Bale Mountains National Park is a national park located in Ethiopia. The park covers an area of about 2,150 km² (830 square miles) in the Bale Mountains and Sanetti Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands.

The park's Afromontane habitats have one of the highest numbers of animal species found only in that area compared to any other land habitat in the world. The park was added to the UNESCO tentative list of World Heritage sites in 2009 and was included on the World Heritage Sites list in Ethiopia in 2023.

Geography

Bale Mountains National Park is located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in southeastern Ethiopia. It is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa and 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Shashamane. The park covers an area of 215,000 hectares (530,000 acres).

The park has Africa’s largest area of Afromontane habitat, which includes many glacial lakes. Most of the park is above 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) in elevation, with its highest point being Mount Tullu Dimtu at 4,385 meters (14,386 feet). The landscape includes Ethiopian montane forests, such as the Harenna Forest. At lower elevations, these forests change into Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands. At the highest elevations, the landscape becomes Ethiopian montane moorlands.

Climate

Temperatures in Bale Mountains National Park change a lot. On the plateau, daytime temperatures are usually about 10 °C (50 °F) with strong winds. In the Gaysay Valley, average daytime temperatures are about 20 °C (68 °F), and in the Harenna Forest, they are about 25 °C (77 °F). The weather can change quickly and sometimes suddenly. At elevations higher than 3,000 m (9,800 ft), night frosts often occur. The rainy season lasts from May to November.

Flora

Wild forest coffee (Coffea arabica) and many medicinal plants grow in the forests of the Bale Mountains. Scientists have found three areas with high numbers of medicinal plants: two in the Gaysay region and one in the Angesu region, which is near the edge of the park. The female flowers of the Hagenia plant contain a substance that helps remove parasites; this substance has been used for a long time by local people to treat tapeworm infections.

Fauna

The Bale Mountains National Park is home to many mammal species, including the 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, and the Bale Mountains vervet (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis).

Other mammals found in the Harenna forest of the park include the African golden wolf, Giant forest hog, Mantled guereza, lion, African leopard, and African wild dog. The rodent community in the park includes 47 species, which are important for the ecosystem, especially on the Afro-alpine plateau.

The Bale Mountains are home to over 282 bird species, including nine of the 16 bird species found only in Ethiopia. More than 170 migratory bird species have also been recorded in the park. Ethiopia is home to nearly every highland Abyssinian and Ethiopian endemic bird species. With over 863 bird species recorded in the country, Ethiopia represents about 9.5% of the world’s bird diversity and 39% of Africa’s bird species. Sixteen bird species in the Bale Mountains are found only in Ethiopia, including the 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).

Newly discovered Ethiopian reptiles in the forested areas of the Bale Mountains include the 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), and Wolfgang Böhme's Ethiopian Chameleon (Trioceros wolfgangboehmei).

At least seven amphibian species have been found in the forested swampy areas and plateaus of the Bale Mountains National Park. Some of these include the Ethiopian burrowing tree frog (Leptopelis gramineus), Erlanger's Grassland frog (Ptychadena erlangeri), and Neumann's Grassland frog (Ptychadena neumanni). Other amphibians, such as the 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 endangered due to habitat loss and deforestation.

People of Bale

The people in the region are mostly farmers and cattle herders. The total population of the Bale Zone is about 1.5 million people. Afan Oromo is the official language of Oromia. It is the common language for more than 25 million people, though many in the Bale Mountains also speak some Amharic. In the early 1990s, American writer Paul B. Henze visited the area and met a Harari park ranger.