The city of Arba Minch is one of the major towns in the Southern Nations Nationalities and People Regional State 505 km from Addis Ababa. The city was established in 1955 E.C. as a capital of Gamo Gofa province and it is now the capital of Gamo Zone under the current administrative boundary. The city has got its name from the forty (40) springs that are found in the city’s administrative boundary in the Nech Sar National Park around the Abaya Lake area in the dense forest.