The Bale Moutains in Ethiopia are high mountains, which are an area for a great trekking experience, with treks between 3 and 14 days. Quite unknown in Europe and even more in Canada and the USA it is a mountain plateau with very few visitors where you can still have a glimpse of the traditional way of life of the local people and unique wildlife

Trekking in the Bale Mountains is easy and can be done by everybody who can deal with the high altitude of more than 4000m. My trek visited all important locations with the exception of the Harenna Forest, and can be done easily in 6 days. It is never more than 17km or 600m altitude difference per day. Difficult, steep or exposed passages do no exist.

The Bale Mountains are of vulcanic origin and rise over several plateaus with escarpments until you finally end at the Sanetti Plateau. All major peaks rise from the Sanetti Plateau up to about 4300m. This landscape is similar to the scottish highlands. The vegetation is sparse (exception is the Harenna forest) and is again similar to northern scotland or the fjaells of northern scandinavia, however with very different plants.

 

 

The challenge of Trekking in the Bale Mts, is the high altitude between 3700 and 4200m, the cold nights and winds, the mercyless sun and the dust which is simply everywhere during the dry season.

Everybody who is looking for untouched nature will be dissapointed. Although Bale is listed as a national park, the mountains including the inner parts of the national park is "densly" populated. Permanent settlements and seasonal alps of the nomadic pasturalists can be found at nearly every suitable spot. Herds of cattle, goats, sheep and horses are everywhere, even on the high Sanetti Plateau. In the beginning it was strange for me, especially as I expected untouched nature. After a while however I started to enjoy to trek trough this landscape and having the opportunity to get a (very) little understanding of the way of life in Bale. There are no roads in Bale, but everything is connected by a netwerk of paths used by the herders to move from pasture to pasture or from settlement to settlement. You will use these treks as paths for your trekking and encounters with local people are garantueed.

Knowing this, it is even more exciting to know that Bale is home to several mammal species who are endemic and very often endangered. The Ethiopian Wolf has only three seperate popoulations left, (Bale, Afar, Simien) and the Mountain Nyala is endemic to Bale. Only 500 individuals of the ethiopian wolf are left, which makes this cousin of the timber wolf to the most endangered canid worldwide and the Mountain Nyala is extinct outside the Bale NP. Both species can be easily watched in the Bale Mountains National Park, which gives such a trek another dimension and justifies some more days in this unique environement.

 

I was in the Bale Mts for photography and trekking was the best way to do this, but not my main reason. I can look back on more than 30 years of trekking and mountaineering experience on most continents and I am still looking forward to see new regions.

My Trek through the Bale Mts lasted much longer than necessary as I stay several days at location I like and want to explore more for my photography. My intention is not to make a detailed tour description but to give you an idea about the landscape, the trek, the challenges and the fun of doing a Bale Mts. trek. The goal is that you can decide afterwards, whether Bale is an interesting destination for you or not.

my trek:

Dinsho - Sodota

Sodota - Keyrensa

Keyrensa - Rafu

Keyrensa - Sanetti Camp - Garba Guracha

Garba Guracha - Dinsho

You can do this trek easiliy in 5 days, if you want to climb peaks or are intersted in wildlife, you should invest some more days.

Literature: Lonely Planet Ethiopia contains enough information. According to the rumors among the guides, very soon a guide about Bale for Trekkers and Naturalist will be published by a French (2010). However you do not need a guidebook as a local guide is compulsary.

First I will write about the trek and at the end you can find information about logistics etc.. You should know from the beginning that you do not have to carry the equipment, as pack horses are available and compulsory.

 

The day starts in Dinsho with the packing of the horses. You do not need to hurry, as it is only a couple of hours to the first campite at Sodota on the Kotera Plain. First you take a dust road, which leads through some settlement and fields, later it becomes a horse track. Now the landscape gets more interesting, it gets more hilly and you cross some small creeks until you arrive at the Kotera Plain. The Kotera Plain is not one plain, but many flat areas dissected with little hills and escarpments. The Sodota campsite is a pretty place close to some rocks in a little vally, with an big escaprment in the background.

