This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2014) |
The Bale Mountains (also known as the Urgoma Mountains) are mountain ranges in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia, south of the Awash River, part of the Ethiopian Highlands. They include Tullu Demtu, the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia (4377 meters), and Mount Batu (4307 meters). The Weyib River, a tributary of the Jubba River, rises in these mountains east of Goba. The Bale Mountains National Park covers 2,200 square kilometers of these mountains. The park's main attractions are the wild alpine scenery and the relative ease with which visitors can see unique birds and mammals.
The Bale Mountains are home to many of Ethiopia's endemic animals, notably the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), found on the Sanetti Plateau. The park also contains the Harenna Forest, situated to the south of the mountains, which is a largely unexplored area thought[ by whom? ] to contain many undiscovered species of reptile as well as lions, leopards, hyenas and various types of antelope. Besides wildlife, the National Park offers trekking opportunities from the park headquarters at Dinsho. (Dodola is also a useful base for exploring these mountains.)
The largest group of Ethiopian wolves is found here. Other characteristic large mammals are mountain nyalas, Menelik's bushbucks, warthogs, and bohor reedbucks.
The Juniper-Hagenia forests lie between 2,500 and 3,300 m and are mostly found on the northern slopes. An unusual plant of the Dinsho area is the white-flowered Abyssinian rose. The alpine moorland of the Sanetti Plateau is covered in heath-like vegetation broken by heather plants and stands of giant lobelia which grow up to 6 meters high. One of the most common and distinctive plants throughout the Bale region is the red-hot poker, an aloe which can be identified by its orange spear-shaped flowers. [1]
Archaeologists have discovered a 30,000-year-old Middle-Stone Age rock shelter at the Fincha Habera site in Bale Mountains of Ethiopia over 11,000 feet above sea level in 2019. According to the study published in the journal Science, this dwelling was the earliest proof of the highest-altitude of human occupation. Thousands of animal bones, hundreds of stone tools, and ancient fireplaces were revealed on the ground. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
The Ethiopian wolf, also called the red jackal, the Simien jackal or Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia, it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, and is distinguished by its long and narrow skull, and its red and white fur. Unlike most large canids, which are widespread, generalist feeders, the Ethiopian wolf is a highly specialised feeder of Afroalpine rodents with very specific habitat requirements. It is one of the world's rarest canids, and Africa's most endangered carnivore.
The Vikos–Aoös National Park is a national park in the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece. The park, founded in 1973, is one of ten national parks in mainland Greece and is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of the city of Ioannina in the northern part of the Pindus mountain range. It is named after the two major gorges of the area and encompasses 12,600 hectares of mountainous terrain, with numerous rivers, lakes, caves, deep canyons, dense coniferous and deciduous forest. The park is part of the Natura 2000 ecological network and one of UNESCO Geoparks and spans an elevation range from 550 to 2,497 meters. Over 100,000 people visit the park each year and take part in activities including rafting, canoe-kayaking, hiking and mountain biking.
Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) 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.
Dinsho is a village in south-central Ethiopia. Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in the heart of the Bale Mountains, this village has a latitude and longitude of 7°05′N39°45′E and an elevation of 3207 meters. It is the administrative center of Dinsho woreda.
The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 m (4,900 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4,550 m (14,930 ft). It is sometimes called the "Roof of Africa" due to its height and large area. It is the only country in the region with such a high elevated surface. This elevated surface is bisected diagonally by the Great East African Rift System which extends from Syria to Mozambique across the East African Lakes. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrea.
Dinsho is one of the districts in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It was part of former Sinanana Dinsho woreda what was separated for Dinsho and Sinana woredas and Robe Town. Part of the Bale Zone, Sinanana Dinsho was bordered on the south by the Mena River which separated it from Goba, on the west by Adaba, on the northwest by Agarfa, on the northeast by Gaserana Gololcha, on the east by Ginir, and on the southeast by Goro, Oromia. The administrative center of this woreda is Dinsho.
The richness and variety of the wildlife of Ethiopia is dictated by the great diversity of terrain with wide variations in climate, soils, natural vegetation and settlement patterns. Ethiopia contains a vast highland complex of mountains and dissected plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley, which runs generally southwest to northeast and is surrounded by lowlands, steppes, or semi-desert.
The Ethiopian highland hare or Starck's hare is a medium-sized species of mammal in the rabbit and hare family, Leporidae. Its dorsal pelage is grizzled, buff white and spotted and streaked with black, while its belly fur is pure white and fluffy. It is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, ranging over the Afroalpine regions of the Shoa, Bale, and Arsi Provinces of Ethiopia. A herbivore, it mostly feeds on moorland grasses. The IUCN rates it as a species of least concern.
