Ethiopia. Wolves and Mountain Nyala in East Africa
Bale National Park is located on a montane plateau in the highlands of southcentral Ethiopia, 400 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city. With stunning mountain and forest landscapes, Bale (pronounced “ball-ee”) is best known for two mammals found within its boundaries, the rare Ethiopian wolf (aka Simien Jackal) and a threatened antelope called the mountain nyala. The region has an unusual geologic history. Rock found within the park was formed 38 to 25 million years ago by a lava outpouring that also created the Sanetti Plateau. As recently as 2,000 years ago, Bale was covered by 180 km2 of glacial ice.
Compared to national parks found elsewhere in East Africa, Bale’s terrain is more diverse, with grasslands and wooded areas but also tropical forests and alpine meadows. Located within the largest region in Africa above 3,000 meters, the highland’s orographically generated rainfall is responsible for five major rivers that supply water for 12 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Along with extraordinary scenery, Bale is a center for biodiversity with plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth. Within the park’s boundaries are more than 1,200 species of flowering plants as well as mammals such as the warthog, colobus monkey, and spotted hyena. Scientists have observed that should Bale National Park disappear, more species of mammals would become extinct than in any other similarly sized area in the world. The park also protects early (45,000 to 29,000 BC) evidence of Stone Age humans living at high altitudes. Today, Bale National Park and its surrounding region is home to the Oromo People who are principally pastoralists and farmers.
Our journey to Bale began in the city of Hawassa, located adjacent to Lake Awasa in Africa’s famous Rift Valley. Passing through the towns of Dodola, Robe, and Goba, we entered the park at Angesso, the northeastern checkpoint. Generally speaking, Bale is without megafauna seen elsewhere in Africa such as elephants, lions, and giraffes. However, the park makes up for this through spectacular landscapes that combine colorful panoramas with breathtaking mountain vistas.
Arriving at Dinsho Lodge, we were able to (carefully) approach a group of warthogs. A member of the pig family, warthogs are found throughout Africa’s grasslands and wooded areas. As omnivores, they eat fruit, grasses, bark, insects, and meat. We also stopped to photograph an unusual species of juniper tree that has upward curving branches that appear like something from a Dr. Seuss book.
Looking south from the Graysay Grasslands, we took in a panoramic view of the remarkable Sanetti Plateau. A few hundred meters from the road we spotted a group of Ethiopian wolves hunting mole rats that dashed from burrow to burrow. A close relative of the coyote, the Ethiopian wolf is the world’s rarest canid (dog-like mammal) with more than half of the world’s population (360-440) residing in Bale National Park.
Along another section of road, we found a small group of mountain nyala (aka balbok). Nyala avoid contact with humans and can be distinguished from other large antelope such as the kudu by horns that point straight back and white stripes on their legs, head, and between their eyes. The mountain nyala is considered threatened. Today, fewer than 2,500 adults have survived encroachment by cattle operations. In recent years the Ethiopian government has developed a management plan recognizing the importance of balancing conservation efforts with the needs of more than 40,000 people living within the park’s boundaries.
