Ecotourism

Mountain Trekking Adaba-Dodola

Facilities

Five forest camps are located in different sites each with its own characteristic scenery. Each mountain hut has 8 beds with sheets, sleeping bags and blankets. Apart from basic furniture the equipment comprises towels, stove, basic kitchenware, crockery and kerosene lamps. There is an outside water closet and hot shower. You will find a standard appropriate for trekking tourists. The huts are managed by local people, who follow guidelines to meet the visitors’ expectations to the highest possible degree.

You can also pitch up your own tent on a campground or have a tent provided. Still, you can enjoy a fireplace and barbecue in the hut when the weather is bad outside.

How to get there

The starting point for tours is Dodola. From Addis, you can reach there by car within 5 hours, either via Shashamene (about 320 km) or via Asela (about 280 km).

There are also public transport busses serving both routes daily. The bus via Asela leaves the central bus station in Addis at Mercato Manharia at 7 a.m. and arrives in Dodola at about 3.30 p.m. There is another direct bus via Shashamene leaving at 8 a.m. from the same bus station. Other busses leave at La Gare bus station in Addis all through the morning to Shashemene, where you have to change for Dodola.

A signboard on the roadside at the entrance of Dodola directs you to IFMP or the Motel. They will put you in contact with a guide to talk over the details of your trip. If it starts only the next day, you can stay comfortably at the Motel, which has 10 double-bed rooms.

What to bring

There is clean water at the camps. Nevertheless, a water filter is also provided. If you do not want to put up with the traditional food such as local bread, porridge, or ensete, bring your provisions. If necessary your guide can assist you in buying food and beverages in Dodola. Of course, it is possible to get a sheep or a goat slaughtered at a derisory price. You can help yourself for free to permanently available tea, coffee, sugar, salt and berberi (the local spice mix). The camp keepers optionally sell soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Before setting off, find out from the guide whether you should rely on it.

There is not much left you have to bring. To avoid sunburn a hat and sun cream are essential. Because the weather in the mountains tends to be unpredictable, you need a pullover, warm jacket and rainwear. Good trekking shoes are important especially during the rainy season from June to October. A water bottle will still fit into your backpack.

If you bring your own sleeping bag, tent or more foodstuffs than your backpack can hold, then all such items can be put on a packhorse. Carry all the smaller items needed during the trip in your backpack.

Itineraries

The tour starts at the forest edge where the horses are waiting for you. You can leave your car there and have it guarded, or send it back to town. Alternatively, IFMP can provide transport from town to the forest edge against payment of a mileage fee. Horse-cart taxis are another means.

The 5 forest camps are at an altitude between 3080 and 3460 m. Each camp can be reached from Dodola in half a day. Thus, your tour can start in the afternoon but not after 2 p.m. Setting off early in the morning is preferable, because rains fall normally in the afternoon. The distance between camps is 5 to 18 km. Walking or riding from one camp to the next takes from a few hours up to just over half a day. This allows you to spend every night in a different camp. If you do not have time for all 5 camps, the guide will help select the ones most suited to your personal preferences. Programs of just one night with two days for ascending and descending are perfectly possible.

You are free to ride or walk through the forest up to the camps. However, it is recommended to take along horses, because climbing to 3500 meters of altitude is exhausting and walkers may appreciate the possibility of riding when tired. No prior riding experience is required. If you don’t want to return back the same way, you can be collected at a prearranged meeting point.

Weather

Temperatures in Dodola (2400 m a.s.l.) range between 10 and 30 degrees with an average of about 15 degrees. Thus, the climate is close to European summers. The area is malaria-free. With increasing altitude the climate gets colder and wetter. At altitudes over 3000 m night frosts are frequent. The best time for visits is the dry season between November and May. July and August are not recommended because of persistent rainfalls.

Population

The area is part of the two administrative districts (Woredas) Adaba and Dodola in the Bale zone of the Regional State of Oromia. The combined population of both districts is about 200,000. The district capitals Dodola and Adaba have 20,000 and 15,000 inhabitants, respectively. Farming has attracted most of the rural population to the level cropping areas in front of the mountain ranges. In the forests, there are about 4000 widely scattered homesteads.

Flora

The mountain forest changes its composition with altitude. The different forest formations are the main attraction of the area.

The world’s largest Juniper tree (Juniperus procera) and Podocarpus falcatus dominate the lower forest edge. They are the only indigenous coniferous trees in Africa. As you move upwards, broad-leaved species become more frequent. The red or yellowish flowers of Hagenia abyssinica provide a traditional tapeworm cure and the trunks are used for furniture. The bright-yellow flowers of Hypericum lanceolatum provide the nectar for most of the local honey. Rapania simensis is easily mistaken as rhododendron. Schefflera, occurring in several species, is common as a pot plant in temperate zones. Here, it grows as huge trees, and sometimes as epiphytes on other tree species. The flame-coloured flowers of the torch lily (Kniphofia foliosa) cover whole hillsides between June and November. Bamboo (Arundinaria alpina) occurs as a typical plant of moister forest areas especially along mountain streams.

