Goba Gobbaa (Oromo) ጎባ (Amharic) Bale Goba
Town
Photo taken while in Goba Wednesday Market
Goba Location within Ethiopia Show map of Ethiopia Goba Goba (Africa) Show map of Africa Goba Goba (Earth) Show map of Earth
Coordinates: 7°0′N 39°59′E / 7.000°N 39.983°E / 7.000; 39.983
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Oromia
Zone	Bale
District	Goba
Founded	1892
Founded by	Asfaw Dargy (Former Bale Province administer)
First Mayor	Blata Cheru (1945)
Government
• Current Mayor	Shimels Alemu
Area
• Land	26.79 km2 (10.345 sq mi)
Elevation	2,743 m (8,999 ft)
Population  (2016)
• Town	54,630
• Density	2,085/km2 (5,400/sq mi)
• Urban	49,309
• Metro	70,810
Time zone	UTC+3 (EAT)
Post Code	4540
Area code	(+251) 22
Climate	Cwb

Goba (Oromo: Gobbaa, Amharic: ጎባ) is a town and separate woreda located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region, Ethiopia approximately 446 km southeast of Addis Ababa, this city has a latitude and longitude of 7°0′N 39°59′E / 7.000°N 39.983°E / 7.000; 39.983 and an elevation of 2,743 meters above sea level.

The town is known for its Wednesday market and for honey, basketry and cotton shawl making; Bale National Park is 10 km to the southwest. A few kilometers outside of Goba are the remains of an old rock church.^[1] Goba shares Robe Airport (ICAO code HAGB, IATA GOB) with neighbouring Robe.

Ethiopian Airlines has a scheduled flight four times a week connecting Goba to the capital Addis Ababa and to the southern city Arba Minch.

History

Arnold Weinholt Hodson visited Goba while he was the British resident in southern Ethiopia (1914-1923), briefly describing it as a "large garrison town."^[2]

Goba was the capital of the former Bale Province, until the province was abolished with the adoption of the new constitution in 1995. A telephone line connected Goba to Addis Ababa at least as early as 1936.^[3] During the Bale revolt, rebels attacked the capital twice between November 1965 and March 1966.^[4] In 1970 the town had the only high school in Bale Province; that year the school had 682 students, of whom 86 were Muslims in a province where Islam claimed over 90 per cent of the population.^[3] As Gebru Tareke grimly concludes, "Between February 1970, when the revolt ended, and February 1974, when the imperial regime collapsed, precious little had changed in Bale, as indeed in the rest of Ethiopia."^[5]

According to the third edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Ethiopia, "Goba is in a state of decline and Ethiopian Airlines has even cancelled its flights here."^[6]

Starting from 1 September 2014, Ethiopian Airlines has announced a scheduled service four time per week to Robe Airport connecting Goba to Addis Ababa and Arba Minch.^[7]

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Goba of 32,025, of whom 15,182 were men and 16,843 were women; 4,797 or 6.13% of its population were urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants said they practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 69.84% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 23.12% of the population were Muslim and 5.84% were Protestant.^[8]

The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 28,358 of whom 13,155 were men and 15,203 were women.

Climate

Owing to its very high altitude, Goba has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) with cool to cold mornings and mild to warm afternoons year-round. There is a lengthy rainy season from February/March to October, and a short dry season with chillier mornings from November to January.