The economy of Ethiopia has prospered for many years on agricultural products but currently, the country expands to industrialization and service providing for additional incomes. However, the wildlife tourism and conservation practices are still at low attention. Therefore, this review paper identifies potential opportunities and wildlife diversity to promote wildlife tourism practices in Ethiopia. Furthermore, it also identifies the challenges and future directions to put into practice for future wildlife tourism industry. Wildlife tourism is one of the best potential economies to the country due to the presence of magnificent diversity of wildlife with high endemism and expansion of protected areas. The main intentions of tourists are to visit large mammals and birds with their natural habitats. The country earns million dollars per year only from protected areas through nature based tourism. The Montane and Afroalpine, Rift Valley and Transboundary ecosystem, a world class icon for wildlife tourism which attracts various tourists, and potential tourism destination for Ethiopia due to its high mammalian diversity and scenic area. The expansion of protected areas, peaceful and friendly people, and endemism promote tourism industry in Ethiopia. Even though, Ethiopia is the third country next to Tanzania and Uganda in terms of land surface of protected area; human-wildlife conflict, loss of biodiversity, and limited tourism and conservation attention with poor infrastructure are some of the major challenges. To scale up wildlife tourism industry, better promotion with practical conservation practices, community based tourism approaches and infrastructures should be implemented throughout the whole area of tourist destination.

An effective management practice of protected areas is one of the best methods to harmonize nature conservation in a given ecosystem. However, the implementation of conservation management plan of protected areas through community approaches is the major conservation challenge in Ethiopia. This paper described the major conservation challenge of Gibe Sheleko National Park, southwestern Ethiopia. Data were organized during training workshops and panel discussions with participants held at Wolkite University, Ethiopia. Stakeholders included park managers, scouts, community and local administrative representatives, farmers, district and zonal administrations, conservationists and researchers. The participants reported that livestock grazing, encroachment, logging, expansion of agricultural investors and settlements in and around were the major challenges of the park. Moreover, limited community awareness and little conservation attention by the government officials also affected the protected area. As means to overcome these conservation challenges, innovative and develop new interdisciplinary approaches to support the practices aiming to solve current conservation challenges. Therefore, to introduce communitybased conservation approaches, enhance public awareness of the locals, pay better conservation attention by the government and develop conservation bylaws are the best mechanisms to preserve Gibe Sheleko National Park.

Complete documentation on the status of mammals is indispensable for appropriate conservation measures in protected areas. However, there is inadequate information on mammalian resources in the ecosystem of Gibe Sheleko National Park (GSNP). Thus, the study aimed to assess species diversity, abundance, and habitat association of medium‐ and large‐sized mammals in GSNP. We stratified the study area into five dominant habitat types, namely dense forest, wooded grassland, grassland, riverine forest, and farmland habitat types based on land cover and vegetation structures and further employed stratified random sampling technique across each habitat type. The sample transects covered 20% of the study area. Transect width ranged from 50 m to 400 m based on vegetation cover and visibility of mammals. The main data were collected via direct observation. Data were analyzed via chi‐square test and species diversity indexes. We recorded the total of 20 mammals species' those belong to 10 families of which 8 species were large‐sized and 12 species medium‐sized mammals. There were two IUCN vulnerable species, namely Hippopotamus amphibious and Panthera pardus, and two globally near‐threatened species, particularly Litocranius walleri and Caracal caracal in the study area. Dense forest held the highest species diversity of medium‐ and large‐sized mammals (H′ = 2.28) with the highest evenness index (J = 0.84). Riverine forest had the least diversity with uneven population distribution. Papio anubis was the most abundance species, whereas Caracal caracal was the least abundant in the study area. GSNP is home for threatened and spectacular mammals species'; hence, an appropriate conservation measure is mandatory to keep existing mammals species'.

The study assessed the attitude and perceptions of the local communities towards Gibe Sheleko National Park. The data was collected from three districts of Gurage Zone. Ten sample kebeles of the selected districts were selected by purposive sampling method based on the level interaction, distance from the park, and dependency on the park. The sample size of the respondents was 5% of the total households from each selected kebeles. Household survey, key informant interview, field observation, and focus group discussion were employed to collect the data. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23 software. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to analysis major determinant factors for perception and attitude of the local communities. The perception and attitude of the local communities towards the conservation values of Gibe Sheleko National Park showed a significant difference in education level, sex of respondents, distance from the park, and land owning inside or adjoin the park. Therefore, it can be concluded that sex, distance of settlement from the park, academic level and land owning inside or adjoining the park were the major determinant factors that influence perception and attitude of the local communities. Attending high level of education, far proximity from the park and male communities better understood the importance of wildlife and park. Therefore, to encourage partnership with adjacent community and implement conservation measure and awareness creation for local communities by considering these factors that affect on the attitude and perception of local communities towards Gibe Sheleko National Park.

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