Wolayita Zone

Wolayita is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR). it is named for the Welayta people, whose homeland lies in this Zone. Wolayita is bordered on the south by Gamo Gofa, on the west by the Omo River which separates it from Dawro, on the northwest by Kembata Tembaro, on the north by Hadiya, on the northeast by the Oromia Region, on the east by the Bilate River which separates it from Sidama, and on the south east by the Lake Abaya which separates it from Oromia Region. The administrative center of Wolayita is Sodo.

Wolayita has 358 kilometers of all-weather roads and 425 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 187 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. The highest point in this Zone is Mount Damota (2738 meters).

Originally Wolayita was part of the Semien (North) Omo Zone, and the 1994 national census counted its inhabitants as part of that Zone. However friction between the various ethnic groups in Semien Omo, which was often blamed on the Welayta for "ethnic chauvinism" and despite the efforts of the ruling party to emphasize the need to co-ordinate, consolidate, and unify the smaller ethnic units to achieve the "efficient use of scarce government resources", eventually led to the division of the Zone in 2000, resulting with the creation of not only the Wolayita, but also the Gamo Gofa and Dawro Zones and two special woredas.