Amba (landform)

An amba (Amharic: ዐምባ āmbā, Tigrinya: እምባ imbā) is a characteristic landform in Ethiopia.

It is a steep-sided, flat-topped mountain, often the site of villages, wells, and their surrounding farmland.

Such settlements were frequently located on these amba plateaus because they were very defensible and often virtually inaccessible from the ground.

Amba Geshen, for example, is a historically significant amba where members of royal families were kept under guard for their safety and to prevent their participation in plots against the sitting emperor.

In 2008, a scientific mission identified on an amba near Harar, the Kundudo, one of just two feral horse populations in Africa.