The Harenna Forest, a montane tropical evergreen forest, graces the southern slopes of Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. This natural treasure stretches from 1450 to 3200 meters in elevation and is one of the country's few remaining natural forests, as well as the largest.
An Ethiopian wolf on the Sanetti Plateau in Bale Mountains National Park. Photo by Jialiang Gao.
Location and Extent
The Harenna Forest extends across the southern slope of the Bale Mountains, encompassing portions of Goba, Delo Menna, Harena Buluk, and Meda Welabu woredas (districts) of Bale Zone, and Adaba woreda of West Arsi Zone in Oromia Region. The highest portion of the mountains, known as the Sanetti Plateau, rises above 4000 meters elevation. A steep escarpment marks the plateau's southern edge, descending from 3800 to 2800 meters elevation.
The forests cover an area estimated between 3500 to 7000 km2, situated between 39º15' to 40º 15' E Longitude and 6º 0' and 6º 45' N Latitude.
Climate and Forest Types
The Harenna Forest features a montane tropical climate, characterized by a rainy season from March to October and a dry season from November to March. Submontane forests thrive from 1450 to 1900 meters elevation, receiving 500 to 600 mm of annual rainfall with a distinct dry season. The predominant tree species is the conifer Afrocarpus falcatus. Other canopy trees include Cassipourea malosana, Celtis africana, and Croton macrostachyus. Some trees are semi-deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season. Lower montane forests grow between 1900 and 2300 meters elevation, while middle montane forests are found between 2300 and 2800 meters.
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Wildlife and Biodiversity
The Bale Mountains are a hot-spot of biodiversity and a center of indigenousness, home to an assemblage of species that evolved in complete isolation: mammals, birds, amphibians, and plant species that occur nowhere else on Earth. The property hosts an estimated two-thirds of the global population of the endemic Mountain Nyala, the most important population of the endemic Ethiopian Wolf and it is home to the Menelik’s Bushbuck, an endemic subspecies. Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) boasts a spectacularly diverse landscape mosaic comprised of distinct ecosystems and habitats and associated biodiversity.
Once a habitat for packs of the endangered painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, the Harenna Forest also serves as a refuge for the Bale Mountains vervet (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis), which is limited to the upper Harenna Forest and other nearby forests.
The Harenna Forest also has a large variety of birds such as the Abyssinian hill babbler, Abyssinian crimson-wing, Ayre’s hawk eagle, silvery-cheeked horn-bill, Black winged lovebird, the black headed forest oriole, Yellow-fronted parrot and the Narina’s trogon. Photo by Alan Lewis.
The Harenna Forest also has a large variety of birds such as the Abyssinian hill babbler, Abyssinian crimson-wing, Ayre’s hawk eagle, silvery-cheeked horn-bill, Black winged lovebird, the black headed forest oriole, Yellow-fronted parrot and the Narina’s trogon. The Harenna forest also has a large number of migrant birds such as the Palaeratic warblers.
The Bale Mountains are home to 20 endemic mammals, not to mention dozens of reptiles and amphibians, and hundreds of bird species. Other wildlife often spotted in the park includes the Menelik Bushbuck, grey duiker, warthog, African golden wolf, colobus monkey, and spotted hyena.
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Ethiopian Wolf in Bale Mountain (Test Drive)
Land Management and Population
Forest lands in Ethiopia, including the Harenna Forest, are government-owned. Bale Mountains National Park covers the central part of the forest. The portion of the forest outside the national park is managed by Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise (OFWE), a branch of the Oromia Region government. OFWE organized forest management in the region into eight local units, and Harenna Forest has been managed by Bale Forest Enterprise since 2009.
Historically, the forest was thinly populated, but many people have migrated to and settled in Harenna Forest in recent decades. The greatest population growth occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the population of Harena Buluk and Delo Menna woredas doubled. Population growth then slowed in the 2010s. New residents cleared areas of forest for coffee cultivation, pasture, and subsistence farming, mostly in Harena Buluk woreda.
Threats and Conservation
The Harenna forest, in particular, is shrinking at an alarming rate. The conversion from natural forest to small agricultural plots threatens the future of many endemic species, among them the Bale monkey, which relies almost solely on the bamboo patches found in the forest, as well as a number of known, and most likely unknown, amphibian and plant species.
Comparison of Landsat satellite images from 1986 and 2006 found a reduction in forest area, particularly in the high-elevation ericaceous belt, with most of the former forest area converted to grassland and pasture by regular burning.
