Bale Mountains Trekking

As I was hoping, I was was able to return to the Bale Mountains for an extensive trek. The weather was very cold – there were blistering winds, hail, and rain. We also got a day of very sunny weather though! Altitude was ~4000m. It’s a beautiful park with a significant amount of endemism because of the unique environment.

Finally got up close to some warthogs. They hobble around on their front knees to get their snout down on the ground in order to eat. Looks quite awkward but they can still move pretty quick while doing this.

Rock Hyrax

Very shy rodents about the size of a house cat. They live among rocky areas and small caves in cliffs.

Web River Falls – About 30m high with a small cave behind it.

Sodota Plains and Muracha Valley – thousands of mice and mole-rats are constantly scurrying around these areas. The ground under my feet caved in more than once because of the extensive tunneling going on there.

The vegetation of the park was quite different from anything I’ve seen before. With temperatures frequently dipping below freezing, there were still a bunch of miniature looking palm trees and bright Red Hot Poker flowers. Very strange to see in an alpine environment.

Ethiopian wolves (zoom in) – The rarest canine species on the planet, only ~450 left. They have beautiful red-brown coats and mostly hunt rodents. We were really lucky to see them.