Bale Mountains National Park, established in late 1969, is located in Ethiopia’s southern highlands, 400 km southeast of the capital Addis Ababa. Bale Mountains National Park contains a spectacularly diverse landscape. The high altitude, afro-montane Sanetti Plateau rises to over 4,000m and includes the highest peak in the southern Ethiopia highlands. This undulating plateau is marked by numerous glacial lakes and swamps and surrounded by higher volcanic ridges and peaks. The southern slopes are covered by the lush and largely unexplored Harenna Forest.

As records begin to appear at the beginning of the 20th century, the Bale Mountains were largely uninhabited. The first recorded visit was by the German naturalist and explorer Carlo Von Erlanger, who reached the Bale Mountains between 1899 and 1901, and documented the existence of the giant molerat. Thereafter, a Frenchman, the Viscompte du Bourg, spent two months in Goba in 1901 hunting elephant to the south and travelling around the mountains. He recorded the existence of elephant and buffalo in the Harenna forest, and commented on the ivory hunting of the area – primarily by mounted horsemen using guns.