produced 14,855 tonnes in 2005, about 6.5 per cent of Ethiopia’s output. The Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, recognised by UNESCO in 2010, protects roughly 1,670 square kilometres of that forest and the wild arabica gene pool inside it. Honey is the second forest product, and Illubabor is one of Ethiopia’s largest honey-producing areas; korerima, the Ethiopian cardamom, and long pepper are gathered alongside it.

Food crops are maize, sorghum, teff and enset, with cattle kept at low density because of tsetse in the lower woredas. Illubabor was a grain-exporting area into the 1990s, but harvests fell from 1997 under crop disease and poorer rainfall. A coal deposit at Yayu underpins a long-running government fertiliser project, and Mettu University, opened in 2011, is the largest public employer in the zone capital.

Getting There

Mettu is about 600 kilometres from Addis Ababa. The usual road runs west through Jimma and Bedele, all asphalt, and buses take two days or one long day. Gore is 15 kilometres south-east of Mettu on the road that continues down the escarpment to Gambela. Mettu has an airport with intermittent scheduled service. Western Oromia has seen fighting between federal forces and the Oromo Liberation Army since 2018, and rural road access can change at short notice.

FAQ

Where is Illubabor Zone?

Illubabor is in south-western Oromia, on the escarpment above the Gambela lowlands, about 600 kilometres from Addis Ababa by road through Jimma.

What is the capital of Illubabor Zone?

Mettu, a town of about 59,700 people on the 2022 projection. It took over from Gore in 1978.

How many woredas are in Illubabor Zone?

Fourteen rural woredas plus the Mettu town administration, after nine districts and Bedele town left in 2016 to form Buno Bedele Zone.

What is the Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve?

A UNESCO biosphere reserve designated in 2010 in Yayu woreda, protecting about 1,670 square kilometres of montane rainforest and the wild arabica coffee growing in it.

What language is spoken in Illubabor?

Afaan Oromoo, the first language of about 91 per cent of residents, with Amharic used in towns.

Is Illubabor the same as Ilu Aba Bora?

Yes. Iluu Abbaa Booraa is the Afaan Oromoo name; Illubabor and Ilu Aba Bora are both used in English.