Day 13: Bale Mountains
Friday 20th February 2015
Bale National Park - Sanetti Plateau and Harenna Forest First thing in the morning, we headed out of Goba to drive up onto the Sanetti Plateau which has an average elevation of over 4,000 metres. Our first stop overlooked a large montane pool. The landscape was striking; undulating, rocky ground with heather and scattered giant lobelia. There were fewer birds of prey compared to the Simiens, mainly Steppe Eagle and Augur Buzzard. The small lake held Pintail, Yellow-billed Duck and best of all, several Blue-winged Geese. We enjoyed watching this endemic goose displaying in the early morning sunshine. Several waders were feeding around the water's edge including two African Snipe. As we watched our first Ethiopian African Mole Rat popping its head in and out of a hole near the lakeside, an Ethiopian Wolf appeared in the distance. It trotted closer and then spent about fifteen minutes hunting rodents just across the lake from where we stood - a magical experience! It is a superb predator, with a gorgeous redbrown coat offset by clean, white underparts. Once the wolf had moved off, we boarded the coach but didn't get very far because we spotted a number of Blick's Grass Rats close to the road. It was fascinating to watch these endearing little creatures (also known as Blick's Arvicanthis), which are endemic to the Bale Mountains. We continued across the plateau and then descended the southern slopes, pausing to admire the view and to photograph a superb Chestnut-naped Francolin that sat nicely atop a roadside rock. We spent the afternoon walking through the ancient Harenna Forest, looking for monkeys and endemic birds. Abiy showed his remarkable skills by locating both Ethiopian Oriole and Abyssinian Ground Thrush, which were calling from high in the canopy. We saw three troupes of Mantled Guereza, climbing through the huge, old trees of the pristine forest. However, we couldn’t find any sign of the endemic Bale Mountain Vervet and so we set off back up the steep road towards the plateau. However, Abiy insisted on checking one last area of forest. Chris quite quickly found a Bale monkey but it was hidden deep in some bamboo. We all walked carefully into the trees to try and get a glimpse. With patience and good teamwork, everyone eventually had good views of the endemic monkeys as they moved through the bamboo and climbed into the taller trees. As we returned across the plateau towards Goba, we again had excellent views of several Ethiopian Wolves. We watched one group for several minutes as they played and tumbled together in the afternoon sunshine. Before we left the Sanetti Plateau, we walked through the Giant Lobelia to find Ethiopian Highland Hare; they were very skittish but we did eventually see four of them as they raced around this unique landscape.
Bale National Park - Sanetti Plateau and Harenna Forest First thing in the morning, we headed out of Goba to drive up onto the Sanetti Plateau which has an average elevation of over 4,000 metres. Our first stop overlooked a large montane pool. The landscape was striking; undulating, rocky ground with heather and scattered giant lobelia. There were fewer birds of prey compared to the Simiens, mainly Steppe Eagle and Augur Buzzard. The small lake held Pintail, Yellow-billed Duck and best of all, several Blue-winged Geese. We enjoyed watching this endemic goose displaying in the early morning sunshine. Several waders were feeding around the water's edge including two African Snipe. As we watched our first Ethiopian African Mole Rat popping its head in and out of a hole near the lakeside, an Ethiopian Wolf appeared in the distance. It trotted closer and then spent about fifteen minutes hunting rodents just across the lake from where we stood - a magical experience! It is a superb predator, with a gorgeous redbrown coat offset by clean, white underparts. Once the wolf had moved off, we boarded the coach but didn't get very far because we spotted a number of Blick's Grass Rats close to the road. It was fascinating to watch these endearing little creatures (also known as Blick's Arvicanthis), which are endemic to the Bale Mountains. We continued across the plateau and then descended the southern slopes, pausing to admire the view and to photograph a superb Chestnut-naped Francolin that sat nicely atop a roadside rock. We spent the afternoon walking through the ancient Harenna Forest, looking for monkeys and endemic birds. Abiy showed his remarkable skills by locating both Ethiopian Oriole and Abyssinian Ground Thrush, which were calling from high in the canopy. We saw three troupes of Mantled Guereza, climbing through the huge, old trees of the pristine forest. However, we couldn’t find any sign of the endemic Bale Mountain Vervet and so we set off back up the steep road towards the plateau. However, Abiy insisted on checking one last area of forest. Chris quite quickly found a Bale monkey but it was hidden deep in some bamboo. We all walked carefully into the trees to try and get a glimpse. With patience and good teamwork, everyone eventually had good views of the endemic monkeys as they moved through the bamboo and climbed into the taller trees. As we returned across the plateau towards Goba, we again had excellent views of several Ethiopian Wolves. We watched one group for several minutes as they played and tumbled together in the afternoon sunshine. Before we left the Sanetti Plateau, we walked through the Giant Lobelia to find Ethiopian Highland Hare; they were very skittish but we did eventually see four of them as they raced around this unique landscape.