In the sub-alpine zone above 3200 meters of altitude, forests consist mainly of Hypericum (St. John’s wort) and Erica. Known in other parts of the world only as forbs or small shrubs species of these genera are growing here up to 7 m high and form whole forests. Lichens hanging from branches covered with moss puffs give a mystical, fairy-tale atmosphere to these forests.

Further up, the forest changes rather abruptly into moors covered with heather. Due to the harsh climate (but also browsing and burning) tree-Erica only grows to bush height. In specific sites, the tree-like giant thistle (Echinops longisetus) with its ball-shaped flower grows up to 4 m high. The palm-like giant lobelia (Lobelia rhynchopetalum) is most spectacular and reaches up to 12 m.

Fauna

A large diversity of wild animals occurs in the Adaba-Dodola forests. Contrary to open, savannah-like habitats, spotting wildlife in the forest is not always guaranteed. With some luck you may sight several of the following species (endemic ones are marked with an asterisk).

Mammals: Menelik’s bushbuck*, mountain nyala*, Ethiopian wolf*, baboon, colobus monkey, vervet monkey, warthog, klipspringer, duiker, rock hyrax, Abyssinian hare, side-striped jackal, aardvark, porcupine, leopard, bohor reedbuck, serval cat, civet cat, white-tailed mongoose, wild pig and spotted hyena.

Birds: Wattled ibis*, Rouget’s rail*, black-winged lovebird*, thick-billed raven*, white-collared pigeon*, yellow-fronted parrot*, banded barbet*, golden-backed woodpecker*, Abyssinian longclaw*, white-winged cliff-chat*, Abyssinian catbird*, white-backed black tit*, black-headed siskin*, black-headed forest oriole*, white-cheeked turako, black kite, augur-buzzard, harrier hawk, Abyssinian ground hornbill, speckled pigeon, yellow bishop, red-collared widowbird, blue-eared glossy starling and lammergeyer.

Community-based eco-tourism

Conserving the remnants of the afro-montane forest in Adaba-Dodola is the objective of the Integrated Forest Management Project (IFMP), an Ethio-German technical cooperation project in the North-western Bale Mountains of Ethiopia. One of its activities is the promotion of community-based eco-tourism. Forests can only be conserved if they become as profitable as farming or herding. Therefore, IFMP works towards multiple forest use and generation of alternative sources of income. Eco-tourism is a potential source of alternative income for the forest dwellers. For its promotion the project established 5 forest camps. The structures were donated to the community. The village administration nominated camp keepers, who own the equipment and pay lease rent for the camp to the community. The camps are occasionally used for field work by staff members, consultants, researchers and visiting students. However, the camp keepers’ interest is to use it to full capacity by accommodating tourists. The project assists in the process, but does not act as a tour operator. Guests directly pay the service providers such as camp keepers, guides or horsemen. The project’s role is limited to supporting their smooth interaction.

Terms

1. Hiring of a guide is compulsory. His role is to help visitors interact with assistants, camp keepers, and local people (who all do not speak English), see to the improvement of their services, sort out with them eventual complaints, and cater as much as possible for any unforeseen needs.
2. Food and accommodation of the guide and assistant(s) are not at the charge of the visitors. Only if visitors decide to rent horses, the horse to be used by the guide is at their charge.
3. If horses are taken, they have to be ordered at the latest the day before.
4. Generally, the horses are taken back to their place of origin after arrival at a camp. This is to let the local people around the camps also get their share through horse renting. Taking horses back requires at least one assistant to handle not more than 4 horses.
5. If the return of assistant(s) and horses is possible only on the next day, a supplement of half the horse rent is to be paid.
6. For assistants and horses ordered but not taken half the price of the daily rate has to be paid.
7. Price deductions from the basic rates (see Payment) can be made for unsatisfactory services according to a list displayed at each camp.
8. The tour is at the visitors’ own personal risk.
9. Student groups, environment or wildlife clubs etc. can be sponsored by IFMP.
10. Inspection tours by interested tour operators can be sponsored by IFMP.

Bookings

As the in-country telephone lines are frequently out of order, please bear with us if confirmation of bookings is delayed. If your planned date of visit is imminent and you still did not receive a response, you are advised to just drop by. Your mountain trip can be arranged for the next morning if you arrive before nightfall.

Further information materials

A 12-min video can be provided against a nominal charge of US$ 10. This documentary clip shows the beauties offered by a visit to one of the camps.
A more detailed 20-page illustrated brochure can also be provided through electronic or surface mail free of charge.
A topographic colour map of the trekking area is on sale in Dodola.

Other nearby destinations

Dodola is only 75 km from the Rift Valley route along lakes Langano, Abijatta and Shalla to Awassa.

The headquarters of the Bale Mountains National Park in Dinsho is at two hours by car from Dodola.

From Goba (3 hours by car from Dodola) a day trip across the Sanetti plateau takes you along the highest all-weather road in Africa. A roundtrip to the Sof Omar caves is also best made from Goba