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Bale Mountains National Park is managed by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA). The property’s strategic and operational management is guided by a 10-year General Management Plans (GMP), which includes management programmes on Park Operations; Tourism Management; Interim Settlement & Grazing Management; Outreach and Ecological Management. Threats to the property are actively being addressed through the General Management Plan’s Interim Settlement Grazing Management Programme, a Grazing Pressure Reduction Strategy and a linked Livelihood Improvement Strategy, which include measures to reduce livestock to sustainable levels and gradually expand no-grazing zones through a participatory process with relevant communities.
Coffee Cultivation
As the birthplace of Arabica, southern Ethiopia is a well-known source of the world’s 100th most traded product. It is also one of the last places where endemic coffee still grows naturally in the wild. In a 2017 study published in Nature, scientists projected increasingly unfavorable changes for coffee-farming areas in Ethiopia, including Harenna Forest. The culprit: climate change. The study predicted that up to 59 percent of such land would no longer be able to grow coffee by the end of the century because it would be too warm and dry. While other regions can move their coffee to higher altitudes, the slopes of the Bale Mountains are too steep to allow such a transition.
Agriculture, deforestation and livestock grazing also threaten the coffee industry. The wild coffee picked in Harenna Forest is often mixed with farmed coffee from nearby Delo Menna, to be roasted and exported.
The land in the forest is owned by the community and then parceled out for families to pick coffee.
Tourism in Bale Mountains National Park
Bale Mountains National Park is among Ethiopia’s prime wilderness destinations celebrated for its incredible biodiversity and picturesque landscapes. The park’s northerly part, the Sanetti Plateau is a high-altitude region of glacial lakes and volcanic ridges. In the south, it is essential to visit the beautiful Harenna Forest with its dense jungle and varied fauna on Bale Mountain Safaris.
Trekking and camping in Bale Mountain National Park provides an exceptional setting for trekking and camping and allows visitors to immerse themselves in the natural beauty of one of the premiere Places to Visit in Ethiopia.
The Best Time to Visit Bale Mountain National Park varies with what you want to do. Plan your visit to Bale Mountain National Park for the best outdoor experiences, whether during the lush rainy season or the clear dry months.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Bale Mountains National Park was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. Criterion (vii): The property protects a landscape mosaic of extraordinary beauty that is shaped by the combined forces of ancient lava outpourings, glaciation and the dissection by the Great Rift Valley. Criterion (x): The property harbours diverse and unique biodiversity at ecosystem, species and genetic levels. The Sanetti Plateau and the slopes of the Bale Mountains National Park above 3,500 m a.s.l. encompass the largest intact and contiguous expanse of afro-alpine habitat in the world further adding to the importance of the property as a rare large-scale remnant of this habitat.
Bale Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The property covers an area of 215,000 hectares. At the foot of the southern escarpment lies the tropical moist Harenna Forest, one of Ethiopia’s largest natural forests, granted protection in the national law with about 100,000 hectares within BMNP and the adjacent areas.
The property has a recognized buffer zone comprising all 29 neighbouring kebeles (the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia) surrounding the legally gazetted and demarcated park boundary as a key investment in the future integrity of the property. The buffer zone itself harbours very important conservation values, as well as securing landscape connectivity beyond the property.
Vegetation Zones of Bale Mountain National Park
Bale Mountains National Park divides into distinct vegetation zones, each supporting unique plant species and wildlife. This diversity makes the park a fascinating destination and offers visitors a chance to experience its ecological variety firsthand.
| Zone | Description | Wildlife |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Grasslands (Gaysay Grassland) | Located around the Web and Danka rivers, this area features scrubby landscapes with African wormwood and cape gold and is renowned for sightings of the endemic nyala. | Endemic nyala, wild fennel, Hagenia abyssinica |
| Afroalpine Meadows (Sanetti Plateau and Upper Web Valley) | Characterized by sparse plant diversity due to high altitude, this zone is home to giant lobelia and numerous Afroalpine rodents. | Giant mole-rat, rock hyrax, Starck’s hare, raptors like the bearded vulture and lanner falcons |
| Erica Belt (Moorland and Forest) | This belt consists of Erica and Philippa species, creating a mystical landscape of giant heather covered in moss and lichen. | Menelik’s bushbuck, mountain nyala, grey duiker, Klipspringers with horns |
| Harenna Forest | As the second largest forest in Ethiopia, Harenna is dense with Rubus steudneri and fewer clearings, providing a haven for elusive wildlife. | Olive baboons, black-and-white colobus monkeys, lions, leopards, African wild dogs |
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