The Senkele Game Sanctuary, situated on the Shashemene to Arba Minch road in central Ethiopia, is where we hoped to spot the endangered and endemic Swayne’s Hartebeest (part of the antelope family). The Hartebeest population is now in the 100s following famine and civil war.
The 10km track from the main road to the entrance was poor and took 30 minutes. At the check point our guide, Eskedar, secured a mandatory guide and I took the advantage of the loo – literally a hole in a concrete floor.
Our camouflage clad guide sat in the front of our 4WD with Roy and I budging up to make room for Eskedar.
We drove through the 58km square park land through parched yellow grass which was a couple of feet tall. After about twenty minutes we managed to spot a couple of the white bottomed hartebeest albeit at a distance – hooray! We also saw orbis antelope, who scampered away before we got our camera focused, and common jackal.
This is not a major attraction, but it is the one place in Ethiopia where you are virtually guaranteed to see the hartebeest.
