Babille Elephant Sanctuary
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The Babile Elephant Sanctuary is a
protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
and wildlife sanctuary in eastern
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. It is located in Babille district,
East Hararghe Zone East Hararghe ( om, Harargee Bahaa) is a zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. East Hararghe Zone is bordered on the southwest by Bale, on the west by West Hararghe Zone, on the north by Dire Dawa and on the north and east by the Somali Region. ...
of
Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...
, which lies 560 km east of
Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
and 40 km south of
Harar Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...
.


Geography

Encompassing , the sanctuary embraces the valleys of the
Erer Erer is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Shinile Zone of the Somali Region, it is located 51km east of Shinile. It is the administrative center of Erer woreda. Overview Erer has had telephone service at least as early as 1967. Rec ...
, Dakata and
Fafen Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) is the first-ever network of civil society networks in Pakistan dedicated to strengthening democracy through methodically-enacted observation and oversight of electoral, parliamentary, and governance processe ...
as well as the Gobele and Borale rivers; all are tributaries of the
Shabelle River The Shebelle River ( so, Webi Shabeelle, ar, نهر شبيلي, am, እደላ) begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. ...
. Elevations range from 1000 to 1750 meters above sea level, with the lowest elevations at the southern part of the protected area. Located near Dakata River valley, the sanctuary presents a landmark to one of the most unique lower hoodoos known as the Valley Of Marvels or Dakata's Rock Valley which provide a good attraction for tourists.


Wildlife


Flora

Babile Elephant Sanctuary provides 237 plant species with 57 families. In addition to its vegetation, the sanctuary is covered in semi-arid areas of dense Acacia woodlands, thick scrublands, closed savannahs, evergreen shrubs, and widespread cactus areas. The woody species such as umbrella thorn acacia, Dwarf Euphorbia,
thorny acacia ''Vachellia nilotica'', more commonly known as ''Acacia nilotica'', and by the vernacular names of gum arabic tree, babul, thorn mimosa, Egyptian acacia or thorny acacia, is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa, the Mid ...
, Acacia etbaica, Egyptian balsam, Prickly pear,
Balanites glabra ''Balanites glabra'' is a species of tree or shrub, classified either as a member of the Zygophyllaceae or the Balanitaceae. This tree is native to East Africa. Description ''Balanites glabra'' is a spiny shrub or tree growing to a maximum heigh ...
, Bird plum, Snuff-box tree,
Toothbrush tree ''Salvadora persica'' or the toothbrush tree is a small evergreen tree native to India, the Middle East and Africa. Its sticks are traditionally used as a natural toothbrush called ''miswak'' and are mentioned by the World Health Organization f ...
, and
Tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...
that accounted for only 1.4% of the total density which are considered near threatened. Even though prickly pear cactuses are invasive to Ethiopia since the 18th century, they are considered sustainable for elephants to feed during arid conditions.


