Dodola is one of those towns that most people drive through on the way to somewhere else, but on the northern edge of the Bale Mountains it deserves a longer look. It sits at roughly twenty-four hundred metres in Oromia, in a green, cool, farming landscape of wheat and barley fields, eucalyptus plantations and grazing meadows, and above it the high country of the Bale massif climbs toward the clouds. The town has about twenty thousand people and the busy, unglamorous energy of a regional market centre.
The road here, coming up from the Rift Valley towards the Bale uplands, rises in long gradients through patches of forest and open farmland, and the temperature falls with every few hundred metres. Corners are open, surfaces vary between good and patched, and animals and pedestrians are always possible around the next bend. Dry months from November to February are the easiest for riding; the rainy seasons turn tracks off the main road into mud and bring low cloud over the peaks. Mornings are cool and clear, and the best light is early.
Dodola is known locally for its horse trekking. A community-run association here organises multi-day rides up into the mountains, using the sturdy local horses to reach high meadows and forest camps that roads never touch. The idea is to bring income to farming families who might otherwise clear the forest for fields, and it has become one of the best-known community projects of its kind in the country. Even if you do not ride a horse, it tells you something about the way the region is changing.
For a motorcyclist the town is a practical stop. Fuel is available in a settlement of this size, although supplies in rural Ethiopia are not guaranteed, so fill up when you can, and cafés and small restaurants serve injera, stews and strong coffee, often with a great deal of ceremony. Basic hotels are easy to find. The road continues east towards Adaba, Dinsho and Goba, with the Bale peaks growing larger in the windscreen, and it is worth stopping at the market on the way to see how a highland town lives.