Anseba Region

Anseba Zone Zoba Anseba
—  Zoba  —
Map of Eritrea with the Anseba Region highlighted
Country	Eritrea
Capital	Keren
Government
• Administrator	Selma Hassan
Area
• Total	23,200 km2 (8,957.6 sq mi)
Population
• Total	893,587
• Density	38.5/km2 (99.8/sq mi)

Anseba (Tigrinya: ኣንሰባ^?) is an inland region of Eritrea, in the west of the country.

Overview

Its capital is Keren and it has an area of about 23,000 km². It is named after the Anseba River around which the region is situated. The river begins in the central Eritrean highland plateau, in the suburbs northwest of the capital Asmara. It then descends northwards into the northwestern lowlands, traversing the mountains of Rora Habab and Sahel before joining the Barka River near the border with Sudan. Other towns in this region include Halhal. The region borders Gash-Barka to the south, the Central (Maekel) region to the south-east, the Northern Red Sea Region to the east and north, and the nation of Sudan to the west.

Districts

The region includes the following districts:

• Adi Tekelezan District
• Asmat District
• Elabered District
• Geleb District
• Hagaz District
• Halhal District
• Habero District
• Keren District
• Kerkebet District
• Sela District

Natural history

There are a number of flora and fauna species within this region. Notably this was historic habitat for the endangered Painted Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus, which canid is now thought to be extirpated in the region. Eritrea as a whole was extensively forested as recently as 1900 AD. However, at present the total forest cover of Eritrea is less than one percent. The deforestation in Anseba mirrors the country as a whole.

References

• Edward Denison and Edward Paice. 2007. Eritrea, fourth edition, Published by Bradt Travel Guides, 224 pages ISBN 1841621714, 9781841621715
• C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
• GeoHive global statistics