 

Clean or save water is NOT available. This is true as well for nearly all Campsites. Water is taken from the swampy area, which is used also as watering hole for your horses and for the herds of the pasturalists (visible in the background on the picture where the horses are loaded). Treating or boiling is absolutly necessary (see also logistics). The tents can be pitched on a flat, dry and soft spot, and there is a small rockshelter, where a campfire was lit.

The Kotera Plain is together with the Sanetti Plateau the best place to watch Ethiopian Wolves (Canis simensis). We even had a wolf, which arrived every day about noon at the campsite. You do not have to worry, as Ethiopian Wolves feed on rodents.....

 

This is one of the longer days of the trek. The difference in altitude is small, my estimation is about 300-400m, the walking distance however should be between 15 and 17km. You can expect 5-6 hours fast walking. Lunch break is quite late, for my taste much to late! During the whole trek the breaks are also breaks for the horses and they need water and some pasture. This criteria defines much more the best spot for a break than the needs of the hikers. The water at this days lunch break is quite clean, it should be treated all the same, or take water from Sodota for the whole day and let the horses carry it to the lunch break.

During the day you will pass many small villages with huts made from mud and you will meet locals walking, tending their cattle or on horseback riding from village to village or to the next market.

 

During nearly the whole day you will walk along the big escarpment. The terrain is flat, only sometimes you will cross lower rests of the escarpment. I had a very dusty day. Villages, local people, herds of cattle or goats can be seen during the whole day. In the late afternoon a small lake is passed and a opening in the fortress like escarpment starts to be visible, the valley of Keyrensa. The mouth of the valley is very narrow and blocked by big bolders, I guess a moraine of the last ice age. The horses have difficulties to find their way through this place. After the bolders you will walk up a not to steep valley, which will finally lead up to the Sanetti Plateau.

The campsite is either close to the opening or at some huts a little higher up in the calley. This place was chosen by my guide, I guess to have a hut for sleeping and cooking. the horsemen have no tent or sleeping back and therefore deserted huts of nomads are used whenever possible. The nights are cold and sitting at the campfire in a hut is the only way to keep oneself warm and cook comfortable during the evening. As the huts have no chimney the smoke of the fire drifts through the roof, this works to a certain extent, but you will be "smoked" very soon all the same.

You will have no problem to find nice and soft (dry cattle sh...) spots for your tent, the landscape however is not very interesting. Enjoy the campfire and the stories the horsemen will tell over a coffee or tea. It is really a different and exciting experience to watch a good storyteller, even if you do not understand a single word!

 

The path from Keyrensa up to the Sanetti Plateau and the bizarre Rafu lava flow are one of the highlights of the trek. You have to expect about 5 hours walking and about 400m in altitude difference, not to much, but you will feel the altitude as Raf is already higher than 4000m. After crossing a little river in the keyrensa valley in the morning this day is absolutly dry, no water at all!

The path does not follow the keyrensa vally, it crosses over to another valley in the north east, which will lead you up to the Sanetti Plateau. The Sanetti Plateau is shaped like a very flat dome with peaks and ridges dissecting it. As already mentioned the landscape looks a bit like northern Scotland or Scandinavian fjaells. After reaching the Plateau the Rafu Lavaflow will be visible very soon, first some smaller parts on the left hand side and finally the real thing on the right.

Camp is right at the lavalflow in a small village. On one side of the camp are the strange forms of the eroded lava on the other the barren Sanetti Plateau with Gaint Lobelias. A very memorable place!

 

At Rafu you will find more than enough wonderful, flat and soft spots for your tent. As usual water is not close to the camp and must be brought to the camp by horse. As the area is heavily grazed, treating or boiling the water is strongly recommended. The camp is above 4000m altitude and it gets really, really cold as soon as the sun is behind clouds or after sunset. We cooked and spent the evening again in one of the deserted huts of the pasturalists. Some kids and women visited us, the crew bought fresh milk (cow not goat) and we all had fun with coffee and tea.

If you want to watch the rock sculptures of the rafu lava flow with shades of red and yellow, you have to get up early as good light lasts only about 1 hour after sunrise. In the afternoon, big clouds have been rising every day over the rain forests of Harenna in the west, obscuring the sun. No good light during afternoon! Climbers with equipment have more rocks to bolder than can be imagined......

