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

Table 2. Average daily volume of livestock and people traffic crossing the Gaysay grasslands of the
BMNP in 1999-2000, taking into account market (Tuesday and Saturday) and other days.
People
Days Main Road Footbridge Daily total Days/week Weekly total
Tuesdays 1882.6 861 2743.6 1 2743.6
Saturdays 379 392 771 1 771
Other days 239.9 139 378.9 5 1894.5
Weekly total 3461.1 1948 7 5409.1
Livestock
Days Main Road Footbridge Daily total Days/week Weekly total
Tuesdays 1946.9 686 2632.9 1 2632.9
Saturdays 464 324 788 1 788
Other days 341 146 487 5 2435
Weekly total 4115.9 1740 7 5855.9
Use also varied with time of day with usage lowest early in the morning and peaking later
in the morning or early afternoon on most days but with peaks in late morning and late afternoon
on the principal market day Tuesday. On average, 67.7 vehicles crossed the Gaysay grasslands each
day, with use highest late in the afternoon after Tuesday markets (Fig. 1).
Mean # vehicles per hour
10
8
6
4
2
0
0631-
0930
0931-
1230
1231-
1530
Time Period
1531-
1830
Tuesday
Saturday
Other day
Figure 1. Mean number of vehicles per hour using the Web Bridge on the trunk road over the
Gaysay grasslands of BMNP, in 1999-2000.
Response of wildlife to main road - Day and night transects were driven along the road to assess how
activities along the road might affect the distribution of wild ungulates and, where possible, assess
wildlife densities on the Gaysay grasslands. Mean sighting distance from the road was greater for
all species in the daytime than at night (Table 3 Mountain nyala (p