Bale Mountains National Park

Bale Mountains National Park Bale Mountains National Park is 2,400 sq km (1,488 square miles) in area, covering a wide range of habitats and ranging in altitude from 1,500 to 4,377 meters (4,920 to 14,357 feet) and is the highest point in southern Ethiopia. Bale is less inhabited, on a high-altitude plateau, heather moorlands, and dense juniper forest with an easily seen population of Mountain Nyala and Simien Fox as well as some fabulous birds, many of them endemic.

Sim

ien Fox

The second highest peak in Ethiopia at 4,377m above sea level.

The Bale Mountains National Park is

home to a multitude of unique flora and

fauna which are endemic either to the

park or to the country. Mountain Nyala,

Semien fox and Ethiopian wolfs is some

of the endemic animals. The park is

dominated by Tullu Deemtu - the second

highest peak in Ethiopia at 4,377m

above sea level. At lower altitude, the

forest is home to different species: lion,

leopards, spotted hyenas, African

hunting dogs and many others. There

are also 16 endemic bird species in the

Bale Mountains National Park. The park

has some of the most accessible walking

areas in the country from which it is

easy to see several endemic and

common species up close.

Bale Mountains National Park gives the visitor opportunities for

unsurpassed mountain hiking, horse trekking, scenic driving and

the chances to view many of Ethiopia's endemic mammals, in

particular the Mountain Nyala and Semien Fox, and birds, such

as the thick-billed raven, Wattled Ibis, blue-winged goose, and

Rouget's Rail.

Arta A

le

Erta Ale is one of the spectacular and unique

places in Afar- Ethiopia (May be in the world). It

is the most active isolated shield Volcano in

Ethiopia famed for its long-standing lava lake

activity. This volcano is situated in the Danakil

depression of Northern Afar.

Erta Ale's Lava Lake has been active for at

least the last 90 years making it one of the

longest known historic eruptions. It is also more

interesting to know that large amounts of heat

are released by the volcano while the amount of

lava that actually erupts is relatively small. Why

was that? This is because, as suggested by

some, a higher magma density which came as a

result of the cooling of the lava lake blocked

the eruptions. It is believed that the Northern pit of

Erta Ale stayed active (contained lava lake)

possibly between 1906 and 1988 for about 80

years. At the moment this pit contains only a

rising steam. An over view of the north pit using

fish-eye-lens revealed strange fumarolic

deposits along the northern rim of this pit. Also

on the north eastern rim of the same pit is seen

a remarkable hornito formed by fluid lava. On

the southern rim a small pit only a few meters

in diameter is found.

The Danakil is an area of singular geological fascination:

a strange lunar landscape studded with active volcanoes,

malodorous sulfur-caked hot springs, solidified black lava

flows, and vast salt-encrusted basins. Much of this vast

and practically unpopulated region lies below sea level -

116 m at Dallol one of the driest and most tectonically

active areas on the planet.

It is some measure of the Danakil's geological activity

that more than 30 active or dormant volcanoes – roughly

a quarter of the African total – is listed there.

Dallol volcano is located in the Danakil

Depression in NE Ethiopia, in a remote area

subject to the highest average temperatures on

the planet. The volcano encompasses Dallol

Mountain. Dallol Mountain is thought to have

been formed as the result of intrusion of a

basaltic magma body underneath. The circular

depression near the center of Dallol Mountain

is presumably a collapse crater, although

neither its age nor the exact process from

which it resulted are known. The SW flank of

Dallol Mountain harbours impressive salt

canyons formed by erosion processes.

Currently, activity is in the form of hot brine springs.

Salts washed out of the underlying layers are

transported to the surface by geothermal heated water

and rapidly crystallize as the water evaporates.

The Afar Regional State, where the depression is found, is well known as

one of the cradles of hominids, containing the Middle Awash, site of many

fossil hominid discoveries such as Ardi, (ardipithecus ramidus); Gona

(Gawis cranium), site of the world's oldest stone tools; and Hadar, site of

Lucy, the fossilized specimen of Australopithecus afarensis.

Many fossils have been found in the awash region, not only hominids but

also elephantoids, crocodiles and hippopotamus.

Australopithicus afarensis is a recently discovered Hominid species which

lived in north east Africa, in the Hadar region of Ethiopia). Until 1995,

this species was the earliest known member of the Hominid family.

Australopithicus afarensis lived from approximately 4 to 2.7 million years

ago along the northern Rift valley of east Africa, and perhaps even

earlier.

Fragments of more than 300 individuals of Australopithicus afarensis have been discovered so far, including a remarkably complete skeleton of an adult female (nick- named "Lucy") shown above and to the right. "Lucy" was found in 1974 near Hadar in Ethiopia. Her skeleton has provided a wealth of information about the ancestral line of human beings, some of it quite surprising. The illustration on the right shows "Lucy" in comparison with a modern human female. She was only about 3 feet, 8 inches tall. Males were somewhat taller and twice as robust. Australopithecus

afarensis