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Bale Mountains National Park

Bale Mountains National Park
Bale Mountains and trail in the park.
Map showing the location of Bale Mountains National Park
Map showing the location of Bale Mountains National Park
Location in Ethiopia
LocationBale Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
Nearest cityShashamane, Bale Robe, Adama
Coordinates6°40′N 39°40′E / 6.667°N 39.667°E / 6.667; 39.667
Area2,220 km2 (860 sq mi)
Established1970
Governing bodyEthiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority
CriteriaNatural: vii, x
Reference111
Inscription2023 (45th Session)

Bale Mountains National Park is a national park in Ethiopia. The park encompasses an area of approximately 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) in the Bale Mountains and Sanetti Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands.

The park's Afromontane habitats have one of the highest incidences of animal endemicity of any terrestrial habitat in the world. The park was nominated to the World Heritage Tentative List in 2009.[1][2]

Geography

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Bale Mountains and park landscape

Bale Mountains National Park is located in southeastern Ethiopia, 400 km (250 mi) southeast of Addis Ababa and 150 km (93 mi) east of Shashamene in the Oromia Region.[3]

Climate

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Temperatures vary widely throughout BMNP: on the plateau, daytime temperatures are usually around 10 °C (50 °F) with strong winds; in the Gaysay Valley average daytime temperatures are around 20 °C (68 °F), and the Harenna Forest is around 25 °C (77 °F). However, the weather changes frequently and sometimes drastically. In elevations over 3,000 meters, night frosts are common. The rainy season is from May until November.

Flora

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Lupine in Harenna Forest
Kniphofia foliosa in park
Acanthus sennii in Harenna Forest

The forests of the Bale Mountains are important for genetic stocks of wild forest coffee (Coffea arabica) and for medicinal plants in Ethiopia. Three medicinal plant hotspots have been identified: two in the Gaysay area and one in the Angesu area, spanning the park boundary. The female flowers of hagenia contain anthelmintic, which is used to treat tapeworms among the local populations.[4]

Fauna

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Mammals

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Mammal species in the Bale Mountains National Park include Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), Mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni), big-headed African mole-rat, Menelik's bushbuck, common duiker, klipspringer, Bohor reedbuck, Ethiopian highland hare, honey badger, warthog, spotted hyena, serval,[5] and the Bale Mountains vervet (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis).[6]

Other mammals of Bale Mountains National Park located in Harenna forest include the African golden wolf, Giant forest hog, Mantled guereza, lion, African leopard, and African wild dog. Almost one-third of the 47 mammals that live in BMNP are rodents. The rodent community, particularly of the Afro-alpine plateau are keystone species in the Bale Mountains National Park.[7][8]

Avifauna

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The Bale Mountains are home to over 282 species of birds, including nine of the 16 species endemic to Ethiopia. Furthermore, over 170 migratory birds have been recorded within the park. Bale Mountains National Park is home to almost every highland Abyssinian and Ethiopian endemic.[9] With over 863 species of birds recorded, representing approximately 9.5% of the world's bird diversity and 39% of the bird species in Africa, Ethiopia is often considered one of the most avifaunal-rich countries in Africa. Sixteen of Bale's bird species are endemic to Ethiopia, including blue-winged goose (Cyanochen cyanoptera), spot-breasted lapwing (Vanellus melanocephalus), yellow-fronted parrot (Poicephalus flavifrons), Abyssinian longclaw (Macronyx flavicollis), Abyssinian catbird (Parophasma galinieri), Bale parisoma (Parisoma griseiventris), Ethiopian siskin (Serinus nigriceps), fawn-breasted waxbill (Estrilda paludicola), and the Abyssinian owl (Asio abyssinicus).[9]

Herpetofauna

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Ethiopian rare endemic reptiles that are newly discovered in the Bale Mountains forested areas include Ethiopian House snake (Lamprophis erlangeri), Ethiopian mountain adder (Bitis parviocula), Bale two-horned chameleon (Trioceros balebicornutus), Harenna hornless chameleon (Trioceros harennae), Beardless Ethiopian montane chameleon (Trioceros affinis),[10] and Wolfgang Böhme's Ethiopian Chameleon (Trioceros wolfgangboehmei).[11]

