Lake Chukala is the small Crater Lake on the top of Mt. Chukala that is located in East Shewa zone.: The Chuqala Mountain, located at a distance of 27 kilometers to the south-west of Bishoftu town is the highest peak in the Central Rift Valley area with the peaks of 2989 meters above sea level. This elevation has made it a watch tower of the Central Rift Valley region with cold climate on the top. It is covered with a thick, high land forest wherein the beautiful Colobus Monkeys and various bird species inhabit.
The mountain is accessible to the top for mountain climbers on foot or by a 4 wheel drive through a nine kilometers distance road. The mountain provides the following considerable attractions:
- Excellent panoramic view of the surrounding area;
- Church of Abo, an old monastery of over 500 years old, which has a repository of old manuscripts of religious significance written on well prepared goat hides known as ‘birana’;
- Annual Abo festival held on the 14th of November every year, giving the best opportunity to see religious as well as Oromo traditional ceremony held by pilgrims;
- Traditional dance and the folk culture on the eventful ceremony,
- The clear and supposedly holy-water of the crater lake on its top, and
- Diverse vegetation that covers about 197 hectares of a natural forest around the crater lake and others.