Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

Table 1: Composition of 326 ungulate groups observed from two vantage points on the Gaysay
grasslands, BMNP in 1999-2000. C=Cattle, T=Transport (Horses, donkeys, mules) S/G= Sheep
or Goats, MN= Mountain Nyala, WH= warthog, RB= reedbuck. Mixed species group are listed
by species composition e.g. C-MN = Cattle and Mountain Nyala. Groups in light shade represent
wildlife-only groups and those in dark shade represent domestic livestock/wildlife groupings
Species
Observation point A
(n=17 observation periods)
Observation point B (Oufe)
(n=5 observation periods)
<strong>Walia</strong>-<strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition</strong> on the Bale Mountains 275
Total
Cattle 48% 15.7% 42.9%
Transport 13.5% 13.7% 13.5%
Sheep/ Goats 1.5% 0 1.2%
Mountain nyala 2.5% 39.2% 8.3%
Warthog 4.4% 6 3.9% 4.3%
Reedbuck 9.5% 5.9% 8.9%
C-T 9.8% 3.9% 8.9%
C-S 5.8% 0 4.9%
C-MN 0.4% 0 0.3%
C-WH 0.7% 0 0.6%
C-RB 0.4% 0 0.3%
T-WH 0 2.0% 0.3%
MN-WH 0.4% 2.0% 0.6%
MN-RB 0.7% 11.8% 2.5%
C-S-T 2.2% 0 1.8%
C-T-WH 0 2.0% 0.3%
C-RB-WH 0.4% 0 0.3%
Total Groups
sighted
275 51 3
Overall, seven (2.1%, n=326) of ungulate sightings observations on the Gaysay grasslands in
northern BMNP in 1999-2000, were of mixed ‘groups’ of wildlife and domestic livestock species,
that is where wildlife and domestic livestock were observed within 50m of each other. In all but one
of these mixed ‘groups’, cattle were the domestic species, and sheep and goats were observed in
only 8% of sightings. In addition, although wildlife did not often intermingle with livestock, overlap
of grazing areas did occur and groups were frequently within 200m of each other. In addition,
livestock and wildlife grazing groups were observed to use the same areas, but at different times of
day, season or on subsequent days.
Disturbance - The number of people on foot and livestock crossing the park, going to or from
Dinsho, varied with the day of the week, depending on whether it was a market (Tuesday, principal
market in Dinsho; Saturday, small market) or non-market day (Table 2). On Tuesday market days an
average of 2744 people and 2633 livestock crossed the park, whereas on Saturday this average was
771 people and 788 livestock and on non-market days 379 people and 464 livestock crossed the park.
Thus foot traffic was around 7 times greater on Tuesdays than non-market days and livestock traffic
around 5.7 times greater. Overall, 5410 people, 5856 livestock and 475 vehicles were estimated to
cross the BMNP Gaysay grassland each week, with twice as much foot traffic over the main road
bridge as from the more footbridge leading from the area to the north of the park.