At least seven species of endemic Amphibians have been discovered in forested swampy areas and Bale Mountains National park plateaus. Ethiopian burrowing tree frog (Leptopelis gramineus), Erlanger's Grassland frog (Ptychadena erlangeri) and Neumann's Grassland frog (Ptychadena neumanni) are commonly rare within these habitats. However, other amphibians species lives within the areas of Bale Mountains such as Bale Mountain Frog (Ericabatrachus baleensis), Ethiopian banana frog (Afrixalus enseticola), Ragazzi's tree frog (Leptopelis ragazzii), Kouni Valley striped frog (Paracassina kounhiensis), Malcolm's Ethiopian toad (Altiphrynoides malcolmi), Osgood's Ethiopian toad (Altiphrynoides osgoodi), and Bale Mountains tree frog (Balebreviceps hillmani) are considered to be endangered because of habitat loss and deforestation.[12]

People of Bale

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The people of the region are dominantly Oromo-speaking farmers and cattle herders. The population of the entire Bale Zone is approximately 1.5 million. Afan Oromo is the official language of Oromia. It belongs to the Cushitic languages, and serves as a sort of lingua franca for over 25 million Oromos. However, most people in Bale Mountains speak some Amharic. American writer Paul B. Henze visited the Bale mountains in the early 90s and stated he encountered a Harari park ranger.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Bale Mountains National Park". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  2. ^ "WORLDKINGS - Worldkings News - Africa Records Institute (AFRI) – Bale Mountains National Park: Home to world's most species of Ethiopian wolf". Worldkings - World Records Union. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  3. ^ "Bale Mountains National Park". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  4. ^ Assefa, B.; Glatzel, G.; Buchmann, C. (2010). "Ethnomedicinal uses of Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce) J.F. Gmel. among rural communities of Ethiopia". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 6: 20. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-6-20. PMC 2928183. PMID 20701760.
  5. ^ Stephens, P.A.; D'Sa, C.A.; Sillero-Zubiri, C & Leader-Williams, N. (2001). "Impact of livestock and settlement on the large mammalian wildlife of Bale Mountains National Park, southern Ethiopia". Biological Conservation. 100 (3): 307−322. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00035-0.
  6. ^ Mekonnen, A.; Bekele, A.; Hemson, G.; Teshome, E. & Atickem, A. (2010). "Population size and habitat preference of the Vulnerable Bale monkey Chlorocebus djamdjamensis in Odobullu Forest and its distribution across the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia". Oryx. 44 (4): 558−563. doi:10.1017/S0030605310000748. S2CID 51961020.
  7. ^ Lavrenchenko, L. (2000). "The mammals of the isolated Harenna Forest (southern Ethiopia): Structure and history of the fauna". Bonner Zoologische Monographien. 46: 223–231.
  8. ^ Asefa, A. (2011). "Mammals of Bale Mountans National Park, Ethiopia: A compiled and annotated checklist". Walia. Special edition: 3–14. hdl:10520/AJA00837059_133.
  9. ^ a b Asefa, A. (2006). "Birds of Bale Mountain National Park (BMNP), Southeast Ethiopia". Walia. 25: 22–33.
  10. ^ Largen, Malcom, and Stephen Spawls. Amphibians and Reptiles Recorded from the Bale Mountains, https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00837059_140.
  11. ^ Koppetsch, Thore & Nečas, Petr & Wipfler, Benjamin. (2021). A new chameleon of the Trioceros affinis species complex (Squamata, Chamaeleonidae) from Ethiopia. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 97. 161-179. 10.3897/zse.97.57297.
  12. ^ Saber, Samy & Kassahun, Roman & Loader, Simon & Kafrawy, Sameh. (2019). Amphibian diversity in relation to environmental change in Harenna Forest, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia: A Remote sensing and GIS Approach. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries. 23. 139-149. 10.21608/ejabf.2019.40420.
  13. ^ Henze, P. Ethiopia in Mengistu's Final Years: Until the last bullet. p. 70.
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