 

Rafu is at the edge of the Sanetti Plateau, which will be crossed during the day. My trek led me from Rafu to the Crane Lakes, further on to the Ranger Station (no open for visit) and finally to the camp at the Lake Garba Guracha. I am sure that my guide did everything to avoid to camp at the Sanetti Campsite at the end of the dirt road. I understand him to a certain extent, as the camp site is quite exposed and icy wind is blowing all the time, there are no huts and no firewood, all very essential things to make life more comfortable for the crew. Garba Guracha is a very sheltered and pretty place at a lake in a corrie. It is by far the better and more comfortable place to stay!

If you want to watch the wolves, Sanetti Camp is by far the better place. As there is not even a 60 min walk between Sanetti Camp and Garba Guracha Camp you can spend a comfortable night at Garba Guracha and do a day trip to the Wolves around the Sanetti Campsite.

Another option is to finish the trek at Sanetti Camp, as you have access to the road.

The Sanetti Plateau is quite flat with some hills and some higher mountains showing signs of former galciation. It has a subantarctic feeling is barren and a strange unique place. Lots of icy wind and dust in the dry season, mud, rain and fog in rainy season. Orientation is difficult, in fog and rain sometimes without compass, altimeter or gps impossible. If you like such landscapes and ecosystems, you will love this afro-alpin mountain area.

I walked in a quick pace about 6,5 hours in total, the direct way to Sanetti Camp or Garba Guracha Camp shoud be about 1 hour less. The trek is not demanding, it is not steep, however sometimes the ground is tyring due to vegetation on loose soil. Do not forget, you spent the whole day at more than 4000m, the air is getting quite thin.....

 

The Garba Gurach campsite has again enough flat and soft spots for your tent and even the water is close. There are some huts, which are used again by the crew for cooking and sleeping.

You can exptect to meet ethiopian wolves on the whole Sanetti Plateau, as they look for their favourite prey, small rodents and mole rats. As the next day is the most demanding, you can spent a day at Garba Guracha and make a day trip for wildlife watching or climbing one of the Mountains like Mt. Batu. It will be your last day in an afro-alpine environment, as the next day will lead you already down to lower altitudes and close to Dinsho.

 

This day will be the most demanding for your physical fitness. All the same it should be rated as just moderate, it is not extremly steep and the uphill parts are not extraordinary long. All the same it will be a long day of about 8 hours. As usual water is available only at one spot after 2/3 of the trek and at the very end.

Starting from Graba Guracha the Tegona Valley is crossed and you climb into a indistinct crossing of the ridge leading to Mt. Batu. Stying at the same elevation you cross another valley until you end up in a little mountain pass. The wide and beautiful Woronga valley opens up, into which you climb down moderatly steep. This is the part of Bale which is resembling most "true" alpine mountains. Always staying on the left of this valley (in fact it is several valleys coming down from different ridges) you walk in a wide curve always climbing a little up and down, until you reach luchbreak at a little creek with reddish iron sediments. Again this break is rather late and only one climb of about 250m is left. Now you have to say good bye to the wolfes as this is the last place where they can be seen regularly.

After the break a quick but hot climb into a beautiful pass at app 4000m with lots of Lobelias and from now you always head down. Enjoy the afro-alpine vegetation for the last time.....

 

You are now in the Denka Valley, which is really beautiful in the higher parts, later however you walk for more than one hour in a burned down juniper forest. It is nice to see how the forest comes back, but for me, as I was not prepared for this sight, it was very dissapointing.

The camp was pretty, the tents where pitched on a little meadow (we are now low enough for meadows...) close to a rock shelter which was used for cooking and as sleeping place for the horse handlers. Other hikiers told me, that they stayed a little higher up in the valley close to some huts. There is a little creek with quite safe water, as there had been no cattle or goats around.

The next day was not very exciting, two valleys are crossed and very soon farms with fields come into sight. After 4-5 hours you arrive at Dinsho.

This is the end of the Bale Mountains trek.

