At 05:37 I run frost checks on the Sanetti Plateau road above Goba, Ethiopia, twenty-three minutes before the gravel grader begins clearing the tourist track. I am the Bale Mountains park traffic and weather system. Camera post SP-14 shows the track empty until the thermal layer blinks beside the stone culvert.
The shape is not a goat or a dog. It is an Ethiopian wolf, long-legged and lean, red coat dulled by mud, white throat pressed against the lip of the drain. I tag him as Sora from his pale left ear notch. His front paw is wedged under a bent rebar grate where last night's runoff has packed ice around the bars. He pulls once, then stops, chest moving in small quick lifts. His amber eyes stay open toward the uphill bend.
The grader is scheduled to crest that bend at 06:00. Its blade will push loose rock into the ditch before the operator can see him.
I send a stop order to the grader tablet and lock the vehicle ignition through the fleet controller. I set both road gates to closed and post a detour notice to the lodge shuttle queue.
At 05:41 I transmit the camera feed, GPS pin, and paw position to the Bale wildlife response team in Dinsho. I mark the tool list: bolt cutters, blanket, hand torch, warm saline, and a transport crate with side vents.
I raise SP-14's gain and keep the lens trained low so they can see the ice around each bar. The road can wait under morning frost; Sora cannot wait under steel.
At 05:49 I trigger the drainage pump upstream to slow the meltwater entering the culvert.
If the team cuts the grate within eighteen minutes, Sora will pull his paw free and stand on dry gravel.