Part of the 13-kilometre (8 mi) range that bears its name, its summit lies east of the walled city of Harar, with a height of nearly 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).

[5] The herd has been the focus since 2008 of six Italian and Italo-British ecologic missions to try and save it and offer locals economic alternatives to the peculiar area's destruction.

Prof. Viganò, the mission's head, has been given a charge to attempt a rapid intervention from the Ethiopian Environment Protection Agency, later by the Oromia Tourism Commissioner.

A second mission in March 2008 revealed the whereabouts of the captive horses and found rock paintings in a cave in the mountain complex, giving rise to hopes of future tourism development in the area.

Seven horses were reported as then freed and presently on the amba's top by the Addis Ababa-based GAG, a local interest group for the preservation of the Kundudo range and promote the Gursum area.