Bale Mountains National Park
Bale Mountains National Park | |
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Oromia Region, Ethiopia | |
Nearest city | Shashamane, Bale Robe, Adama |
Coordinates | 6°40′N 39°40′E / 6.667°N 39.667°E |
Area | 2,220 km2 (860 sq mi) |
Established | 1970 |
Governing body | Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority |
Criteria | Natural: vii, x |
Reference | 111 |
Inscription | 2023 (45th Session) |
Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) is a
The park's
Geography
Bale Mountains National Park is located in southeastern
Hydrology
The Bale Mountains play a vital role in climate control of the region by attracting large amounts of
A total of 40 rivers rise in the BMNP area, contributing to five major rivers: the
Furthermore, two rivers emanating from Bale, the
Lastly, there are numerous natural mineral water springs, locally called horas, which provide an essential source of minerals for livestock. The mineral springs within the park are valued for their high mineral content (sodium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and calcium), and local pastoralists believe that in order to maintain good health and milk production their livestock must be given hora water. They will drive their livestock for up to two days to reach the hora springs. It is increasingly apparent, however, that the hora springs have become an excuse for local people to enter the park to gain access to better grazing areas. [citation needed]
Climate
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.
Ecology
Habitats
The park is divided into five distinct and unique habitats: the Northern Grasslands (Gaysay Valley), Northern Juniper Woodlands (Park Headquarters), Afro-alpine Meadows (Sanetti Plateau), Erica Moorlands, and the Harenna Forest.
Habitats of the Bale Mountains National Park range from grassland areas around 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in elevation, to
Surrounded by
The Afro-alpine moorlands of the Sanetti Plateau is the largest continuous area of its altitude on the entire continent of Africa. Carpeted in lichen covered rocks, and punctuated by Giant lobelia (Lobelia rynchopetalum) that grow to heights of up to 12 meters. The Plateau is also dotted with alpine lakes and streams, providing important resident wildlife resources, as well as wintering and passage stations for rare and regionally endemic birds.
The Harenna Forest plant community makes up about half of the park, a woodland of trees draped in moss and lichens that seem to drip off the branches. The area is frequently cloaked in fog, and wildlife is elusive.
Flora
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
The Bale Mountains National Park is an important area for several threatened Ethiopian endemic species. Additionally, the park holds 26% of Ethiopia's endemic species including one primate, one bovid, one hare, eight rodent species, and the entire global population of the big-headed African mole-rat. There are also several rare and endemic amphibians.[citation needed]
Mammals
Mammal species in the Bale Mountains National Park include
Other mammals of Bale Mountains National Park located in Harenna forest include the
Avifauna
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
Ethiopian rare endemic reptiles that are newly discovered in the Bale Mountains forested areas include
At least 7 species of endemic Amphibians are discovered in forested swampy areas and Bale Mountains National park plateaus.
People of Bale
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.
The predominant religion in the Bale Mountains is Muslim (77%), followed by Orthodox Christian (20%) and Protestant (1%). The Bale Mountains are the true ancestral home of the Oromo, the largest single ethnic group in the Horn of Africa. Living as pastoralists and farmers, the population grew quite quickly and expanded to different corners of the country beginning in the 16th century.
Little is known about the Oromo people of the area and how they came to be there. They are part of the eastern Cushitic people stemming from a branch of the Caucasoid race (which includes Western Asians, Arabs and Europeans), and are distributed from
Currently, people subsist mainly on agriculture. They follow a traditional transhumance system known as the Godantu system, a key feature of traditional human use of the Bale Mountains. In this system, livestock, particularly cattle, are sent to higher grazing grounds during the months when crops are growing in lower altitudes or into the forest for shade during the dry season. However, this should not be confused with the cattle movements that are a consequence of the loss of grazing land outside of the park, thus forcing cattle into the park to graze.
Bale houses are circular in shape and locally referred to as “mana citaa”. Juniper and sometimes eucalyptus are used to make the walls and roof. The roof is covered with thatched grass cut from “citaa” (tussock grass) or stubble, especially barley, and supported by a wooden pillar, which stands in the middle of the floor. The house is divided into portions by walls made of bamboo or mud mixed with the stubble of barley or grass.
Threats
Bale Mountains National Park is faced with many threats associated with an ever-developing and increasingly populated Ethiopia. One of the biggest threats to the park is grazing. For example, within the Web Valley, a prime Ethiopian wolf habitat, cattle density is estimated at 250 per square kilometer. Other threats include increasing settlements within the park. Currently, over 40,000 people live within the park's boundaries, increasing pressure on the natural resources of the area and diminishing natural habitats of wild animals. With these settlements come domestic dogs, which pose a great threat to the Ethiopian wolf. Dogs transmit rabies and canine distemper, and in 2010 killed 106 individuals (approximately 40% of the Bale population of Ethiopian wolves). Other serious threats include the use of the wolf habitat by livestock for grazing which significantly reduces the availability of rodent prey. Over 12 million people, their livestock, and the environment in the south of Ethiopia as well as neighboring Somalia and northern Kenya rely on the water that originates from the Bale massif. Unsustainable use and pollution are major threats. Conservationists suggest that if conservation efforts in the Bale Mountains are not successful and people continue to exploit the resources in an unsustainable way, more species of mammal would go extinct than in any other area of equivalent size on the planet.
See also
References
- ^ "Bale Mountains National Park". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Bale Mountains National Park". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
- PMID 20701760.
- .
- S2CID 51961020.
- ^ Lavrenchenko, L. (2000). "The mammals of the isolated Harenna Forest (southern Ethiopia): Structure and history of the fauna". Bonner Zoologische Monographien. 46: 223–231.
- .
- ^ a b Asefa, A. (2006). "Birds of Bale Mountain National Park (BMNP), Southeast Ethiopia". Walia. 25: 22–33.
- ^ Largen, Malcom, and Stephen Spawls. Amphibians and Reptiles Recorded from the Bale Mountains, https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00837059_140.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
External links
- Balemountains.org: Bale Mountains National Park
- Call from the Wild.org: Bale Mountains National Park
- Addis Tribune.com: The National parks of Ethiopia − Bale Mountains Park (Part I)
- Addis Tribune.com: The National parks of Ethiopia − Bale Mountains Park (Part II: Harena Forest)
- Black-maned lion in Ethiopia