Red buck, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Bush buck deer #2, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Bush buck deer, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Endemic tree used for medicine, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Wart-hog, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Mountain nyala, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Sabsibi Washa, en route to Goba, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Anubis baboon with baby, en route to Goba, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Cactus fence, Dodola, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Pineapples, Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Cooking fish, Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Cleaning fish, Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Malibu stork, Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Malibu stork face, Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
Fishing boat, Fish market, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 16 Feb 2014
After a sumptuous breakfast at the Haile Resort we headed to the local fish market on the nearby shores of Lake Awassa. At around 8.00 am local fishermen who use monofilament nets return to the shore in their 4 m wooden boats and display their catch of fish, which are mostly (fresh water) perch and catfish. The market is a throng of activity with the inevitable hawkers and children hassling one to buy baskets, shoe-horns and local souvenirs. In amongst all this activity are large and incredibly ugly Malibu storks who await bits of fish gut that are thrown from the gutting tables. The children grab a handful of fish guts and toss little pieces in the air for the storks to catch and then ask for money from photographers who are nearby. There was a long row of tents where fish was being cooked in large woks filled with very black cooking oil. We sampled small pieces of the cooked fish and it was quite tasty despite the less than hygienic cooking environment. We all worked on the principle that the hot oil would surely kill any nasty bugs.
Raw fish was also available but none of us was courageous enough to try this local specialty.
We then drove for about 4 hours (245 km) due eastwards having a coffee stop about half way at Dodola. Our destination was the Bale Mountains National Park. The first half of our travel was through highly fertile agricultural land where barley and wheat crops have recently been harvested. The area is very flat and the soil is a rich red soil much like the North West Coast of Tasmania. This contrasts dramatically with the dusty deserts of the southern Ethiopian Rift Valley. This was the first time we’d seen combine harvesters, big John Deere tractors and huge grain trucks.
The road then climbed to 3800 m into more craggy mountainous terrain and then we dropped down again into the Bale Mountains National Park. A picnic lunch was partly interrupted by about 10 excessively hungry wart-hogs with designs on our sandwiches. Our drivers threatened them with rocks and waving sticks and eventually they left us in peace.
After lunch we walked for an hour or so with a local guide and encountered three different species of antelope; red-bucks, bush-bucks and the rare and endemic mountain nyala. We walked very quietly and slowly and were rewarded with some good photos despite the extreme shyness of these animals.
Finally we left the park and drove a short distance to Goba where we have two nights in a 1-2 star hotel; quite a difference from last night!!