Fauna

Babile Elephant Sanctuary is home to 36 mammalian species including rodents, bats, primates, carnivorans, and artiodactyls. The sanctuary provides protection for the native
African bush elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body ...
subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
(''Loxodonta africana oleansie'') living in the western areas with a population of at least 200-300 individuals recorded. Other mammals living in the sanctuary include the
Hamadryas baboon The hamadryas baboon (''Papio hamadryas'' ) is a species of baboon within the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons, being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern region of the Arabian Peninsula. These re ...
,
Günther's dik-dik Günther's dik-dik (''Madoqua guentheri'') is a small antelope found in arid zones of East Africa. Description Günther's dik-dik is one of the smallest ungulates in Africa, weighing when fully grown. It has a yellowish-gray to reddish-brown ...
,
Bohor reedbuck The bohor reedbuck (''Redunca redunca'') is an antelope native to central Africa. The animal is placed under the genus '' Redunca'' and in the family Bovidae. It was first described by German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas in 1767. T ...
, Phillip's dik-dik,
Menelik's bushbuck The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus'') is a common and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa.Wronski T, Moodley Y. (2009)Bushbuck, harnessed antelope or both? ''Gnusletter'', 28(1):18-19. Bushbuck are found in a wide rang ...
,
Soemmerring's gazelle Soemmerring's gazelle (''Nanger soemmerringii''), also known as the Abyssinian mohr, is a gazelle species native to the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan). The species was described and given its binomen by ...
,
warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...
,
greater kudu The greater kudu (''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'') is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas due to declining habitat, deforestation, ...
, and
lesser kudu The lesser kudu (''Tragelaphus imberbis'') is a bushland antelope found in East Africa. It is placed in the genus ''Tragelaphus'' and family Bovidae. It was first scientifically described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1869. The head- ...
. Carnivores such as
lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
,
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
,
Spotted hyena The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...
, Striped hyena,
Rusty-spotted genet The rusty-spotted genet (''Genetta maculata''), also called panther genet and large-spotted genet, is a genet that is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. It is considered common and therefore listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. ...
,
White-tailed mongoose The white-tailed mongoose (''Ichneumia albicauda'') is a species in the mongoose family Herpestidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Ichneumia''. Taxonomy ''Herpestes albicaudus'' was the scientific name proposed by Georges Cuvier in 1829 ...
,
Dwarf mongoose The common dwarf mongoose (''Helogale parvula'') is a mongoose species native to Angola, northern Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Zambia and East Africa. It is part of the genus ''Helogale'', along with the Ethiopian dwarf mongoose. Char ...
, and
Black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers. One region includes the southe ...
are regularly observed within the sanctuary. Smaller mammals such as
Rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the das ...
es,
Elephant Shrew Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a pe ...
s,
Galago Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They ar ...
s,
Horseshoe bat Horseshoe bats are bats in the family Rhinolophidae. In addition to the single living genus, ''Rhinolophus'', which has about 106 species, the extinct genus '' Palaeonycteris'' has been recognized. Horseshoe bats are closely related to the Old ...
s,
Ground squirrel Ground squirrels are members of the squirrel family of rodents (Sciuridae), which generally live on or in the ground, rather than trees. The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known ...
s, and
Naked mole-rat The naked mole-rat (''Heterocephalus glaber''), also known as the sand puppy, is a burrowing rodent native to the Horn of Africa and parts of Kenya, notably in Somali regions. It is closely related to the blesmols and is the only species in th ...
s are common in these habitats. The bird list of 227 species includes the
Salvadori's seedeater Salvadori's seedeater or Salvadori's serin (''Crithagra xantholaema'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is found only in Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical high-a ...
(''Crithagra xantholaema''), which is endemic to southeastern Ethiopia.


Conservation


Threats

From the 1970s-80s, Babile Elephant Sanctuary was established to protect the remnants of Northeastern African elephants following the loss of 90% of its population in Ethiopia caused by illegal poaching. However, the elephant population of the sanctuary is under critical condition due to habitat loss and illegal poaching. In addition to the effect of elephant population decline, researchers discovered that human activities such as illegal farming, ethnic conflict, overgrazing of livestock, and deforestation caused by local settlement of pastoralists and farmers, who lived within the sanctuary, disrupt elephants' migratory patterns and feeding areas resulting in human-elephant conflict. As a result, the sanctuary lost partial northwestern areas to the illegal settlement. Invasive plants such as lantana flowers and long-thorn kiawe shrubs start to intoxicate the environment, most likely threatening livestock and wildlife.


Visitor accommodations and Reconstruction plans

Despite its establishment, the sanctuary suffers poor management from the park rangers because of its unfunded effect from training, poverty, and environmental neglect. Conditions at this sanctuary are primitive, and it is not equipped for
tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
, but the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced plans to remedy this shortcoming. In addition to protecting elephants and restoring the sanctuary's former areas,
Born Free Foundation The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild". It protects wild animals in their natural habitat, campaigns against the keeping of wild animals in captivity and rescues wild animals in ...
, Elephant Protection Initiative, Elephant Crisis Fund, and Ethiopia Wildlife Conservation Authority set up plans by developing a field project to help restore the sanctuary's area and legal management which requires attention from both government and the people.Abdulahi, A. (2021). Babille Elephant Sanctuary Needs Attention. Academia Letters. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL788


References

Wildlife sanctuaries of Ethiopia Ethiopian Highlands Protected areas of Oromia Region Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets Important Bird Areas of Ethiopia {{Oromia-geo-stub