Located in the Mirab Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, it has an elevation of 3,301 metres (10,830 ft) above sea level.

According to author Mohammed Hassan, they named the peak after a mountain in Meda Welabu, which he considers to have been "the region of Borana dispersal in the early sixteenth century".

[3] The Dutch explorer Juan Maria Schuver reached Mount Welel August 1882, but he declined to attempt to climb it, explaining in his memoirs that "an escort of 100 men would have been needed to reach the top, as the mountain and a large extent of the forest around it, are inhabited by fugitive slaves and criminals from different tribes.

"[4] In his book In Search of King Solomon's Mines, Tahir Shah explains that he first learned of this mountain in the memoirs of the explorer Frank Hayter, The Gold of Ethiopia, which was written in 1936.

[5] Although in an interview with Richard Pankhurst he learns that Hayter is "rather unreliable", locating this mountain becomes Tahir Shah's goal in his further travels through Ethiopia, which he eventually reaches.