Bale Mountains National Park

Bale Mountains National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Bale Mountains and trail in the park.
Location in Ethiopia
Location	Bale Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia  Ethiopia
Nearest city	Addis Ababa
Coordinates	6°40′N 39°40′E / 6.667°N 39.667°E / 6.667; 39.667Coordinates: 6°40′N 39°40′E / 6.667°N 39.667°E / 6.667; 39.667
Area	2,220 km2 (860 sq mi)
Established	1970
Governing body	Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority

Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) is a national park of Ethiopia. The park encompasses an area of approximately 2,150 square kilometres (530,000 acres) in the Bale Mountains and Sanetti Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands.

The park's Afromontane habitats have one of the highest incidences of animal endemicity of any terrestrial habitat in the world. The park was nominated to the World Heritage Tentative List in 2009.

Bale Mountains National Park is located in southeastern Ethiopia, 400 km southeast of Addis Ababa and 150 km east of Shashamene in the Oromia Region National State.

The boundary of the BMNP lies within five woredas (districts): Adaba (west), Dinsho (north), Goba (northeast), Delo-Mena-Angetu and Harena-Buluk (southeast). The park area is encompassed within geographical coordinates of 6º29' – 7º10'N and 39º28' – 39º57'E.

The Bale Mountains are part of the Bale-Arsi massif, which forms the western section of the southeastern Ethiopian Highlands.

The Bale Mountains were formed prior to the formation of the Great Rift Valley, from lava outpourings which covered all underlying rock formations between 38 and 7 million years ago. The rocks of the volcanic outpourings are predominantly trachytes, but also include rhyolites, basalts, and associated agglomerates and tuffs. The main Bale highlands consist of the vast lava Sanetti Plateau, with at least six volcanic cones, each more than 4,200 meters high and considerably flattened by repeated glaciations.