Rashaidi

Abyssinian

Smaller in body size than the Akale-Guzay sheep but has better wool; the fleece is open and may be brown, white, red or pied; there were only 3000 heads of his sheep in 1940 and no information is available since then (Mason and Maule, 1960).

Maintained by the Rashaida Arab tribes of the northeast coast of Eritrea.

Almost certainly descended from very ancient importations from Arabia across the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb straits at the mouth of the Red Sea (Wilson, 1991).