Final review by Kate following her recent visit to Ethiopia, now focusing on her visit to the Bale Mountains National Park….
Our last visit was perhaps the most spectacular, a visit to the Bale Mountains National Park. As we’ve mentioned on our Bale Mountains page, the Bale Mountains offer a great contrast with the high Afro-alpine moorland of the Sanetti Plateau, and the lush green romantic cloud forest of the Harenna Forest some 2000 metres below.
We loved our time at Bale Mountain Lodge which has a range of activities on offer. We looked for the elusive Ethiopian wolf on the plateau, did a spot of early morning bird-watching, walked to an enchanting waterfall with its own rock pool for a very cool swimming opportunity (in more ways than one.) We visited one of the local villages for an authentic Ethiopian coffee ceremony with delicious Ethiopian side dishes. Finally we hiked up the steep mountain near the lodge. The walk was immensely beautiful through the rainforest and then the bamboo stands, though it’s fair to say I perhaps enjoyed the views more on the way down than up! Our Ethiopian guides, used to the altitude or perhaps naturally fit, scampered on merrily whilst we huffed and puffed our way up but it was worth it for the truly awe-inspiring view over the forest.
Others opted to visit a bustling market in the local town where the best photographer in the group revelled in the colours of the people’s clothing, the spices and myriad goods on offer. Another decided to take up the offer of an extended bird-watching walk.
Getting to the Bale Mountains National Park
Currently the flight from Ethiopia to Robe is out of action as they are renovating the Robe runway. So this means it is a 7 hour mostly scenic drive from Addis to Bale Mountain Lodge (albeit that 2 hours of those are in the park).
You can opt to take a slightly longer route via the lakes of the Great Rift Valley and stay a night or two en route in the valley at Bishangari Lodge or Sabana Lodge – two nights if you are into birding. This would be a 3½-4 hour journey from Addis to your overnight lodge then 5+ hours to Bale Mountain lodge. This latter drive is very scenic with lots of game-viewing en route, especially once you enter the park.
