Chukala is located at a distance of 27km South West of Bishoftu town. It is the highest peak in the central Rift Valley area reaching as high as 2989m above sea level. The mountain is accessible to the top for mountain climbers on foot or by 4 wheel drive through a 9km long winding road.

The mountain provides the following considerable attractions: excellent panoramic view of the surrounding area; Church of Abbo, a monastery over 500 years old, which has a repository of old manuscripts of religious significance written on parchment, known as ‘Birana’. The annual Abbo festival is held on 14^th of November, giving the best opportunity to see a 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 cover (about 197 hectares) of a natural forest around the crater lake and others.