 

For the trek through the Bale Mountains the requirments for the equipment are not very special, as it is not very stormy, it does not rain very much (at least in the dry season) and only the nights are quite cold. It is not even necessary to have the most lightweight equipment on the market, as the horses will carry it.

A solid, waterproof tent, a good sleeping mattress and a sleeping bag (rated at least for usage until -5 C) is sufficient. Light trekking boots, which do not have to be waterproof are more than enough. All the same you should carry rain gear and take clothing you would choose for fall in the alps (do not be tricked, 4000m in Africa can be really, really cold.....),

As you will probably spend the evenings at the campfire, do not take anything too expensive as sparks and the smoke will take their toll.

Sun and wind on Sanetti Platea are unforgiving, sun protection, lip balm, good sunglasses, a hat are a must. If you want to get up early (as I have for my photography) take gloves and a warm cap.

 

It is more difficult to take the right cooking gear and food. It is expected that the client brings the food for the crew, at least for a certain extent. The selection of food in Dinsho is very limited. I bought everything together with a cook (my tour agency offered me his help, and it was very, very helpful) in Addis and I would recommend such a set up. In Addis it is easy to get pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetables, soups, lentils, spices, tea, coffee etc in the mercato area. Supermarkets or stores like in western countries are rare and very often have a limited selection of goods.

For lunch and my very first breakfast I bought peanuts, dates and dried grapes (sultanas), which I mixed to get a trail mix. Still in my sleeping bag I ate a little bit of this mix and drank hot ginger water, which I prepare the night before and keep it in a thermos. This was my breakfast before I go out for photography. At about 9 - 10 I returned and I ate the real breakfast.

 

The choice of the cooker was tricky. If you prepare your food on your own, you can bring any trekking stove running on kerosene or petrol. Unleaded petrol is not available, kerosene ca be bought at the bigger petrol stations, as it is used for cooking and heating. The handling of such a stove is a bit difficult and as I had to rely on the crew for cooking (I was out for photography) such a stove was no option. CampingGaz or similar stoves are rare and gaz is very hard or not at all to find. I looked for it for two days in Addis, in vain! I finally bought a standard gaz burner and rented a small gaz bottle from a store in Addis. My driver knew the owner and managed this deal. Everybody in Ehtiopia knows how to handle such a burner, it is rock solid, the container is heavy, but will not break and will last long enough even for a long expedition. For me it was the perfect solution. Standard pots from steel or aluminium will do, do not take anything highend titan or whatever. The crew will use it on open fire and the handling of the cooking equipment is rather rough (all the same, nothing broke and nothing was lost).

 

Most important: Bring whatever you find appropriate to clean the water. Again: there is no clean or safe water for days!

Your luggage will be strapped to the pack horses and sometimes the horses have to walk through narrow gaps between bolders and spiky juniper bushes. Sold bags for your equipment made from cotton or cordura, which can take such a treatment are recommended.

The trek can be announced upfront at the office of the Bale mountain guide Association, or you just show up at the office at the Dinsho lodge and ask for a guide for the next days. There are about 12 listed guides and the risk that they are all busy is very low. All the contact information can be obtained through the standard guidebooks. By now, sleeping bags and tents can be rented, I met a hiker with rented equipment, the tent was really fine, the sleeping bag however was not warm enough, the poor man spent some really cold nights.....

 

recommendations

 

Most things I arranged upfront from Europe. By internet I picked a travel and car rental agency and it was a good choice. I can recommend this company! Very helpful and reliable: Abeba Tours. Ask for Tanya or Schemels, which where my contacts. My driver Amare was wonderful as well, highly recommended!

The guides in Bale are assigned per rota, normally... I was again lucky with my crew and my guide Mahmood Kabeto. I have his phone number an an email of a friend, which will be forwarded to him. I will hand it out on request, please use the Kontaktformular (I never publish such data....)

 

 

I hope that this will help all the people, who are interested to go to the Bale Mountains. I am always happy to receive feedback and up to date information about this destination, just use the Kontaktformular.

 

If you are interested in Bale, yoou might be interested also in the Rwenzoris, a much much more demanding trekking destination. After two long expedition I have some experience to share..... Rwenzori - Information for trekkers, hikers and climbers

R w e n z o r i by Martin Zwick