Ethiopia has several UNESCO World Heritage Sites related to archaeology which include Axum, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Africa, the Awash Valley where Lucy, a hominin who lived around 3.2 million years ago was discovered, and Tiya, where Middle Stone Age tools and megaliths have been found.
The Harenna Forest is a montane tropical evergreen forest in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. The forest covers the southern slope of the mountains, extending from 1450 to 3200 meters elevation. The Bale Mountains are in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, and form the southwestern portion of the Ethiopian Highlands.
The Sanetti Plateau is a major plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands, in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. The plateau is the highest part of the Bale Mountains, and is located within Bale Mountains National Park.
The Ethiopian montane moorlands is a montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion in Ethiopia. It lies above 3,000 meters elevation in the Ethiopian Highlands, the largest Afroalpine region in Africa. The montane moorlands lie above the tree line, and consist of grassland and moorland with abundant herbs and shrubs adapted to the high elevation conditions.
The Alborz range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs northeast and merges into the smaller Aladagh Mountains and borders in the northeast on the parallel mountain ridge Kopet Dag in the northern parts of Khorasan. All these mountains are part of the much larger Alpide belt. The Alborz range is divided into the Western, Central, and Eastern Alborz Mountains. The Western Alborz Range runs south-southeastward almost along the western coast of the Caspian Sea. The Central Alborz runs from west to east along the entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea, while the Eastern Alborz Range runs in a northeasterly direction, toward the northern parts of the Khorasan region, southeast of the Caspian Sea. Mount Damavand, the highest mountain in Iran measuring 5,610.0 m, is located in the Central Alborz Mountains. Mount Damavand is the 12th most prominent peak in the world and the second most prominent in Asia after Mount Everest.
Organisms can live at high altitude, either on land, in water, or while flying. Decreased oxygen availability and decreased temperature make life at such altitudes challenging, though many species have been successfully adapted via considerable physiological changes. As opposed to short-term acclimatisation, high-altitude adaptation means irreversible, evolved physiological responses to high-altitude environments, associated with heritable behavioural and genetic changes. Among vertebrates, only few mammals and certain birds are known to have completely adapted to high-altitude environments.
Harena Buluk is one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It was part of former Menna Angetu woreda. It is part of the Bale Zone. Harena Buluk woreda is bordered on the south by Meda Welabu, on the north by Goba, on the west by Nensebo, on the northwest by Adaba, and on the east by [[Delo Menna, Oromia (woreda). The administrative center for the woreda is Angetu.
The Guassa Community Conservation Area (GCCA) is a protected area in central Ethiopia. It is one of the oldest known common property resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has been the focus of an indigenous natural resource management institution, known as “Qero,” system for over 400 years It is located 80 km off the main highway, and is home to numerous endemic birds and wildlife species, including the iconic Ethiopian wolf and the Ethiopian gelada. The high altitude Afro-alpine Festuca grassland, or ‘Guassa” grass gives the area its name.
Fincha Habera is a Middle Stone Age archaeological site located within the Bale Mountains in southern Ethiopia. The rock shelter is located within the largest alpine ecosystem in Africa and is especially notable for the high altitude of the shelter and archaeological site, lying about 4,000 meters above sea level, between the Harcha and Wasama Valleys. During the Late Pleistocene, the Fincha Habera rock shelter was occupied by hunter-gatherers and the site now provides evidence for one of the oldest human occupancies at high-altitudes. The surrounding glacial climate provided conditions of fresh water, vegetation, and sustenance that created a unique environment that allowed these hunter-gatherers to find longer term residence at this shelter.
Mount Chapin is a 12,454-foot-elevation (3,796-meter) mountain summit located in Rocky Mountain National Park, in Larimer County, of Colorado, United States. It is situated 11 miles west-northwest of the community of Estes Park, one mile east of Chapin Pass, and six miles east of the Continental Divide. Mount Chapin is part of the Mummy Range which is a subset of the Rocky Mountains. Topographic relief is significant as the south aspect rises 2,700 feet above Fall River in less than one mile. Neighbors include Mount Chiquita and Ypsilon Mountain to the immediate northeast, and the park's Alpine Visitor Center is three miles to the west.
Arsi Mountains National Park is a national park in Arsi Zone of Oromia Region in Ethiopia. It protects a portion of the Ethiopian Highlands, and includes montane forests, subalpine heath, and alpine grasslands and shrublands. The park was designated in 2011, and covers an area of 10876 km2.
The Sanetti shrew or Bekele's shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Ethiopia.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)